what are the best actor portrayals of real people?

[mark414]

johnny depp as hunter s. thompson has to be one of the best ever...philip seymour hoffman as truman capote...and like him or not, jim carrey was pretty damn good as andy kaufman.

will ferrell as george w. bush?

who else?

[DawgHouse]

1. Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn.

[kerstin]

One of the best portrayals ever.

So believable it was downright spooky.

[DawgHouse]

28. I know! I get Sissy and Loretta mixed up all the time now!

:) :)

She definitely deserved her Oscar for that performance!

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Anthony Hopkins as Nixon and also as Titus; Kingsley as Gandhi

Though of course, we have no idea if Hopkins' portrayal of Titus was like the person at all, since he is long dead.

[Aristus]

34. Hmm. Titus Andronicus is a fictional character. Although he may be

legendary. He is not an actual historical figure. I've tried to guess what period in Rome's history is portrayed in Shakespeare's play and have failed. The play had two characters vying for the throne of the Emperor: Saturninus, and Bassianus. No Emperor of Rome bore either of those names. The historical Saturninus led a populist revolt against the Senate in approximately 100bc, and was murdered by a mob. There were two prominent historical Romans named Bassianus; One was the father-in-law of the Emperor Septimius Severus, the other was the brother-in-law of Constantine the Great. Neither one came anywhere near the throne of Rome.

I think the setting for "Titus Andronicus" is legendary, as is the character. Sort of like "King Lear".

[Rabrrrrrr]

37. Oops - you're right! He was fictional. Sorry! But Hopkins was goddamned

brilliant in the role.

:7

[Aristus]

41. I've STILL never seen the movie. And me, pretending to be this big

Shakespeare fan and all. :eyes:

Oh well, someday.

[tigereye]

72. my husband still wants to see Titus

but I'm not sure I can take the gore factor, despite the cool director of the film version. I've read the play, but they are much more intense when you see them.


but the abbreviated Shakespeare comedy version of Titus is quite amusing....

[everythingsxen]

66. He made a decent Hitler as well....

Although Bruno Ganz did a pretty damn good job in Der Untergang.

[CBGLuthier]

3. Damn, you didn't leave any for us

OK, got a few,

Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn in the Aviator

And Leonardo Dicaprio in the same movie, especially by the end of it.

[Karenca]

26. Leonardo was also

wonderful in "Catch Me If You Can".

[stanwyck]

55. I was skeptical of DiCaprio

as Howard Hughes...but he pulled it off, didn't he?
I'm really impressed with DiCaprio.
One of his best performances is in a bad Woody Allen film, "Celebrity". Not a good movie...but DiCaprio is the highlight.

[CBGLuthier]

56. I iked Celebrity somewhat

Branaugh's impersonation of Woody Allen and the cinematography was great.

I know some dismiss Dicaprio mostly because of Titanic but if Scorcese thinks he's good enough who am I to argue with that.

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. George C. Scott as Patton

[GOPisEvil]

5. I think Will Smith did a good job as Ali and Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles

was very good, too.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Adrien Brody as Wladyslaw Szpilman

[Left Is Write]

8. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mickey Hargitay.

Just kiddin'!

[bertha katzenengel]

40. DID he portray Hargitay?

Are you pulling my leg? I sure as hell hope so . . .

[Left Is Write]

43. Yes, he did.

It gets worse. Loni Anderson played Jayne Mansfield.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080947/

[bertha katzenengel]

54. jesus h. christ on toast

:puke:

I think I'd better bathe before I go to bed. I feel all icky.

[RevolutionaryActs]

9. I thought Joaquin Phoenix did a great job as Johnny Cash

and Reese Witherspoon as June.

Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

15. Val Kilmer was posessed by the ghost of Jim...

There's no other way to describe that performance. It was a role that boy was born to play.
Duckie

[Broken_Hero]

65. Agreed....:) I knew somebody had to mention val/jim...nt

[MountainLaurel]

17. Phoenix was uncanny n/t

[Karenca]

24. Phoenix

was the best!!

[kerstin]

10. Jimmy Stewart as Glenn Miller.

Also Jimmy Stewart as amputee baseball player Monty Stratton.

As you can see, I just like Jimmy Stewart.

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. And Steve Allen as Benny Goodman

Great performance!

[kerstin]

16. Yes!

I was this close to giving Allen an honorable mention for that role!

