There have been threads on people who have been majorly whitewashed in biopics, so this turnabout seems fair. Who are some people who weren’t-nearly-as-evil-as-painted in biopics (about them or about others in their life)?
The two who come immediately to mind:
Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest- even Christina Crawford thought the movie went overboard. While few would deny that Joan had mental problems and was a substance abuser and could be a first order bi-yotch, the movie was an exaggerated retelling of a bipolar and embittered disinherited child’s most negative memories (which were disputed by Crawford’s other children). A pity that it will forever be a tail pinned on a great actress and people who have never seen her Oscar winning performance will still know “she’s the one with an axe who hated wire hangers, right?”
Ike Turner in What’s Love Got to Do With It- by his own admission Ike is not likely to win N.O.W.'s Man of the Century Award (he’s been married thirteen times, in fact), but the movie (great as Fishburne’s performance was, and it was) did a real number on him. Among the more glaring inaccuracies: Ike was not the father of Tina’s first son, he never brought a gun to her dressing room on her comeback night (Tina herself says she’s only seen him three times since 1978), and he most certainly was not untalented after A Fool in Love or deadweight in their acts (the man still gets thundrous standing ovations in his 70s for his solo show- in fact he’s better-than-ever today now that he’s off drugs and no longer pandering to disco and synthesizer and whatever else is trendy but has returned to his R&B/early Rock roots).
Sidestory: when the movie What’s Love Got to Do With It was in pre-production Ike was in desperate need of money for legal fees and medical bills (both related to his drug addiction). Disney (the movie’s makers) offered him $45,000 to sign a waiver to use him as a character in the movie and he accepted for the cash; this disallowed him not only from suing the makers of the film but even from issuing denials during the year of its release. Even Tina stated publicly and for the record that she thought the movie was unfair to him.
I’m sure there are many others who have been maligned as well. Who would you add?