# Movies with Women playing Men (and Vice-Versa). NOT like Mrs., Doubtfire **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 12, 2023, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457 "2023-10-12T11:36:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [October 12, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/21 "2023-10-12T12:52:22Z")
The Kids in the Hall played various female characters in their movie “Brain Candy” (e.g. Bruce McCulloch as Alice, Scott Thompson as Mrs. Hurdicure) . ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/22 "2023-10-12T12:52:56Z")
And then there’s Divine… ---
**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:** [October 12, 2023, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/23 "2023-10-12T12:53:17Z")
I think that many (not all) of Ru Paul’s film appearances can qualify, such as playing Mrs. Cummings in **The Brady Bunch Movie** (1995) ---
**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:** [October 12, 2023, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/24 "2023-10-12T12:55:13Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > And I nearly forgot Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in **Some Like It Hot**. > Well, nobody’s perfect. Doesn’t count. Tony Curtis plays a guy who disguises himself as a woman. (Ditto for Jack Lemmon in the same film) But nobody’s perfect. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2023, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/25 "2023-10-12T12:56:40Z")
Arsenio Hall as “Extremely Ugly Girl” in **Coming to America**. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/26 "2023-10-12T12:57:45Z")
The original hologram of the Emperor in _Empire Strikes Back_ was a woman (Marjorie Eaton) with chimp eyes. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2023, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/27 "2023-10-12T12:58:30Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > That’s a nod to the British pantomime dame tradition. See also Alistair Sim as Miss Fritton (and her ne’er-do-well brother) in the original **St Trinian’s** movies (come to think of it, in the later ones both Lionel Jeffries and Rupert Everett dragged up as headmistress). And Terry Jones as Brian’s mother in **Life of Brian**. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2023, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/28 "2023-10-12T13:00:43Z")
There are the many times _Peter Pan_ was played by a woman, beginning with Betty Bronson in the 1924 silent version. Mary Martin played Pan in the first adaptation I saw, although that was on TV, not in the movies. She played the role onstage, as did Mary Lou Retton, Sandy Duncan, and Cathy Rigby. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/29 "2023-10-12T13:01:09Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Does animation count? The wife and one daughter in Bob’s Burgers are playing by men. If animation counts, Bart Simpson is voiced by a woman (Nancy Cartwright). ---
**Author:** ![Jackflag08](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dec6dc/32.png) [@Jackflag08](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackflag08)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/30 "2023-10-12T13:05:04Z")
Would dr. Liet Kynes in Dune count? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/31 "2023-10-12T13:12:20Z")
Terry Jones played female roles in _Monty Python’s Life of Brian_ and (lesser so) in _The Holy Grail_. Jones, Gilliam and Idle played women in _Meaning of Life_. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2023, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/32 "2023-10-12T13:17:18Z")
> [@Jackflag08](#): > > Would dr. Liet Kynes in Dune count? If you’re talking about the most recent adaptation, then no – they changed the sex of the character for that movie. Sharon Duncan-Brewster wasn’t playing outside her sex. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/33 "2023-10-12T13:18:39Z")
Lassie ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/34 "2023-10-12T13:39:26Z")
Debra Winger (uncredited) as “Emmet” in _Made in Heaven_ (1987). ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/35 "2023-10-12T13:42:17Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Tyler Perry in all the Big Momma movies. Tyler Perry doesn’t appear in the Big Momma movies; that’s Martin Lawrence, and Big Momma doesn’t count for this because she is the undercover identity of male FBI agent Malcolm Turner. Do _Juno_ and other movies starring a transgender person pre-transition count? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/36 "2023-10-12T13:42:47Z")
[Meryl Streep as the Rabbi in Angels in America](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXJ3PjeQ1NI). She was so impeccable that I had no idea that 1. it was a woman and 2. it was Meryl Streep, until I watched the credits. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/37 "2023-10-12T13:43:09Z")
> [@De\_La\_Rue](#): > > Do _Juno_ and other movies starring a transgender person pre-transition count? I was wondering that myself. I guess Elliot Page identified as a woman back than, as far as I know? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/38 "2023-10-12T13:48:01Z")
Damn - I was thinking of the Madea movies. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/39 "2023-10-12T13:49:06Z")
You could say the Talosians in the _Star Trek_ pilot **The Cage** fit the bill. Women played the Talosians, I suspect for reasons similar to The Old Dark House – they wanted a slimmer appearance and a high-pitched voice which, along with the bulbous head makeup, made them seem pretty alien. On the other hand 1.) We only assume the aliens are “really” male because of our 1960s cultural preconceptions 2.) Who says the Talosians were male? Maybe they were female all along. 3.) They’re alien -0- who says that they even have two sexes, or that their sexual characteristics resemble those of humans at all. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457/40 "2023-10-12T13:50:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You could say the Talosians in the _Star Trek_ pilot **The Cage** fit the bill. In addition to your other points, that was also a TV show, not a movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-women-playing-men-and-vice-versa-not-like-mrs-doubtfire/991457.md?page=3)