[bbinacan]

60. Yep n/t

[Mike03]

12. Strongly agree with your first two picks (Depp and Hoffman)

Might also add DeNiro's Jake LaMotta (Raging Bull) and Leonardo DiCaprio's Howard Hughes (Aviator), and Ben Kingsley as Gandhi, and the series of actors who portrayed the young Dalai Lama in Martin Scorsese's fantastic movie Kundun. Great question!

EDIT: How could I forget Denzel Washington as Malcolm X?

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence.

Also, Peter O'Toole as King Henry II (playing opposite Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine).

Johnny Depp as John Wilmot, the 2nd Earl of Rochester.

Lili Taylor as Valerie Solanas in I Shot Andy Warhol.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

14. david strathairn as edward r murrow

worst ever: jim carrey as andy kaufamn. no matter how much the critics praised it, he got kaufman's vibe completely wrong

[elperromagico]

20. Agree on both.

Strathairn was brilliant.

What bothered me most about Carrey as Kaufman was the eyes. Kaufman had these beautiful blue eyes and there was Carrey, going through the whole movie with brown eyes. I never could get past it.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

27. kaufman had a subtlety to his madness

where you could never tell if he was joking or not. carrey's version was over-the-top and would never have fooled anyone

[elperromagico]

31. With Kaufman, the joke was that he wasn't joking.

The wresting, for instance. He was deadly serious about it. When he was hurling obscenities at Jerry Lawler on the Letterman show he was as serious as a heart attack, which made it even funnier.

He was a damned good actor. The only guy who could play Kaufman is Kaufman, which he may yet do... ;)

[Rabrrrrrr]

35. Carrey as Kaufman was an abomination

The assholes in charge felt that just because Carrey is "out there" and "wild" (though it's a shitty, ignorant, no-talent, and very safe and comfortable and un-challenging kind of wild and out there) and Kaufman was "wild" and "out there" (except he was an artist) that Carrey would be a perfect match.

Carrey understood the superficial, but is clearly - and will always be - completely ignorant of the substance.

[kerstin]

18. Glenda Jackson as Queen Elizabeth.

I guess I was getting my feelings hurt with so few women mentioned. Regardless, a stunning performance.

[elperromagico]

19. Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles.

When somebody's as well-known as Charles, with such distinctive mannerisms, it's hard to pull off a convincing portrayal without it seeming like an impersonation. That was one of my problems with Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman (apart from the brown eyes) - I never could get past the fact that it was Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman. Watching Ray, I believed it was Ray Charles I was seeing and not Jamie Foxx.

[elperromagico]

21. Oh, and George Burns as God.

When I saw God in a pita wrap last summer, he looked just like George Burns.

[swag]

22. Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford.

Also Shirley Stoler as Martha Beck and Tony Lo Bianco as Raymond Fernandez in The Honeymoon Killers.

[terrya]

76. Exactly what I was going to say.

Ms. Dunaway owned that role. Perfect.

[swag]

104. I saw a flyer for an audience participation 25th Anniversary Screening

of Mommie Dearest when I was out and about last night.

Can't remember the venue, damnit!

[Karenca]

23. Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos (Monster)J

Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash

Liam Neeson as Schindler

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote

Travolta in Primary Colors

[Cannikin]

61. I second Charlize

[SKKY]

97. I'll third Charlize...

[izzybeans]

25. I was going to say Hank Azaria as Tucker Carlsen but I don't think

Tucker was ever Armand Goldman's man-servant. Maybe...

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

29. can never decide on robert downey jr as chaplin

he had the moves and grace down perfect int the recreations of the bits, but the second he opened his mouth, the illusion was dead

[sir_captain]

33. You just beat me to it!

Though considering your screen name, I should have known! ;-)

(That's a really great screen name, as a note)

[kerstin]

30. Was Norma Rae an actual person?

If so, I'd have to add Sally Fields'portrayal of her. If not, never mind.:shrug:

[RoyGBiv]

62. Loosely based ...

"Norma Rae" was loosely based on a woman named Crystal Lee Sutton. I agree that Sally Fields' performance in that movie was exceptional, but the story as told in the movie limited her ability to provide and accurate portrayal of the real person.

Just as one example, the movie ends on a high note. At that point in Sutton's life, she found herself without a job and could only find work at a fast food joint. IIRC, she was actually working there while the movie was being made.

[sir_captain]

32. Robert Downey Jr as Charlie Chaplin

is probably my favorite of all time.

[tigereye]

73. best thing Downey has done!

[LynneSin]

77. That movie made me check out Charlie Chaplin movies

and now I have most of the main collection of Chaplin's work.

HOWEVER....

