# Biographical movies about musicians **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122 "2006-03-27T18:27:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122/21 "2006-03-28T07:57:48Z")
Can’t believe nobody’s mentioned Peter Frampton’s… uh… interesting performance as [Franz Liszt](http://imdb.com/title/tt0073298/). The TV movie _Daydream Believer_ about (obviously) The Monkees was better than average for a TV biopic. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122/22 "2006-03-28T08:03:54Z")
Lawrence Fishburne and Angela Bassett were both great in the powerful (if only occasionally factual) _What’s Love Got to Do With It_. (Among other license taken- Ike is portrayed as the father of both of Tina’s children [he wasn’t- her first was by his drummer], even Tina states that Ike wasn’t as evil as he was in the movie [his main problem was addiction] and her own problems with infidelity and dependancy are glossed over [Tina herself did not gloss them over] to make it more a G v E marriage). No mistake: Ike was abusive and Tina did walk away from the marriage broke and bitter only to reinvent herself like a phoenix on speed, but few of the details are true. An interesting but little seen musical biopic is [Why Do Fools Fall in Love?](http://imdb.com/title/tt0123324/) with Halle Berry and Vivica Fox as 2 of Frankie Lymon’s 3 widows (he had a problem with getting divorced before remarrying) fighting for the rights to his recordings and money due his estate. (Lymon died penniless and addicted and was generally bad news to anybody who loved him, but a few years after he died he was worth far more than he ever was alive.) ---
**Author:** ![Didactylos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Didactylos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didactylos)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122/23 "2006-03-28T10:29:17Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Can’t believe nobody’s mentioned Peter Frampton’s… uh… interesting performance as [Franz Liszt](http://imdb.com/title/tt0073298/). I can’t believe nobody’s corrected you yet. It was Roger Daltrey, fresh from another weird colaboration with director Ken Russell, the adaption of the Who’s Tommy. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122/24 "2006-03-28T17:09:16Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Can’t believe nobody’s mentioned Peter Frampton’s… uh… interesting performance as [Franz Liszt](http://imdb.com/title/tt0073298/). Roger Daltrey, actually. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122/25 "2006-03-28T17:45:09Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > So I’m really stretching it here to add to the (anti-)list. How about [Grace of My Heart](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116442/) with Illeana Douglas playing a slightly disguised version of Carole King? Not much in the way of drug downer stuff or anything. Just a career that fizzled out due to the more progressive stuff of the 60s and then a big comeback. Music up and out. I thought of Grace of My Heart, too, and The Rose as inspired by Janis Joplin. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122/26 "2006-03-28T18:04:36Z")
**Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows** (Judy Garland/Judy Davis) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122/27 "2006-03-28T18:06:59Z")
**Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows** (Judy Garland/Judy Davis) It was a TV movie, but fits the mold well. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122/28 "2006-03-28T18:43:32Z")
> [@Didactylos](#): > > I can’t believe nobody’s corrected you yet. It was Roger Daltrey, fresh from another weird colaboration with director Ken Russell, the adaption of the Who’s Tommy. Actually we’re both right. It was Peter Frampton _as_ Roger Daltrey _as_ Franz Lizst. Most people agree that his Daltrey makeup was better than his Lizst makeup, though, so I can see why you’re confused. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122/29 "2006-03-28T19:38:58Z")
Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story – which I believe was made for TV Your Cheatin’ Heart (Hank Williams) and, it may not belong here, but it was, if memory serves a really great film: Bound for Glory (Woody Guthrie). I vaguely recall some alcohol issues being present in this film. ---
**Author:** ![Didactylos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Didactylos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didactylos)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122/30 "2006-03-28T19:43:13Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Actually we’re both right. It was Peter Frampton _as_ Roger Daltrey _as_ Franz Lizst. Most people agree that his Daltrey makeup was better than his Lizst makeup, though, so I can see why you’re confused. Amazing what a good makeup team can do. Maybe they can even make a mid-forties Mike Myers look like a teenage-to-early-thirties \Keith Moon\. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122/31 "2006-03-28T21:17:25Z")
The TV movie [John & Yoko: a Love Story](http://imdb.com/title/tt0089380/) had good performances but, with Yoko as an executive producer, it was very whitewashed (especially her role— homewrecking smack addict? Who? Me?). Some trivia: the role of John Lennon originally went to English actor Mark Hunter, who all agreed was _great_ in the role, but he was fired (at full salary) when it was revealed Mark Hunter was not his real name. He had changed it for the audition- his real name is [Mark (Lindsay) Chapman](http://imdb.com/name/nm0152464/)- Lennon was murdered by Mark (David) Chapman. The Lennon estate sponsored documentary [Imagine](http://imdb.com/title/tt0095360/) is also good (though still a bit flowery in the retelling of his relationship with Cynthia and Yoko). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographical-movies-about-musicians/350122.md?page=1)