# Biopic or other non fiction actor who looked most like the person they portrayed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910 "2011-04-10T23:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910/41 "2011-04-12T19:01:10Z")
N/m. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910/42 "2011-04-12T19:12:31Z")
titanic has a few of these. [this site](http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/titanic.php) has a handful of side by sides with the actors and the real person. i think bernard hill as captain smith bears the closest resemblance, but the actors shown all look pretty similar to the people they were portraying. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910/43 "2011-04-12T19:19:07Z")
[Sam Rockwell and Chuck Barris](http://stars.ign.com/dor/objects/918218/chuck-barris/images/confessions-rockwell-barris.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910/44 "2011-04-12T19:19:27Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > _Downfall_ was like watching a video tape of the real events. Despite all the parodies, Bruno Ganz still gave probably the best and most accurate portrayal of Hitler any actor has ever put on screen. He made Hitler human - not sympathetic, just explicable as a human being rather than an otherworldly demon. The movie was a revelation to me. I think part of it was that it was done by Germans in German, but it made me feel like I had a better handle on Hitler and his entourage better than anything else I’ve ever seen or read. Ganz was phenomenal. He should have been nominated for an Oscar. I don’t know why he wasn’t. > > Even the parody videos wouldn’t be so effective if he wasn’t so believable as Hitler. Absolutely agree - I imagine that, in future WW2 movies, the difficulty will be in resisting the temptation to cast as Hitler whomever best resembles Bruno Ganz. The parodies have robbed the ranting monologue scene of a lot of its power - but it is a _masterful_ bit of acting, both from Ganz and everyone else in the room. You can see Hitler falling apart, his entourage seeing him fall apart, and so on. Especially effective in that, prior to this point, Ganz’s Hitler was _not_ a ranter. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910/45 "2011-04-12T19:22:29Z")
Wow. Over 2 days and 44 posts in and no one came up with Jamie Foxx in _Ray_? He looked more like Ray Charles than Ray Charles! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910/46 "2011-04-12T19:37:04Z")
There’s a cameo in The Longest Day by Eisenhower, well I thought it was Eisenhower until I looked it up. The person playing Eisenhower was [Henry Grace](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0333352/), who was a set decorator on the film, cast in this one role because of his likeness. [http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsG/39370.gif](http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsG/39370.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910/47 "2011-04-12T19:42:57Z")
+1 for Jamie Foxx. Hank Fonda in the Jack Ford biopic “Young Mr. Lincoln” – having only seen a few photogs of Young ML he nailed the rail-thin look to me. And many of the Brandon Hardesty impressions – how much are due to mannerisms and speech vs. phys app., I don’t have the time to research, but I’d put his Eugene Levy and his Walken and his Sam. Jackson up against anyone’s. ] ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910/48 "2011-04-14T02:06:57Z")
Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn in _Coal Miner’s Daughter_. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910/49 "2011-04-14T05:04:35Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Were you familiar with Jim Williams, Lacunae? Late answer here, but yes. A long-time friend of the family was in the antiques business in SE Georgia, and I met Mr. Williams several times when I was a kid. Kevin Spacey’s portrayal was eerily similar, to me. And I guess that **Eyebrows of Doom** confirms my suspicion that Kevin Spacey may be a pretty damned good actor, if he could do Jim Williams and Bobby Darin equally convincingly! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910/50 "2011-04-14T13:33:52Z")
Melissa Gilbert as [Laura Ingalls Wilder](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://students.nebrwesleyan.edu/students/mguinan/wilder.jpg&imgrefurl=http://students.nebrwesleyan.edu/students/mguinan/wilder.html&h=450&w=327&sz=19&tbnid=A2RL4UkqXSJdjM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=92&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dlaura%2Bingalls%2Bwilder%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=laura+ingalls+wilder&usg=__6IT81caFbXtICtU7fmqL6oRAwqo=&sa=X&ei=lfemTdS5FcSCtgeqqMGFAQ&ved=0CC8Q9QEwBA) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910/51 "2011-04-14T18:11:46Z")
Warren Oates in _Dillinger_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biopic-or-other-non-fiction-actor-who-looked-most-like-the-person-they-portrayed/577910.md?page=2)