Some of those girls in the movie just plain sucked. I know that Chaplin was notorious for bedding underage girls, but some of those girls just seemed so underqualified acting wise to pull off those roles, like the girls that played Mildred Harris and Mary Pickford (who was only a friend of Chaplin). Kevin Kline was great as Errol Flynn and even the girl who did Oona O'Neill was good

[sir_captain]

85. I agree

the film was not nearly as good as Downey's performance.

Glad to hear you checked out the real stuff. Chaplin is, IMHO, one of the greatest geniuses to ever make film. City Lights is easily my favorite movie of all time. Have you seen it?

[LynneSin]

86. Hell I own the DVD with all his later classics

But I hated the version they used for Gold Rush in the Chaplin Collection Re-issue. His 1920's version was total silence with Fugue-like organ music for the soundtrack (Think Bach). But in 1940, Chaplin re-issued Gold Rush doing a narrative voice-over and thus ruining the movie. The beauty of a Chaplin was the ability to truly act out your feelings, your soul with never uttering a word. Fortunately on the Chaplin Collection Re-issue, they have the 1920 version on the second CD

[sir_captain]

88. Oh, you're so right

luckily, until the reissue, I had an old previous DVD of the original Gold Rush cut without the awful narration. Heh...I remember it was selling for around $100 on ebay until the reissue.

You're spot on about the essense of Chaplin's films. I think about the last little moment at the end of City Lights when the tramp and the flower girl are reunited, and without a single word, the scene conveys an enormous ocean of meaning. Pure genius.

[Seabiscuit]

102. Ditto. The BEST.

[freethought]

36. Bruce Greenwood as JFK in "13 Days"

Keven Costner was not totally convincing as a Boston Irishman Kenny O'Donnell but his performance was solid. I have always liked this movie and still rent it when it is available. I have seen a few movies that try to depict JFK, they have always fallen short. Bruce Greenwood was by far the best, in that Boston accent and in mannerisms.
I actually watched the movie with my father, who was right out of that Kennedy generation. My father never really spoke much about athletes or actors. He spoke of two athletes, Ted Williams and Michael Jordan. Designated them both, "hell of an athlete". When we were watching "13 Days" he was watching Greenwood in action and said "that guy playing Jack Kennedy has got it pretty damn close". My dad was a man of few words and coming from him meant it was impressive.

[bertha katzenengel]

38. Jeremy Irons as Klaus von Bulow - he was great. I also liked

Jessica Lange in "Sweet Dreams" and Sissy Spacek in "Coal Miner's Daughter."

Oh -- Tommy Lee Jones in two: "Cobb" and "JFK."

[elperromagico]

39. Powers Boothe as Jim Jones.

That was scary.

[Left Is Write]

45. Oooh! Good choice.

[begin_within]

42. Vanessa Redgrave as Isadora Duncan

[kerstin]

47. Vanessa Redgrave in Julia.

[Spider Jerusalem]

57. And Vanessa Redgrave as Mary, Queen of Scots.

[Montauk6]

98. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY... Vanessa Redgrave as Dr. Renee Richards

[mitchum]

44. Powers Boothe as Jim Jones, Frederic Forrest as Dashiell Hammett...

Steven Railsback as Charles Manson

[Jamastiene]

46. Gary Oldman as anyone he has ever played.

From Sid Vicious to Lee Harvey Oswald, Gary Oldman studies their personas for hours and probably even days and nails their mannerisms every time.

[mark414]

48. ohh i need to add forest whitaker as idi amin

the ugandan despot...and i've only seen the preview - that's how good it is

[tigereye]

74. that was kind of shocking, wasn't it?

I really would like to see that, as brutal as it would be. I think Whitaker is quite an actor.

[kerstin]

49. Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce. n/t

[kerstin]

52. Anne Coulter as Corilla Deville. n/t

[ContraBass Black]

50. Denzel Washington as Malcom X.

[mark414]

51. another one i regretfully neglected

[u4ic]

53. Albert Finney as Winston Churchill

Brilliant...

[lost-in-nj]

58. Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas

in The Ghost and the Darkness


lost

[Lydia Leftcoast]

59. Stephen Fry as Oscar Wilde and Max von Sydow as Knut Hamsun

Fry and Wilde even look alike. If you're into English literature, theater, or GLBT history, you MUST see this film.





Von Sydow's performance was not widely seen in the U.S., but it deserved to be,

[Bridget Burke]

79. Stephen Fry was born to play Oscar....

Before the movie, he appeared as Oscar Wilde in the TV show "Ned Blessing." I caught the beginning of the show & recognized "Oscar" immediately.

