# Want to elect an unqualified celebrity president? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197 "2004-10-31T21:40:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DuhCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@DuhCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DuhCow)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/1 "2004-10-31T21:40:43Z")
which actor has played the president of the united states in the most films? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/2 "2004-11-01T00:38:09Z")
William Devane? Martin Sheen? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/3 "2004-11-01T01:08:41Z")
Ava Gardner? Benji? #5? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/4 "2004-11-01T01:40:15Z")
I can’t think of any who’s played the President more than once. Among Presidential performances that I’ve seen, I’d vote for Morgan Freeman. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/5 "2004-11-01T01:41:37Z")
> [@The OP title](#): > > Want to elect an unqualified celebrity president? No, thanks. We already have one. ---
**Author:** ![ShockingAlberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@ShockingAlberto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShockingAlberto)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/6 "2004-11-01T01:53:14Z")
Although I honestly can’t say who’s played the President on more than one occasion, I can say which celebrities would be great presidents, if judging only by their roles in their movies: Martin Sheen and Harrison Ford. Perhaps on the same ticket… ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/7 "2004-11-01T02:14:31Z")
If you count former presidents, Anthony Hopkins played John Quincy Adams in _Amistad_ and Richard Nixon in _Nixon_, but he was born on the wrong side of the Atlantic. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/8 "2004-11-01T02:22:22Z")
Charlton Heston has played two presidents (Andrew Jackson & Thomas Jefferson) in three movies (Jackson in _The President’s Lady_ and _The Buccaneer_ and Jefferson in _The Patriots_). He has also played the odd senator, king (Henry VIII among others) and religious leader (Brigham Young among others, who was president of Deseret, a state comprise of what are now Utah, Nevada and much of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and parts of California), so I think he has the most experience to be the next Hollywood president. As far as who seems the most presidential, I’d go with a Steve Martin & Kevin Spacey ticket. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/9 "2004-11-01T02:42:04Z")
A IMDB character search for president: Tim Bottoms has played GWB in 3 different things. (he looks startlingly like him, too) Bryan Clark (3: Reagan, FDR and a “President Hughes” in a movie "Megaville) Ronny Cox (3 fictional presidents) Joseph Crehan (U.S. Grant in 4 different things) Richard M. Dixon (3 different including Nixon twice) Andrew Duggan (3 including Eisenhower) Ed Flanders (4, including 3 Trumans and 1 Coolidge) Larry Gates (3 including Arthur and Hoover) That’s the first 600 hits, and my timer went off so you’ll have to find any \>4. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/10 "2004-11-01T02:50:16Z")
> [@edwino](#): > > Richard M. Dixon (3 different including Nixon twice) Well, that figures, he’s only off by a letter. ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/11 "2004-11-01T02:56:32Z")
Christopher Walken. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/12 "2004-11-01T03:07:56Z")
Harrison Ford. Just imagine the possibilities… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/13 "2004-11-01T03:51:22Z")
Edward Herrmann has played FDR in three movies, VP Nelson Rockefeller in another, and fictitious presidents (no Michael Moore reference intended) in at least two others. He also played perrennial office-seeker Wm. Randolph Hearst. Ken Howard has played Thomas Jefferson in two movies and voiced him in others, while his _1776_ co-star William Daniels has made a mini-career playing and voicing John Adams (which is odd because he looks almost nothing like him, though _1776_ was a great movie). Actors I’d least like to see as president: Don Knotts, Jim Carrey, Bobcat Goldthwaite, the two Coreys and Wanda Sykes. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/14 "2004-11-01T04:23:59Z")
Bill Pullman. I want my unqualified celebrity president to be able to hop into a jet fighter with zero experience and kick some nonsensical alien _ass_. Will Smith as V.P. Jeff Goldblum as Secretary of State optional. ---
**Author:** ![cstamets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@cstamets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cstamets)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/15 "2004-11-01T11:03:31Z")
[QUOTE=Roland Orzabal] Bill Pullman. I want my unqualified celebrity president to be able to hop into a jet fighter with zero experience and kick some nonsensical alien _ass_. Will Smith as V.P./QUOTE] But the president in Independence Day did have experience. He was a fighter pilot before he became president, wasn’t he? Or am I misremembering something? ---
**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:** [November 1, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/16 "2004-11-01T13:38:26Z")
I thought this thread was going to be about ARnold–he is unqualified, not being born in this country, and definitely a celebrity. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/17 "2004-11-01T13:43:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Want to elect an unqualified celebrity president? Been there, done that. 1980. 1984. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/18 "2004-11-01T14:07:41Z")
Well, Henry Fonda has played a President at least 3 times that I know of. There was: 1. “Fail Safe,” in which he allowed the Russians to nuke New York. 2. “Meteor,” an early version of “Armageddon”/“Deep Impact,” in which a huge asteroid is about to hit the Earth. 3. “Young Mr. Lincoln” (Okay, he played a FUTURE President in that one.) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/19 "2004-11-01T14:46:05Z")
> [@cstamets](#): > > But the president in Independence Day did have experience. He was a fighter pilot before he became president, wasn’t he? Or am I misremembering something? I think you’re right. **Sampiro** , Martin and Spacey - especially Martin - definitely have the hair for the job. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197/20 "2004-11-01T15:36:20Z")
Peter Sellers played the President in “Dr Strangelove”, and didn’t he wind up as President (or being groomed for it) by the end of “Being There”? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-elect-an-unqualified-celebrity-president/272197.md?page=2)