# Performers born to portray famous people in film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2001, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802 "2001-10-01T18:41:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/21 "2001-10-02T02:15:05Z")
Randy Quaid bears an uncanny resemblance to Lyndon Johnson, and he played LBJ in **LBJ: The Early Years** , a made-for-TV movie. ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/22 "2001-10-02T02:21:01Z")
Geoffrey Rush–The Marquis de Sade I just watched Quills. Wow. I say again–wow. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/23 "2001-10-02T02:29:28Z")
No one has mentioned Raymond Massey as Lincoln. He played the part a couple of times and people were starting to think Lincoln looked like Massey rather than the other way around. I understand that George C. Scott had the same effect on the reality of Patton. ---
**Author:** ![saudade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@saudade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saudade)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/24 "2001-10-02T02:31:37Z")
Did you see _Being John Malkovich_? I mean that actor had the guy nailed exactly. I also always think of Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain, but that may be another example of the actor shaping how we think of the real person. I remember Bill Murray as Edgar Allan Poe (I think he did such a skit on SNL, and he looked exactly like him). Since David Duke was mentioned, The guy who played Floyd the Barber on the “Andy Griffith Show” reminded me of Heinrich Himler for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/25 "2001-10-02T13:51:18Z")
Charlie Chaplin was born to play Adolph Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![KeithB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@KeithB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KeithB)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/26 "2001-10-02T15:50:20Z")
Edward Hermann as FDR. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/27 "2001-10-02T16:07:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by watsonwil \* > \*\*Charlie Chaplin was born to play Adolph Hitler. \*\* …and Robert Downey Jr. made an excellent Charlie Chaplin. Pity the movie as a whole really sucked. I know it was mentioned before and violates the OP, but I’ll say it again anyway: Shelly Duvall as Olive Oyl. With a resemblance that close, it would have been a pity if she’d never had the chance to play the role. Lawrence Fishburne as Malcolm X. But Denzel Washington comes a close second anyway. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/28 "2001-10-02T16:09:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WordMan \* > **Another obscure one: Ian Hart as John Lennon in “BackBeat” about the Beatles when Stu Sutcliffe was a member and they were in Hamberg - good movie.** Another from a movie about a band: In that VH-1 movie about Def Leppard, Anthony Michael Hall is a dead ringer for well-known producer Mutt Lange (Mr. Shania Twain, right?). ---
**Author:** ![Tretiak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Tretiak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tretiak)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/29 "2001-10-02T16:32:27Z")
Gary Busey as Buddy Holly. I mean the guy even got an Oscar nomination for it. ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/30 "2001-10-02T16:48:14Z")
Ed Harris as John Glenn in The Right Stuff…spooky…sometimes I see old footage of John Glenn on the History Channel and I have to stop and figure out if they’re showing a movie clip or the genuine article. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/31 "2001-10-02T17:18:44Z")
Robert Hardy did an incredible Winston Churchill some years ago. When I see pictures of the real Churchill they still seem a bit wrong. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/32 "2001-10-02T18:44:01Z")
Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela in _Long Walk to Freedom_, the movie is currently in production. > **[Free range](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/sep/02/morganfreeman)** > > Comic hitman, grizzly detective, Nelson Mandela - Hollywood latecomer Morgan Freeman tells James Mottram he is busier than ever, and he likes to keep his roles varied > [@](#): > > You are set to play Nelson Mandela. How did you come to choose that? > “It chose me. Mr Mandela finished his book. It was published that he said if he had his choice, he wanted me to play the role. I was asked by the producers if I was interested in doing it, so I got with the director Shekhar Kapur, and said I was flattered and honoured.” ---
**Author:** ![frock75](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ad7895/32.png) [@frock75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frock75)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/33 "2001-10-02T18:56:34Z")
David Bowie as Andy Warhol in “Basquiat”. Some may disagree, but I loved him in that movie. ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/34 "2001-10-03T00:32:42Z")
Crispin Glover did a great Warhol in _The Doors_. George C Scott, although tall for the role was otherwise a ringer for Mussolini. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802/35 "2001-10-03T01:04:39Z")
Sean Connery as King Hussein of Jordan, with Jerry Mathers as Prince Abdullah, in Royal Families and the Actors who Play Them [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-born-to-portray-famous-people-in-film/84802.md?page=1)