# movies where an actor imitates another actor in the same movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902 "2012-06-02T23:56:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/1 "2012-06-02T23:56:25Z")
I was watching As Good As It Gets and there’s a couple of scenes where Greg Kinnear’s çharacter imitates Jack Nicholson’s character. I got to thinking, there is a scene in A Few Good Men where Tom Cruise imitates Jack Nicholson. Naturally Jack Nicholson has a unique style that can be imitated. I got to wondering if there are any other movies where an actor imitates another actor like that? I’m not talking about an imitation of the character so much as an imitation that apes the actor. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/2 "2012-06-03T00:05:47Z")
hunt for red october. alec mimics sean in a scene regarding not shooting nukes. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/3 "2012-06-03T00:09:46Z")
There’s the mirror scene in that old Marx Brothers movie… This could actually be fairly rare, because imitating the way a (distinctive) actor behaves is perceived as breaking the fourth wall, much like pointing out how much the character looks like the actor or actress playing the part. Which, really, people should be pointing out ALL THE TIME. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/4 "2012-06-03T00:11:29Z")
Face/Off? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/5 "2012-06-03T00:22:56Z")
Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop. “I’m not falling for the bananas in the tailpipe again.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/6 "2012-06-03T02:04:52Z")
Tony Curtis imitates Cary Grant in **Some Like It Hot**. It’s a pretty good imitation, even if Jack Lemmon says “Nobody talks like that” (the movie was set before talkies). The actor who portrays Hildy’s fiance in **His Girl Friday** does an uncanny Ralph Bellamy imitation; it’s commented on by Walter Burns. 😉 Similarly, the actress portraying George Clooney’s girlfriend in **Ocean’s Twelve** does a killer Julia Roberts in order to fool Bruce Willis. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/7 "2012-06-03T02:23:20Z")
Val Kilmer imitates Marlin Brando in my favorite movie, _The Island of Dr. Moreau_. While wearing the same bizarre costume. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/8 "2012-06-03T02:36:06Z")
Steve Martin imitated Lily Tomlin imitating Steve Martin in **All of Me** ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/9 "2012-06-03T04:26:49Z")
There’s a fantastic moment where the oft-imitated Christopher Walken imitates/mocks Joy Mohr in **Suicide Kings**. According to the commentary, this was ad-libbed by Walken because Mohr had been walking around the set doing Walken imitations the entire time of the shooting. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/10 "2012-06-03T05:05:05Z")
Rob Lowe does a killer Robert Wagner in a couple Austin powers movies. I would like to see Christopher Walken do a Robert Wagner impression but I don’t think that’s happening soon. :eek: ---
**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:** [June 3, 2012, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/11 "2012-06-03T08:37:15Z")
In _Arsenic and Old Lace_ with Cary Grant, Raymond Massey imitates Boris Karloff. I always wondered why, if they were able to get Peter Lorre for the Doctor, they couldn’t get Karloff to play Jonathan. That is, after all, how the characters are described in the original play (as looking like Karloff and Lorre), and I believe Karloff did play him on stage. Was he under exclusive contract to another studio, or what…? ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/12 "2012-06-03T08:50:20Z")
In _How The West Was Won_, one of the actors playing (I think) his character’s grandson does a great impression of James Stewart. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2012, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/13 "2012-06-03T09:41:57Z")
Rob Schneider, riffing Stallone in **Judge Dredd** : “I am duh lwawww!” ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/14 "2012-06-03T10:55:30Z")
Thirteen posts and I’m the first to mention “Being John Malkovich”? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/15 "2012-06-03T11:32:06Z")
Red Buttons, briefly, in [One Two three](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NELQZZF9qII). ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/16 "2012-06-03T14:55:17Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Tony Curtis imitates Cary Grant in **Some Like It Hot**. It’s a pretty good imitation, even if Jack Lemmon says “Nobody talks like that” (the movie was set before talkies). > > The actor who portrays Hildy’s fiance in **His Girl Friday** does an uncanny Ralph Bellamy imitation; it’s commented on by Walter Burns. 😉 > > Similarly, the actress portraying George Clooney’s girlfriend in **Ocean’s Twelve** does a killer Julia Roberts in order to fool Bruce Willis. There is also the scene in “Some Like it Hot” where one of the gangsters is flipping a coin and his boos, George Raft, tells him to stop, asking him where did he learn a cheap stunt like that. The joke is it was George Raft’s character in “Scarface” some 25 years earlier. Not quite what the OP asked for but in “On The Wings of Eagles” Ward Bond plays a film director called “John Dodge”, imitating the mannerisms of the actual director John Ford. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/17 "2012-06-03T16:47:29Z")
Just for the trivia aspect of it, in _Rebel Without A Cause_ James Dean does a near-perfect mimicry of Jim Backus as Mr. Magoo. Backus plays Dean’s father. There’s a point where Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo are exploring the deserted mansion towards the end of the movie. Dean responds to a question about what to do with children by saying (as Mr. Magoo), “Drown them like puppies.” More at [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi\_m1272/is\_2712\_133/ai\_n6198789/](http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2712_133/ai_n6198789/) ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/18 "2012-06-03T17:17:21Z")
In the new _Men in Black 3_, Josh Brolin plays a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones’ character and, by all reports, does a nice job of it. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/19 "2012-06-03T19:01:53Z")
[Adolf Hitler - My Part in His Downfall](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068171/) Jim Dale does a convincing imitation of a young Spike Milligan. Spike himself appears in the film, playing his own father. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902/20 "2012-06-03T19:44:54Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In _Arsenic and Old Lace_ with Cary Grant, Raymond Massey imitates Boris Karloff. > > I always wondered why, if they were able to get Peter Lorre for the Doctor, they couldn’t get Karloff to play Jonathan. That is, after all, how the characters are described in the original play (as looking like Karloff and Lorre), and I believe Karloff did play him on stage. Was he under exclusive contract to another studio, or what…? The play was still running on Broadway, and the producers refused to let Karloff leave. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-an-actor-imitates-another-actor-in-the-same-movie/623902.md?page=2)