I’ve been noticing cases of films where women play men – not as a plot element, or in some weird transgender twist or the like. The director simply decided for some reason to cast a woman in a role that is undeniably male. It could be because they wanted someone to play a really old guy with a high voice or something (I’ve done this myself for a radio play). But there might be some other reason. The character isn’t “revealed to be of the opposite sex” at the end of the film, or anything.In fact, in the film’s creditds the actress might be only identified by initials or an ambiguous name to disguide the fact that there was a gender swap.
Sometimes it goes the other way, with a man portraying a woman, but more rarely, I think.
Women playing Men
The Old Dark House(1932) – Elspeth Dudgeon portrays the elderly and bed-ridden patriarch Sir Roderick Femm. She was credited as “John Dudgeon”
Thief of Bagdad (1924) – Mathildfe Comont played the obese Prince of Persia. Probably with a LOT of padding. She didn’t even get screen credit for the role, so they didn’t have to disguise her name.
the Year of Living Dangerously (1982) – Linda Hunt played Billy Kwan. We live in more enlightened times. Not only did they acknowledge Hunt by name, she won an academy award for the role. Peter Weir evidently originally used male actors for the part, but they didn’t give the interactive vibe he wanted. Hunt was perfect in portraying the sexual ambiguity. Oddly, she didn’t catch flak for the gender swap, but 3for playing a “yellowface” role. (Interestingly, the other actors considered that are listed in the Wikipedia article were also non-asian).
Male playing Female
The Mouse that Roared (1959) – Peter Sellers as Duchess Gloriana XII – Sellers has appeared in several films playing multiple roles (such as in Dr. Strangelove), so it wasn’t unusual that he played multiple parts in this one. But it’s the only time I can recall him playing a female role. He plays a very mature Gloriana, probably because it was the only way they could make Sellers convincingly a woman (as with Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire). In the book, IIRC, Gloriana is an athletic twenty-somerthing who rides a bicycle.
The List of Adrian Mesinger (1963) – Burt Lancaster (!) plays a woman who is protesting fox hunts. This was a “gimmick” movie in which, in addition to the “straight” mystery, they placed five famous Hollywood actors in heavy makeup and challenged the audience to pick them out. This one sort of violates my rules, because at the end of the film Lancaster, like the other disguised actors, comes forward and removes his makeup and gets credited.
Orlano (1992) It’s probably appropriate that for the adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s sexually ambiguous novel they got gay icon Quentin Crisp to play Queen Elizabeth I. Tilda Swinton plays the sexually morphing Orlando as both male and female, so she gets to be included, too.
Both
Cloud Atlas (2012) – in this Wachowski film that’s about interconnectedness of people there are multiple cases of men playing women and women playing men, and also of people playing characters of other races. Too many to list individually. Look it up on imdb or Wikipedia. I can’t condemn this film for “blackface” or “yellowface” or any such apparent transgressions, because the ability of people to take on any and all roles in the entire point. Besides, it’s the only time I can recall that actors of Asian descent – Bae Doona and Zhao Xun – played Caucasian characters
Any others?
