# Historical figures who you would like to see a movie made about **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094 "2008-08-06T23:39:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/21 "2008-08-07T08:22:26Z")
Charles Darwin (I think they did make a miniseries but a quick search turned up nothing). Also, Magellan. 1492 is one of my favorite historical movies and Magellan’s voyage around the world would make a pretty good film. Wernher Von Braun’s story would also be interesting to watch, as would Charles Shultz’s. Who wouldn’t want to know about the real-life Charlie Brown? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/22 "2008-08-07T12:48:47Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] [Baron Ungern von Sternberg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ungern_von_Sternberg) , the deranged Russian nobleman and mystic who took over Mongolia and ruled it for less than a year. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Slithy Tove] Would have made a great part for Peter O’Toole years ago (and a better use of his time, talent & producer’s clout than _Lord Jim_) [/QUOTE] Daniel Day-Lewis all the way!!! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/23 "2008-08-07T12:56:44Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve just started reading a biography of Richard Francis Burton I mentioned Burton in the earlier thread. The movie **The Mountains of the Moon** covers part of his life – but doesn’t touch on his Pilgriimage, or his trips to, for instance, Salt Lake City (to study the polygamy there and compare it to the Muslim variety), or his early career in India. A biography of **Archimedes** would be a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/24 "2008-08-07T13:39:55Z")
Rosa Luxemburg - the only movie I have heard of supposedly is not that good. Nye Bevan - though I would probably be the only person who wanted to see it. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/25 "2008-08-07T14:04:16Z")
Marie LaVeau, voodoo queen of New Orleans WC Handy, blues pioneer The Carter Family, country music progenitors ---
**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:** [August 7, 2008, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/26 "2008-08-07T14:25:56Z")
[Anni-Frid Lyngstad](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anni-Frid_Lyngstad), the redhead from ABBA, has a life story too implausible for fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/27 "2008-08-07T14:28:08Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] For me it would be: [Baron Ungern Von Sternberg,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ungern_von_Sternberg) the deranged Russian nobleman and mystic who took over Mongolia and ruled it for less than a year. [/QUOTE] There is a good recent biography out about this fellow. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/28 "2008-08-07T14:40:30Z")
[QUOTE=Full Metal Lotus] Alfred Ely Beach, who more or less secretly built a pnuematic (!!) subway in New York, in the 1880’s… see [The Secret Subway | American Experience | Official Site | PBS](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/nyunderground/secret.html) What he did was amazing and beautiful. If you wanted to take a bit of a flight of fancy, Hollywood could “adapt” his story as a “lost” time traveller ver5y easily as he and his ideas were brilliant but ahead of their time. One of my hereos, Regards FML [/QUOTE] Well, prog rock group Klaatu did a song based on this guy. 😃 > [@](#): > > Sub-Rosa Subway > (John Woloschuk / Dino Tome) > Back in 1870 just beneath the Great White Way > Alfred Beach worked secretly > Risking all to ride a dream > … ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/29 "2008-08-07T14:55:00Z")
Lady Godiva ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/30 "2008-08-07T14:59:16Z")
Moe Berg: Major League Baseball player, attorney, and war time spy for the OSS. [The Catcher was a Spy.](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Catcher-Was-a-Spy/Nicholas-Dawidoff/e/9780679762898/?itm=1) ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/31 "2008-08-07T15:14:50Z")
I’d like to see an _Amistad_-style movie about Dred Scott. How did he feel as his routine suit for freedom dragged on over 11 years and became a nationwide _cause celebre_? Little is known of Scott’s personality. Hollywood could put almost any words into his mouth without doing injustice to the historical record. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/32 "2008-08-07T15:34:17Z")
a few other interesting folks: **Frederick Douglass** – Born a slave. Learned to read and write. Escaped pretty dramatically to freedom. Wrote an autobiography (and a letter to his former master!) Wrote with considwerable wit, and became a significant figure before and during the Civil War. **Henry Knox** – fat Colonial Bookseller becomes a general in Washington’s army, responsible for artrillery. Responsible for moving cannon from captured Fort Ticonderoga to Boston 9in winter!) and succeeds in lifting the occupation, essentially without firing a shot. Continues throughout the REvolutionary War. Best scene: Knox is in the boat that Washington is getting into to Cross the Delaware (that famous scene). Washington digs into Knox with his toe and says: “Move that fat ass, Henry. But not too fast or you’ll sink us.” **Count Rumford** – born in Woburn, Massachusetts. Decides to leave the colonial side during the Revolutionary War and goes to Europe, where he becomes famous as a scientist and humanitarian, eventually getting an Eastern European title. There’s still a brand of baking powder named after him. The Woburn public library has a statue to him, despite the fact that he’s arguably a Revolutionary War traitor. Interesting and complex character. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/33 "2008-08-07T16:06:59Z")
