# When actors in historical films/biopics convinced you they were the real thing (or not) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713 "2011-02-26T17:31:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/21 "2011-02-27T20:38:10Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > And perhaps Michael Sheen’s multiple portrayals of Tony Blair should be mentioned. And also his wonderful turns as Brian Clough, Kenneth Williams and David Frost. Bloody hell, he’s a one-man dinner party guest list. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/22 "2011-02-27T21:01:08Z")
Leigh Dilley was a convincing Winston Churchill. ---
**Author:** ![Agnostic\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Agnostic\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agnostic_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/23 "2011-02-27T22:00:43Z")
In the (or not) category, John Wayne as Genghis Khan is up there with Edgar G. Robinson. I’ve only seen _The Conqueror_ once, and I still can’t believe I was that masochistic. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/24 "2011-02-27T23:21:52Z")
James Purefoy as Mark Anthony in “Rome”. Christopher Plummer as Wellington in “Waterloo”. In the not to, it is hard to top Depardieu as Christopher Colombus (funnily Depardieu will be forever in my mind when I think of Danton). ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/25 "2011-02-27T23:34:09Z")
Gary Busey in _The Buddy Holly Story_. Hands down one of the best biopic performances ever put on celluloid. He was spot on. Brilliant. He did all his own playing and singing, but even more impressive was that the musical performances were all done live, which is very unusal for these kinds of movies. Usually the performances are taped (even if the actors are doing their own vocals or playing their own instruments), and then mimed and lip-synched on screen. In _The Buddy Holly Story_, when the Crickets were playing, they were really playing. Some of the narrative aspects of that film are a little routine, but in terms of musical performances and replicating the real star, it’s as good as any rock and roll biopic ever made. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/26 "2011-02-27T23:38:42Z")
**Noah Wily** as Steve Jobs. **Anthony Michael Hall** , as Bill Gates, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/27 "2011-02-27T23:41:31Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Hal Holbrook seems to morph into Mark Twain. > How close he is to tawin is hard to say-the last person who knew Mark Twain died years ago. Supposedly very. He began researching the role in the 1950s when Twain was roughly about the same distance in time as JFK’s assassination. He interviewed many people who had seen Twain give lectures and a few who had known him well including, most notably his former secretary Isabel Lyon (with whom Twain parted on terrible terms) as well as Twain’s daughter Clara. He said there are two things about his characterization that are not accurate, but they are intentional: Twain did not smoke cigars while he lectured (he was a heavy smoker off-stage of course) and is only once known to have lectured in a white suit (that being in front of Congress). One reason he made these changes was to stop people from stealing his act: he couldn’t copyright the Twain material but he has challenged people who do a Twain show with a cigar and a white suit. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/28 "2011-02-28T02:21:33Z")
> [@williambaskerville](#): > > Kenneth Branagh in Conspiracy, a movie about the Wahnsee Conference. > > He was playing Reinhard Heydrich, a man I would personally nominate for most evil individual of the 20th century, if you define evil as (evil intent \* inherent ability to carry out said evil intent). > > I’ve listened to Heydrich’s voice in speeches, and yet I still hear Branagh’s voice when I read stuff Heydrich wrote. That is an excellent movie. [This version](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088377/) is also chilling. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/29 "2011-02-28T02:26:09Z")
Everybody in _Deadwood_. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/30 "2011-02-28T11:09:47Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > That is an excellent movie. > [This version](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088377/) is also chilling. Agreed, one of the most frightening movies I’ve ever seen. And, surfing the Zeitgeist, It has cuddly Colin Firth as an ice cold DR. Stuckart. It drips with malice, I am reminded of the phrase “The banality of evil” ---
