Present Day counterparts...

Cafe Society
1

…to Golden Age stars.

Who would be an adequate portrayer of the real life version of:

  1. Robert Mitchum
  2. Cary Grant
  3. Maureen O’Hara
  4. Jane Russell
  5. Robert Ryan
  6. Burt Lancaster
  7. Ginger Rogers
  8. Jean Simmons
  9. James Stewart
  10. Elizabeth Taylor
2

Okay, I’ll play my silly game:

  1. Robert Mitchum – Michael Madsen
  2. Cary Grant – Jon Hamm
  3. Maureen O’Hara – Reba McEntire
  4. Jane Russell – Salma Hayek (looks only!)
  5. Robert Ryan – Scott Glenn
  6. Burt Lancaster – Russell Crowe
  7. Ginger Rogers – Jennifer Beals
  8. Jean Simmons – Gemma Arterton
  9. James Stewart – Chris Cooper
  10. Elizabeth Taylor – Sherilyn Fenn (already played her at least once)

Surely you can improve on some of these. Is there a modern day Maureen O’Hara, Jane Russell, Ginger Rogers or Jean Simmons?

3

Cary Grant is definitely George Clooney – Hamm, though handsome, doesn’t have the intelligence and wit needed to be a Cary Grant.

4

Good points! I had real trouble with almost everyone, Grant especially. Burt is hard to reproduce, too.

5

Most of your others I don’t care about, but who’s our:

  1. Barbara Stanwyck
  2. Bette Davis
  3. Humphrey Bogart
  4. Jimmy Cagney

?

6

I’ve always thought there was a good similarity between Virginia Madsen and Stanwyck. And, yes, I do have a thing for the Madsens.

When you deal with the uniqueness of the other three, you’re going to have to focus on looks or style, since nobody is going to have both. Otherwise, all you have is a caricature at best.

I’ve seen Rob Morrow do some things that approximate aspects of Bogart.

7

I really think that Tom Hanks would need to be considered as our generation’s Jimmy Stewart.

8

Would anybody buy Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis?

9

Yeah, that works.

'Cause of the eyes? I was thinking more of Sigourney Weaver, in terms of the roles they play – the unconventional woman vibe.

10

The eyes, of course, but also the brassiness. I don’t see Sigourney at all, except maybe as Joan Crawford.

Tom Hanks is a bit too glib to be Stewart for my tastes. Not that I have a better answer.

Cagney is hard to nail down! Too many aspects to his persona.

What we need is a website that shows all the current day people. Like a high school annual or something.

Is there anybody in the old school that Johnny Depp could play? Edward Norton? Ed Harris?

11

Not in looks, but in talent I think Steve Martin could be Jimmy Cagney. He does serious drama, comedy, and is not a terrible song-and-dance man. Cagney could dance rings around Martin, but watch Steve in a Herbert Ross film and he’s pretty good.

12

I can see that as a stretch if it came down to a serious effort at a biopic. I spent quite some time looking at Yahoo! Images of Cagney and the only faces that tried to come to my mind were of Kenneth Branagh and Arliss Howard, neither of whom would get the essential Cagney across. Just for resemblance alone I see a little (and only a little) David Rasche and maybe a touch of Jeremy Irons.

If you want to find a perfect fit for Steve Martin, try Vanderbilt’s departing head football coach Bobby Johnson. http://nashvillecitypaper.com/files/citypaper/imagecache/story_center/images/Bobby-Johnson.jpg

13

Rogers: Reese Witherspoon

14

How about Virginia Madsen?

15

This will probably get some protest, but I’m going with Bruce Willis as the modern counterpart to Robert Mitchum.