# What actor/actress has played the most real people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974 "2011-07-14T04:32:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/21 "2016-07-25T01:19:54Z")
Paul Muni played Napolean, Franz Schubert and black prizefighter Joe Gans [in the same movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020387/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_29):eek: and also Louis Pasteur Emile Zola Benito Juarez Joseph Elsner Pierre Espirit Radisson (and himself in one movie) His dream was to play Beethoven, but he couldn’t get Warner Brothers to make the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/22 "2016-07-25T01:26:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Anthony Hopkins has played Ernest Hemingway, Burt Munro, Ptolemy, Daniel Webster, Richard I, Charles Dickens, David Lloyd George, Siegfried Farnon, Bruno Hauptmann, Yitzhak Rabin, Col John Frost, Frederick Treves, Adolf Hitler, Paul of Tarsus, William Bligh, Galeazzo Ciano, Frank Doel, Donald Campbell, C. S. Lewis, Dr. John Kellogg, Richard Nixon, Pablo Picasso, John Quincy Adams, George Washington, John Winthrop, and William Radcliffe. I think Hopkins wins. But I came in to mention one of my favorite actors, Charlton Heston. Marc Antony(three films) Andrew Jackson(in two different films) Lt. William Clark Moses Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar Thomas Jefferson(TV movie) John the Baptist Michelangelo Gen. Charles Gordon Cardinal Richelieu Henry VIII Sir Thomas More(TV movie) Cpt. Al Haynes(TV movie) Brigham Young Whoops, didn’t see the earlier post > [@Sampiro](#): > > Charlton Heston portrayed Moses, Andrew Jackson (twice), Brigham Young, Michelangelo, John the Baptist, Sir Thomas More, Josef Mengele, Cardinal Richelieu, Robert Devereaux (Earl of Essex), Chinese Gordon, Thomas Jefferson, Henry VIII, Mark Antony (twice) and did voicework for Abraham Lincoln, Genghis Kahn, and other lesser known real people, and this isn’t including his stagework. > > Michael Sheen is nowhere near the record holder (though he has played several actual people) but I’ll give him honorable mention for having portrayed Tony Blair in three completely unrelated vehicles. Peter O’Toole played Henry II in the movie adaptations of two unrelated plays (_The Lion in Winter_ and _Becket_). ---
**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 25, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/23 "2016-07-25T02:55:22Z")
George Arliss: Cardinal Richelieu Duke of Wellington Mayer Rothschild Nathan Rothschild (in the same movie) Voltaire Alexander Hamilton (non-rapping version) Benjamin D’Israeli On a percentage basis, he’s near the top: he only made 25 movies. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/24 "2016-07-25T03:23:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Anthony Hopkins has played Ernest Hemingway, Burt Munro, Ptolemy, Daniel Webster, Richard I, Charles Dickens, David Lloyd George, Siegfried Farnon, Bruno Hauptmann, Yitzhak Rabin, Col John Frost, Frederick Treves, Adolf Hitler, Paul of Tarsus, William Bligh, Galeazzo Ciano, Frank Doel, Donald Campbell, C. S. Lewis, Dr. John Kellogg, Richard Nixon, Pablo Picasso, John Quincy Adams, George Washington, John Winthrop, and William Radcliffe. Some of those were V.O. work, but it’s still an impressive list. Since your post, he’s also played Alfred Hitchcock and Freddy Heineken. ---
**Author:** ![p4poetic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@p4poetic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/p4poetic)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/25 "2016-11-01T16:29:11Z")
In addition to playing Sally Hemings, Carmen Ejogo has played Coretta Scott King twice (HBO film Boycott in 2001 and Selma in 2014) each at two different points of her life. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/26 "2016-11-01T17:56:36Z")
Meryl Streep Florence Foster Jenkins Emmeline Pankhurst Margaret Thatcher Julia Child Abigail Adams Karen Milkweed I forgot the Devil Wears Prada character was a case of “names changed to protect us from lawsuits” kind of thing. 😉 There may be others. That’s a long list of films. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/27 "2016-11-01T19:13:59Z")
For women, I’d pick Helen Mirren. She has twelve now and one more in production. That includes both Shakespeare characters based on historical people and some made for TV biopics of people who aren’t exactly household names. I had to look some of them up to make sure they were real. Alma Rattenbury (Cause célèbre) Frances Penny Bethune (Bethune: The Making of a Hero) Queen Charlotte (The Madness of King George) Princess Evelyn Blucher (1914-1918) Kathleen Quigley (Some Mother’s Son) Ayn Rand (The Passion of Ayn Rand) Queen Elizabeth I (Elizabeth I) Queen Elizabeth II (The Queen) Alma Reville (Hitchcock) Linda Kenney Baden (Phil Spector) Maria Altmann (Woman in Gold) Hedda Hopper (Trumbo) Sarah Winchester (Winchester–still in production) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/28 "2016-11-01T20:34:09Z")
Never mind. I misread. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/29 "2016-11-01T22:08:54Z")
We can add at least one to Michael Sheen’s list: he plays William Masters in _Masters of Sex._ I haven’t checked his IMDb listing to see if there are others since this zombie thread was opened in 2011. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/30 "2016-11-01T22:25:28Z")
Probably some studio hack on the staff of the company that produced “You Are There” episodes, back i n the 1950s, re-enacting historical events. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/31 "2016-11-02T00:15:16Z")
You know you can l[ook this up](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045458/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast) in a second, right? The actor with the most appearances is Paul Birch, being in only 14 episodes, two of them as Robert E. Lee. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/32 "2016-11-02T00:32:27Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Meryl Streep > > Florence Foster Jenkins > Emmeline Pankhurst > Margaret Thatcher > Julia Child > Abigail Adams > Karen Milkweed > > I forgot the Devil Wears Prada character was a case of “names changed to protect us from lawsuits” kind of thing. 😉 There may be others. That’s a long list of films. Lindy Chamberlain Margaret Chase Smith Mary Easty Ethel Rosenberg Is Karen Milkweed spell-correct-ese for Karen Silkwood? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974/33 "2016-11-02T00:51:13Z")
The cast of _History Bites_, specifically Ron Pardo, Bob Bainborough, Janet van de Graaf and Teresa Pavlinek, any one of which played dozens of historical (and occasionally contemporary) persons, admittedly more often for laughs than any semblance of accuracy. Pardo’s repertoire alone includes David Letterman, Ed Sullivan, Howard Stern, Dennis Miller, Don Cherry, Tom Brokaw, Ted Koppel, Ivan the Terrible, Larry King, Regis Philbin, Julius Caesar, Nero, Claudius, Justinian I, William Shakespeare, Henry Hudson, Bill Maher, Jerry Seinfeld, Jerry Springer, Woody Allen, Carroll O’Connor (as Archie Bunker), Neil Diamond, Gene Siskel, Bill Clinton and Sir Isaac Newton. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-played-the-most-real-people/588974.md?page=1)