**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:** [February 28, 2011, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/31 "2011-02-28T12:05:08Z")
John Hurt as Joseph “John” Merrick and Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Frederick Treves in THE ELEPHANT MAN. As a rival to Charlton Heston as Moses, Ben Kingsley. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/32 "2011-02-28T13:41:13Z")
Although I’m sure a lot of people can’t help but see Matthew Broderick as, well, Matthew Broderick, he looks uncannily like Robert Gould Shaw in some pictures. And Broderick was far from his usual happy-g-lucky character in this film. I think he did a great job. (Unfortunately, he doesn’t look as close in this photo, the only comparison photos I’ve found on the internet. In other pictures, he looks much more similar: [http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3F\_adv\_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Drobert%2Bgould%2Bshaw%2Bbroderick%26fr%3Dyfp-t-980&w=640&h=454&imgurl=ia.media-imdb.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BMTQ5OTM5MTI4MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTM2MDkwMw%40%40.\_V1.\_SX640\_SY454\_.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Fmedia%2Frm4043935232%2Ftt0097441&size=39KB&name=Still+of+Matthew...&p=robert+gould+shaw+broderick&oid=192ed315a13f1ddbbfaa340cea2ac1be&fr2=&no=1&tt=349&sigr=11gr3ae94&sigi=131s6kpk8&sigb=138hend1v&.crumb=UKCydYmXxxq](http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3F_adv_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Drobert%2Bgould%2Bshaw%2Bbroderick%26fr%3Dyfp-t-980&w=640&h=454&imgurl=ia.media-imdb.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BMTQ5OTM5MTI4MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTM2MDkwMw%40%40._V1._SX640_SY454_.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Fmedia%2Frm4043935232%2Ftt0097441&size=39KB&name=Still+of+Matthew...&p=robert+gould+shaw+broderick&oid=192ed315a13f1ddbbfaa340cea2ac1be&fr2=&no=1&tt=349&sigr=11gr3ae94&sigi=131s6kpk8&sigb=138hend1v&.crumb=UKCydYmXxxq) ) ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/33 "2011-02-28T14:11:53Z")
Sean Penn as Harvey Milk ([_Milk_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1013753/)). ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/34 "2011-02-28T16:20:58Z")
Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb as Sid and Nancy ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/35 "2011-02-28T16:30:37Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Christopher Plummer as Wellington in “Waterloo”. A great performance in a great film. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/36 "2011-02-28T16:34:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > When I hear a tape of the real Patton speaking, I’m surprised he doesn’t sound like George C. Scott. Interesting, I’d never heard a recording of the real Patton’s voice. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uYjnWXFTQkM/hqdefault.jpg "Patton Speech") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYjnWXFTQkM) Patton starts speaking about a minute in. Much less gruff than Scott’s voice. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/37 "2011-02-28T22:54:50Z")
[William Daniels](http://johnadams1776.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/26-01-john_adams.jpg) actually looks very little like [John Adams](http://www.visitingdc.com/images/john-adams-picture.jpg); Adams- though not tall- was taller than Daniels, bald, and so chubby that his colleagues often referred to him in absentia as “His Rotundity”. However, Daniels forever IS Adams as far as I’m concerned for the way he perfectly embodied the zealous, brilliant, passionate (in politics and in his marriage) and, most importantly, “obnoxious and disliked” founder in _1776_ and in a couple of other movies where he had cameos. When Paul Giamatti, a fine actor, played him in the much longer and more historian-supervised miniseries I kept thinking “William Daniels could have done that so much better…”. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/38 "2011-02-28T22:58:52Z")
Brian Dennehy, who I normally like, was absolutely _nothing_ like Bobby Knight in _Season On The Brink._ Horrible, horrible choice. ETA: John Adams looked like a koala. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/39 "2011-02-28T23:15:02Z")
“Convincing” doesn’t do justice to Denzel Washington as Malcolm X. That was an amazing performance. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713/40 "2011-02-28T23:33:03Z")
I wanted to second (or third, or whatever) Ben Kingsley and George C. Scott as Gandhi and Patton, respectively. Outstanding performances. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-actors-in-historical-films-biopics-convinced-you-they-were-the-real-thing-or-not/572713.md?page=3)