# Which actor has played the most radically different real life roles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2022, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692 "2022-07-28T04:32:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/1 "2022-07-28T04:32:49Z")
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) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/2 "2022-07-28T05:06:00Z")
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_). ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/3 "2022-07-28T05:26:35Z")
Ben Kingsley played both Gandhi and Adolf Eichmann. Bit of a spread there. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/4 "2022-07-28T12:09:35Z")
Oh yeah. That will take some beating, however you choose to define difference. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/5 "2022-07-28T15:33:27Z")
Anthony Hopkins: 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. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/6 "2022-07-28T16:46:41Z")
> [@Boycott](#): > > Anthony Hopkins: 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](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)’s suggestion of Ben Kingsley has him beaten with Gandhi and Adolf Eichmann. No two roles of his are _that_ different. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/7 "2022-07-28T17:34:18Z")
He played a former Pope recently too ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/8 "2022-07-28T19:13:11Z")
Max von Sydow played Jesus in _The Greatest Story Ever Told_ and Satan in disguise in _Needful Things._ Or maybe that’s two sides to the same coin. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/9 "2022-07-28T19:16:46Z")
The latter of these is pushing “real life historical character” a bit (I’m sure someone will reply the former is too 🙂 ) ---
**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:** [July 28, 2022, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/10 "2022-07-28T19:18:33Z")
The real answer is going to be some character actor who has 300+ credits on IMDb and whose name you never remember. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/11 "2022-07-28T19:36:06Z")
Bruno Ganz played Hitler most meme-ably in Downfall, and also played an angel in Wings of Desire. Pretty broad spread (wings?..spread?..sigh) there. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/12 "2022-07-28T20:18:43Z")
Richard Basehart played George Washington in the TV movie _Valley Forge_ (1975) many years after playing the title role in _Hitler_ (1962). Alec Guinness played Adolf in _Hitler: The Last Ten Days_ (1973) before going on to play ~~Ben Kenobi~~ Sigmund Freud in _Lovesick_ (1983). ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/13 "2022-07-28T20:26:34Z")
The answer will always be Gary Oldman. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/14 "2022-07-28T20:41:03Z")
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) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/15 "2022-07-28T20:52:55Z")
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. ---
**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 28, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/16 "2022-07-28T22:28:48Z")
Brian Denehy has to be in the mix. - Clarence Darrow - Bobby Knight - Aaron Burr - Kublai Khan - Babe Ruth - John Wayne Gacy and a couple other real-life murderers ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/17 "2022-07-28T22:38:46Z")
Sir Ben is more likely to play villains than saints, especially since February 2, 1995; the day Donald Pleasance died. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/18 "2022-07-28T22:46:40Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Brian Denehy has to be in the mix. Interesting probably a contender in there somewhere > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > - Kublai Khan Especially as i never specified they should _convincingly_ play a historical character 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/19 "2022-07-28T23:20:34Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692/20 "2022-07-28T23:58:28Z")
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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-played-the-most-radically-different-real-life-roles/968692.md?page=2)