Genghis Kahn - the miniseries would be great if it was done the right way! (that is, bloody, gritty and dirty) ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/34 "2008-08-07T16:43:35Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] Nikolai Tesla [/QUOTE] Same here. The more I read about him the more interested I’d be in seeing a movie made out him. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/35 "2008-08-07T16:43:36Z")
[Daniel Morgan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Morgan), a rough-hewn frontiersman who was one of the underappreciated heores of the American Revolution. His actions were critical to victory at Saratoga, and he won a pivotal battle at Cowpens, wiping out Tarleton’s command. He fired up his men before the battle of Cowpens by ripping off his shirt and showing them the scars from a lashing the British had once given him. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/36 "2008-08-07T16:46:46Z")
[QUOTE=WormTheRed] Genghis Kahn - the miniseries would be great if it was done the right way! (that is, bloody, gritty and dirty) [/QUOTE] If you can handle subtitles, there’s an excellent movie in theaters now covering the formative years of Genghis Khan: [Mongol](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416044/). You should catch it on the big screen if you can. The scenery is spectacular, and best appreciated in that format. ETA: I forgot you are in Iceland. Has _Mongol_ been released there? ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/37 "2008-08-07T16:52:50Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] If you can handle subtitles, there’s an excellent movie in theaters now covering the formative years of Genghis Khan: [Mongol](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416044/). You should catch it on the big screen if you can. The scenery is spectacular, and best appreciated in that format. ETA: I forgot you are in Iceland. Has _Mongol_ been released there? [/QUOTE] Looks really cool - and subtitles don’t bug me that much (people who aren’t supposed to speak english but do, does however bug me). I must try to get hold of it! Not that it’s every going to be shown on the big screen here (99,999% blockbusters), but my favourite dvd-rental might bring it in ones it’s released. And worst case, there’s always Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/38 "2008-08-07T17:50:08Z")
The movie rights to [Manhunt: the 12 Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer](http://www.jameslswanson.com/) were purchased by Harrison Ford’s production company. I’m hoping that will be made as the definitive Booth (and Surratt and others) are still up for grabs, and it’s a helluva story. ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/39 "2008-08-07T20:20:34Z")
I’ve always wanted to see someone tackle a movie about [Orde Wingate and his Chindits](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Longcloth#Operation_Longcloth). (If there are any good books out there about this, I would also be interested in recommendations.) ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/40 "2008-08-07T20:36:35Z")
[QUOTE=Gulo gulo] I’ve always wanted to see someone tackle a movie about [Orde Wingate and his Chindits](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Longcloth#Operation_Longcloth). (If there are any good books out there about this, I would also be interested in recommendations.) [/QUOTE] I highly recommend _Out of the Blue_ and _The Moonlight War_ (the former about the Chindits); written by Terence O’Brien, an air liason officer who went in with the Chindits. He died recently. ☹ They are out of print but well worth tracking down at the library. The interesting part is that the author thought Orde Wingate was, essentially, a lunatic with an amazing ability to convince otherwise clever and sane people of his genius. Quite harrowing and very, very good reads; by turns hilarious and terrifying. Edit: should mention that no-one interested in this subject should avoid Slim’s _Defeat into Victory_. My favourite part: his description of what he found _really_ frightening vs. what is not frightening at all (his conclusion: actively pursuing danger guns blazing is not frightening compared to passivly waiting to be killed - because action, any action, tends to lessen fear - allegedly the worst and most terrifying moment in the war for him was walking down an empty trail when he was sure he was going to be shot from ambush - and nothing happened). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094.md?page=3)