# US Presidents in the cinema **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442 "2005-07-14T01:26:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/21 "2005-07-14T02:52:06Z")
Jason Robards played U.S. Grant (as president) in the regrettable movie _The Lone Ranger_. Andrew Johnson was a character on some episodes of the TV show _Branded_ (they took place after his presidency when he was a senator). Pat McCormick (bka Big Enos from the _Smokey & the Bandit_ movies- today he’s an emaciated amputee, very sad) played Grover Cleveland in the Robert Altman/Paul Newman film [Buffalo Bill and the Indians](http://imdb.com/title/tt0074254/). (Shelley Duvall played his much younger wife.) I thought a major flaw in the movie _Contact_ was using actual footage of Bill Clinton. It irrevocably dates the movie. Hopkins as Adams 2 in _Amistad_ was mentioned above; the same film featured Nigel Hawthorne as Martin Van Buren. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/22 "2005-07-14T03:22:51Z")
I once watched a Three Stooges short in which there was a scene with an actor playing FDR. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/23 "2005-07-14T05:27:07Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Ralph Wiggum played George Washington, not FDR. I think he’s referring to the scene where Ralph said, “Ok, I’m ready to play Washington!” and jumped up in a wheelchair with glasses & a long cigarette holder – the classic FDR pose. (Lisa: “Umm…Ralph?”) And since we’ve already broken the rule about TV Presidents 🙂 how about Milhouse as Abe Lincoln, and random Springfield kids as Tayler, Tyler, Fillmore, Hayes, and William Henry Harrison (“I died in 30 days!”) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/24 "2005-07-14T05:44:05Z")
Ossie Davis played JFK in [Bubba Ho-Tep](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281686/). ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/25 "2005-07-14T06:28:21Z")
The miniseries “The Adams Chronicles” featured George Grizzard as John Adams, David Birney and William Daniels both portraying John Quincy Adams, Albert Stratton as Thomas Jefferson, and Wesley Addy as Andrew Jackson. I don’t see anyone credited as playing George Washington, who perhaps didn’t show up on the series. Christopher Lloyd played a Russian czar. In the NBC miniseries “Backstairs at the White House”, presidents from Taft through Eisenhower appeared. Victor Buono as Taft, Robert Vaughh as Wilson, George Kennedy as Harding, Ed Flanders as Coolidge, John Anderson as Roosevelt, Harry Morgan as Truman, and Andrew Duggan as Eisenhower. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/26 "2005-07-14T06:32:18Z")
Whoops, missed the Backstairs at the White House reference earlier. My apologies. An actor named Bill Hindman portrayed Andrew Johnson in a TV movie called “The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/27 "2005-07-14T12:54:14Z")
FDR is portrayed in **Yankee Doodle Dandy**. They never show his face, but it’s clear that he’s the president they mean. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/28 "2005-07-14T13:03:50Z")
Steven Spileberg is developing a biographical movie about Abe Lincoln. It will star Liam Neeson. Additional details can be seen [here.](http://movies.hsx.com/servlet/SecurityDetail?symbol=ABE) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/29 "2005-07-14T13:05:16Z")
And Steven _Spielberg_ is even expected to help. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/30 "2005-07-14T13:21:08Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Hopkins as Adams 2 in _Amistad_ was mentioned above; the same film featured Nigel Hawthorne as Martin Van Buren. I was going to point this out as well. Van Buren comes across as something of a dolt, when he was actually a very, very gifted politician - so much so that he was known as The Little Magician and The Fox of Kinderhook. He had the uneviable task of being Jackson’s hand-picked successor. ---
**Author:** ![snorlax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@snorlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snorlax)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/31 "2005-07-14T13:37:56Z")
Dan Hedaya does a great turn as Nixon in _Dick_, a comedy concerning the identity of Deep Throat. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/32 "2005-07-14T13:52:34Z")
I just IMDB’d Edward Herrmann & was amazed to find he has only portrayed FDR three times (two TV miniseries on FDR & Eleanor and the theatrical release movie of Annie). I thought he’d done FDR at least half a dozen times. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/33 "2005-07-14T14:21:12Z")
Michael Gambon played Lyndon Johnson in _Path to War_. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/34 "2005-07-14T14:44:29Z")
HBO’s movie Iron Jawed Angels had Woodrow Wilson during the fight for women’s sufferage ---
**Author:** ![Southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/35 "2005-07-14T14:49:04Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > FDR is portrayed in **Yankee Doodle Dandy**. They never show his face, but it’s clear that he’s the president they mean. [Trivia]The producers couldn’t find anyone who both looked and sounded like FDR, so they ended up using two men, one for the back of the head, the other for the voice.[/Trivia] Barry Bostwick, Jeff Daniels, Brian Dennehey(!), and Kelsey Grammer all played Washington in TV movies. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/36 "2005-07-14T17:09:14Z")
Lance Henrickson played Lincoln in a miniseries some time back… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/37 "2005-07-14T17:19:00Z")
Randy Quaid played LBJ in a TV movie. Dan Hedaya was Nixon in _Dick_. Kevin Kline was Grant in that horrible _Wild, Wild West_ movie (arguably worse than the \*Lone Ranger \* fiasco). ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/38 "2005-07-14T17:24:10Z")
> [@Southpaw](#): > > Barry Bostwick, Jeff Daniels, Brian Dennehey(!), and Kelsey Grammer all played Washington in TV movies. Also, Richard Baseheart, in _Valley Forge_, in 1975. Most, if not all of these portrayed Washington before he was president. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/39 "2005-07-14T17:37:54Z")
Capt. Jack Young as FDR in “Yankee Doodley Dandy” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442/40 "2005-07-14T18:52:23Z")
So far as I know, there have been no screen portrayals of James Madison, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, or Rutherford Hayes. And some presidents have been portrayed only once: James Monroe (_The Man Without a Country_), Martin Van Buren (_The Gorgeous Hussy_), William Henry Harrison (_Ten Gentlemen From West Point_), James Polk (_The Oregon Trail_), Franklin Pierce (_The Great Moment_), Chester Arthur (_Cattle King_), William McKinley (_This Is My Affair_), and William Howard Taft (_The Sculptor’s Nightmare_). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-presidents-in-the-cinema/312442.md?page=3)