Randy Quaid bears an uncanny resemblance to Lyndon Johnson, and he played LBJ in LBJ: The Early Years, a made-for-TV movie.
Geoffrey Rush–The Marquis de Sade
I just watched Quills.
Wow.
I say again–wow.
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.
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.
Charlie Chaplin was born to play Adolph Hitler.
Edward Hermann as FDR.
…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.
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?).
Gary Busey as Buddy Holly. I mean the guy even got an Oscar nomination for it.
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.
Robert Hardy did an incredible Winston Churchill some years ago. When I see pictures of the real Churchill they still seem a bit wrong.
Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela in Long Walk to Freedom, the movie is currently in production.
David Bowie as Andy Warhol in “Basquiat”. Some may disagree, but I loved him in that movie.
Crispin Glover did a great Warhol in The Doors.
George C Scott, although tall for the role was otherwise a ringer for Mussolini.
Sean Connery as King Hussein of Jordan, with Jerry Mathers as Prince Abdullah, in Royal Families and the Actors who Play Them