[begin_within]

63. Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi

in "Ed Wood"

[jobycom]

69. You are correct. nt.

[Bucky]

64. I forget her name, but who played Sophia Loren in that TV biopic movie?

iirc, that same actress played her mother, too.

[benny05]

67. Not certain best, but good ones by these fine actresses

Meryl Streep as Karen Christence Dinesen Blixen in "Out of Africa"

also

Judy Dench as Mrs Henderson in "Mrs Henderson Presents"...or as "Mrs Brown", or Queen Elizabeth in "Shakespeare in Love".


Cicely Tyson's "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman", Harriet Tubman in "A Woman Called Moses".

Bette Midler as Janis Joplin in "The Rose"

[Monk06]

68. Gary Busey as Buddy Holly

[jobycom]

70. Geoffrey Rush as Peter Sellers. James Cagney as Lon Chaney.

[taterguy]

71. Jack Lemmon as Ed Horman in Missing

I've never seen footage of Ed Horman so I have no idea how well Lemmon mimiced him. However, it was the perfect role for Lemmon: an ordinary guy caught up in extraordinary events.

I did attend a speech by Beth Horman and she says the movie is extremely accurate

Honorable mention would go to Pacino for that bank robber in Dog Day Afternoon

[LynneSin]

75. Haing S. Ngor as Dith Pran in "The Killing Fields"

There's a reason the guy won an Academy Award. "The Killing Fields" has to be one of my favorite movies and for about 30-45 minutes there was very little dialog as we watched Ngor portray Pran in the Khmer Rouge reeducation camps, trying to do what he can to survive and escape. Knowing that this is a real story is the reason why I still cry like a baby at the end when Sydney Schoenberg finally meets up with Pran at the Red Cross Camp on the Thai border (and they have the song "Imagine" playing in the background"). Btw, one of the best roles for Sam Waterson.

Kudos also for Will Smith in Ali. Smith usually comes across as this cocky, bigger than life goofball in the movies he played so I thought he did a great job making me see him as Mohammad Ali, who was also bigger than life and cocky, but a gentle giant at heart who was willing to sacrifice so much in what he believed (which was not to serve in the Vietnam War). Ali really fit the part.

And another personal favorite was Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager along with Ed Harris as John Glenn in "The Right Stuff". Hell everyone in that movie did an amazing job portraying their real life role they had even the guy who did LBJ. I think Sam Shepard is amazingly sexy in that role too and trust me, Chuck Yeager is not a sexy man

[RedStateShame]

78. Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar

One of his finest roles.

[Phillycat]

80. Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles

The movie was flawed, but his performance was impeccable.

[NYCGirl]

81. Woody Harrelson as Larry Flynt

That's the image from the European poster that was banned in the US.

[Richardo]

82. Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee in 'All The President's Men'

Amazing.

[MnFats]

84. I once toured WAPO';s newsroom. there was Bradlee in his office...

(this was a long time ago)
damn....Robards had him down....body & hand motions, speaking style.....shit, he was perfect...

[RedStateShame]

83. And my selection for best portrayl of an actual person yet to happen...

Tom Berenger as Guided by Voices frontman Bob Pollard.

[bif]

87. The guy who played Truman Capote

I forget his name. He was amazing, I thought.

[wildhorses]

89. Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and

I thought Reese Witherspoon did well as June Carter...

[Vidar]

90. Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator.

[CBHagman]

91. My grandmother would say Cagney as George M. Cohan.

In the film Yankee Doodle Dandy. And Grandma would have seen the genuine article, of course.

[Lilith Velkor]

92. Jim Broadbent as Boss Tweed (Gangs of New York)

[schmuls]

93. In what movie did Johnny Depp play Hunter S. Thompson? I'd

like to see it!

[Reverend_Smitty]

94. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

A good movie...but a straaaaange movie. But would you expect anything less from Dr. Gonzo?

[schmuls]

96. Oh yes, I forgot about that one...thanks

[Zavulon]

95. Robert Duvall as Stalin.

It was a TV movie from the early 1990's, and his portrayal was stunning.

[Montauk6]

99. Jack Nicholson as Eugene O'Neill and Jimmy Hoffa

Reds and Hoffa, respectively.

[Montauk6]

100. Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth

IMHO, one of Oscar's most shameless snubs in its history. Maybe his performance as the brutal Nazi was too convincing!

[UncleSepp]

101. Bruno Ganz as Hitler in "Der Untergang"

Absolutely startling, from his physical resemblance to his mannerisms and even vocal inflections. He even got the hand tremor down. It was brilliantly spooky!

[anarch]

103. all those guys in Band of Brothers