# Minor figures who've been portrayed multiple times in film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [March 2, 2023, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605 "2023-03-02T17:42:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/1 "2023-03-02T17:42:04Z")
So TIL about Charles Lightoller, who led what can only be called an eventful life. He was an officer on the Titanic and then went on to serve in WW1 and piloted a small civilian craft in the Dunkirk evacuation: > **[Charles Lightoller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lightoller)** > > Charles Herbert Lightoller, DSC & Bar, RD, RNR (30 March 1874 – 8 December 1952) was a British mariner and naval officer. He was the second officer on board the RMS Titanic and the most senior member of the crew to survive the Titanic disaster. As the officer in charge of loading passengers into lifeboats on the port side, Lightoller strictly enforced the women and children only protocol, not allowing any male passengers to board the lifeboats unless they were needed as auxiliary seamen. Li Ch... In the process he actually had two events in his life portrayed in film, once in the film Titanic (and other portrayals of the sinking) and again, for a different bit of his life, in the film Dunkirk (although the character was actually not called Charles Lightoller, it was canonically based on him and largely matches his real life experience, though presumably the change was due to the fact that the real Charles Lightoller did not take a random kid with him to Dunkirk and get him killed) So what other examples of this are there, where some random minor real life figure who is not one of the “great and the good” (e.g. Queen Elizabeth, Churchill, Lincoln, Caesar etc.) or even famous at all (e.g. Wyatt Earp, Elvis, Elliot Ness) or infamous (e.g. Billy the Kid, Al Capone, Dick Turpin) is portrayed multiple times in film? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/2 "2023-03-02T20:01:58Z")
The Roman soldier who poked Jesus on the cross has been depicted numerous times, most famously by John Wayne. ETA - “real life figure” is debatable. I should read more carefully. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/3 "2023-03-02T20:35:21Z")
The six Marines in the iconic “Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima” photograph have been portrayed in several films: **Sands of Iwo Jima** , **The Outsider** , and **Flags of Our Fathers**. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/4 "2023-03-02T20:36:52Z")
Surrrrrrlllyyy…this waz…the son of gawd. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/5 "2023-03-02T20:40:38Z")
Surrrrrrlllyyy…this waz…the son of Gawd, Pilgrim. What film was this? I’m betting very early in his career. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/6 "2023-03-02T20:42:55Z")
> **[The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059245/characters/nm0000078)** > > The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) John Wayne as Centurion at Crucifixion Lateish. A cameo in a star-laden mega film ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/7 "2023-03-02T20:45:16Z")
**GEORGE STEVENS (DIRECTOR):** No, no, John. Say it with awe! **JOHN WAYNE:** Awww, truly this man was the Son of God. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/8 "2023-03-02T20:46:31Z")
[quote=“terentii, post:7, topic:980605”] Awww, truly this man was the Son of God. [/quote], Pilgrim. Jeez. Thanks, Pavelb1. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/9 "2023-03-02T20:48:37Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Jeez. So to speak. 😏 ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/10 "2023-03-02T20:49:32Z")
Thats hilarious. I havent seen this film, but I see Charlton Heston played John the Baptist I assume all his scenes were shot waste deep in a river to keep him from chewing up the set. I love Chuck, but I can just imagine him as John the Baptist ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/11 "2023-03-02T20:50:25Z")
Probably would have drowned a couple of extras. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/12 "2023-03-02T20:53:36Z")
> [@Pavelb1](#): > > Thats hilarious. > > I havent seen this film, but I see Charlton Heston played John the Baptist > > I assume all his scenes were shot waste deep in a river to keep him from chewing up the set. I love Chuck, but I can just imagine him as John the Baptist Uh, I think you mean waist deep. Unless a lot of people emptied their chamber pots into the river. 🤮 And yeah, everybody and their brother was in that film. It also went way over schedule and damned near broke United Artists, which funded it. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/13 "2023-03-02T21:01:57Z")
So one person who possibly counts is Dave Toschi the detective who investigated the Zodiac killer and who dirty harry is based on. > **[Dave Toschi](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Toschi)** > > David Ramon Toschi (/ˈtɒski/; July 11, 1931 – January 6, 2018) was an American law enforcement officer widely known for his efforts in the San Francisco Police Department as an inspector in the Zodiac Killer case. His personal style was the model for Bullitt and Dirty Harry. > Toschi was born to the Italian-American family of school janitor Sam and Millie Toschi in San Francisco and was an alumnus of Galileo High School. Immediately upon graduation, he joined the US Army, and became a member of ... Other than famously being portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry, he was also portrayed by Mark Ruffalo (including a scene where the fictionalized Dave Toschi watched the even more fictionalized version of him in Dirty Harry) It’s a little more dubious as unlike Mr Dawson in Dunkirk (where almost all the main events occurred to the IRL Lightoller), Dirty Harry is only very roughly based on Toschi. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/14 "2023-03-02T21:05:02Z")
The was a documentary about this last week on (I think) the Smithsonian Channel. At least one of the flag raisers was misidentified,and it wasn’t until recently that things were straightened out. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/15 "2023-03-02T21:05:49Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > The six Marines in the iconic “Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima” photograph have been portrayed in several films: **Sands of Iwo Jima** , **The Outsider** , and **Flags of Our Fathers**. There’s probably a couple of examples like this. I thought maybe Dick Winters or one of the other Band Of Brothers characters had been portrayed in other films like Longest Day or other WW2 but can’t immediately see that. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/16 "2023-03-02T21:09:36Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > What film was this? I’m betting very early in his career. Actually, relatively late. It was a cameo in _The Greatest Story Ever Told_ in 1965. ETA: Reminder to self: Read the whole thread before replying. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/17 "2023-03-02T21:11:13Z")
I believe Mafia rat Henry Hill has been portrayed in films other than _ **Goodfellas** _, usually in documentaries about _la Cosa Nostra_. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/18 "2023-03-02T21:12:00Z")
Do spouses count? In pretty much every movie about Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln shows up. She’s famous, yes, but famous for being the wife of Lincoln. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/19 "2023-03-02T21:13:28Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The was a documentary about this last week on (I think) the Smithsonian Channel. At least one of the flag raisers was misidentified,and it wasn’t until recently that things were straightened out. The Flags of our Fathers tells this story, I rewatched it recently and it does an excellent job of telling it IMO ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605/20 "2023-03-02T21:13:31Z")
There are a number of characters tangentially related to the JFK assassination who have been portrayed in multiple films. E.g. David Ferrie has been a character in the films **JFK** , **Ruby** and **The Irishman**. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-figures-whove-been-portrayed-multiple-times-in-film/980605.md?page=2)