So which actor has played two of the most radically different historical real life characters? Defining difference in whichever way you want, physical difference, personality, politics, ethics…
I’d say Gary Oldman for playing both Winston Churchill (Darkest Hour) and Sid Vicious (Sid and Nancy).
With only an honorable mention for Christian Bale for Dick Cheney (Vice) and J G Ballard (Empire of the Sun), as the main difference is J G Ballard is an English school boy in Empire of the sun and Dick Cheney is not (as far as I know the adult J G Ballard could have been just like Dick Cheney)
Tom Hanks, in the past three years, has played one of the kindest, most beloved public figures of the 20th Century (Fred Rogers, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), and a sleazy, deceptive, greedy, manipulative, self-interested music promoter (Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis).
Richard Nixon (Nixon, 1995)
Adolf Hitler (The Bunker, 1981)
Richard Hauptmann (The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, 1976)
David Lloyd George (Young Winston, 1972)
Richard The Lionheart (The Lion in Winter, 1968)
The only US President to resign the office.
The most evil man of the 20th century.
The man convicted of the abduction and murder of the Lindbergh baby in what was dubbed the ‘crime of the century’.
The British Prime Minister for the the last two years of World War One and the subsequent post-war negotiations*.
The King of England who revolted against his own father and was a leader in the Crusades.
*His performance as David Lloyd George is only during his tenure as an opposition MP and pre-war since the actual subject of that movie was Winston Churchill and the focus was on Churchill’s early life. Similarly he played Richard the Lionheart in a movie that was set in the years prior to his ascension to the throne.
You can also add CS Lewis, William Bligh, John Frost (British commander at Arnhem) and Sir Frederick Treves (leading Victorian surgeon and friend to Joseph Merrick)
Despite that I’d still say SmartAleq’s suggestion of Ben Kingsley has him beaten with Gandhi and Adolf Eichmann. No two roles of his are that different.
I would have said that (in fact I said that in the OP) but the Ghandi+Adolf Eichmann twofer that Ben Kingsley pulled off is hard to beat. I mean as well as the obvious moral and character differences, one is German and one is Indian (Ben Kinglsey is half Indian, so actually pulling off the former is more impressive)
I thought of Paul Giamatti, who portrayed John Adams and boxing manager Joe Gould (in “Cinderella Man”). Giamatti’s roles cover an eclectic range of real people, including Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Zapruder, gangsta rap manager Jerry Heller, the 13th century monarch King John and (if you count composite real-life characters) Kenny “Pig Vomit” Rushton.
How about Charlton Heston, who played both Henry 8th and Sir Thomas More. I’d say those people were rather far apart. Especially More. You know…afterwards.
I’m another one who says Kingsley will be hard to beat. And Oldman was my first choice.
So just to add something to the conversation, I’ll suggest Simon Russell Beale, who played Lavrenti Beria in The Death of Stalin and Franz Schubert in The Temptation of Franz Schubert. He’s also played John Adams, Robert Beale, David Ben-Gurion, Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Richard II, and Joseph Stalin.
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