View Full Version : Actors Who Played U.S. Presidents


tv star collector
07-19-2009, 07:17 PM
Here's a partial list. I'm sure someone can think of some more ...



George Washington - Barry Bostwick (George Washington TV mini-series and its sequel)
John Adams - William Daniels (1776);
Hal Holbrook (George Washington TV mini-series)
Thomas Jefferson - Ken Howard (1776);
Sam Neill (Sally Hemmings: An American Scandal TV-movie)
John Quincy Adams - Anthony Hopkins (Amistad)
Andrew Jackson - Basil Ruysdael (Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier TV-movie)
Abraham Lincoln - Raymond Massey (Abe Lincoln in Illinois);
Dennis Weaver (The Great Man's Whiskers TV-movie);
Hal Holbrook (Lincoln TV mini-series; North and South TV mini-series)
Ulysses S. Grant - Roy Engel (The Wild, Wild West TV series)
Theodore Roosevelt - Sidney Blackmer (Buffalo Bill);
Claude Akins (The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw TV-movie);
James Gammon (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles TV series);
Robin Williams (Night at the Museum and its sequel)
Woodrow Wilson - Alexander Knox (Wilson)
Franklin D. Roosevelt - Edward Herrman (Annie)
Harry Truman - James Whitmore (Give 'Em Hell, Harry)
Dwight D. Eisenhower - Robert Duvall (Ike TV mini-series)
John F. Kennedy - Cliff Robertson (P.T. 109);
Vaughn Meader (The First Family record album);
` James Franciscus (Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy TV-movie);
Stephen Collins (A Woman Named Jackie TV-movie)
Lyndon B. Johnson - Randy Quaid (LBJ: The Early Years TV-movie)
Richard Nixon - Anthony Hopkins (Nixon);
Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)

browneyes106
07-19-2009, 07:26 PM
John F. Kennedy-Patrick Dempsey(JFK: Reckless Youth)
John F. Kennedy-Tim Matheson (Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis)
John F. Kennedy-Steven Weber (The Kennedys of Massachusetts)

JamesG
07-19-2009, 07:45 PM
Gregory Peck played Abraham Lincoln in The Blue and the Gray (1982 tv mini-series)


Timothy Bottoms played George W. Bush in the short lived comedy That's My Bush! (2001)


From the 2008 mini series John Adams:
Paul Giamatti - John Adams
David Morse - George Washington
Stephen Dillane - Thomas Jefferson
Ebon Moss-Bachrach - John Q. Adams


Jon Voight played F.D.R. in Pearl Harbor (2001)

browneyes106
07-19-2009, 07:57 PM
Richard Nixon-Dan Hedaya(Dick)
Dwight Eisenhour-Ike: Countdown to D-Day(Tom Selleck)
Hary S. Truman-Gary Sinise(Truman)

TJL
07-19-2009, 08:30 PM
Tom Berenger did a great job playing Teddy Roosevelt in the 1997 TV movie Rough Riders.

Dusty's Fan
07-19-2009, 11:24 PM
George Washington - Also played by Will Geer on TV on "Bewitched," 1972 (2 eps).

FDR - Also played by Howard Da Silva in "The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover," 1977

Dwight D. Eisenhower - Also played by Andrew Duggan on TV (in "Tail Gunner Joe," 1977, "Backstairs at the White House," 1979, and "J. Edgar Hoover," 1987).

JFK - Also played by William Jordan in "The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover," 1977

Lyndon B. Johnson - Also played by Andrew Duggan in "The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover," 1977

Torgo
07-20-2009, 10:52 AM
Ossie Davis- JFK(Bubba Ho-Tep) ...well, I believe him
Josh Brolin- George W Bush(W)

tv star collector
07-20-2009, 02:09 PM
Many thanks to all who have contributed to this thread!

:wave:

browneyes106
07-20-2009, 03:56 PM
Richard Nixon-Lane Smith(The Final Days)

TJL
07-20-2009, 04:22 PM
Kelsey Grammer played George Washington in a TV movie about Benedict Arnold in 2003.

JamesG
08-03-2009, 08:32 AM
Bob Gunton played Pres. Woodrow Wilson in the tv-movie Iron Jawed Angels (2004)

comedyfreak
08-03-2009, 12:09 PM
Carroll O'Connor played a president in a movie which was in B&W can't think of the name of it right now.

JamesG
08-03-2009, 05:18 PM
Carroll O'Connor played a president in a movie which was in B&W can't think of the name of it right now.

The only thing I found was that he played Pres. Grover Cleveland in the anthology Profiles in Courage (1964-1965).

sunshinefizzy
08-03-2009, 05:35 PM
Henry Fonda also portrayed Lincoln back in the 30's, I think it was called Young Abraham Lincoln

JamesG
08-03-2009, 05:39 PM
Dennis Quaid will be playing Pres. Clinton in The Special Relationship (2011)

tv star collector
08-03-2009, 06:27 PM
The only thing I found was that he played Pres. Grover Cleveland in the anthology Profiles in Courage (1964-1965).

Interesting. I didn't know that. Thanks!

tv star collector
08-03-2009, 06:28 PM
Henry Fonda also portrayed Lincoln back in the 30's, I think it was called Young Abraham Lincoln

You're right. That would be Young Mr. Lincoln (1939).

JamesG
08-03-2009, 06:41 PM
Carroll O'Connor played a president in a movie which was in B&W can't think of the name of it right now.

I think I found it.

He played Pres. Eisenhower in Kelly's Heroes (1970)

Zoneboy
08-03-2009, 07:23 PM
Dwight D. Eisenhower - Also played by Andrew Duggan on TV in "Backstairs at the White House," 1979,

Along with:

William Howard Taft (Victor Buono)
Woodrow Wilson (Robert Vaughn)
Warren G. Harding (George Kennedy)
Calvin Coolidge (Ed Flanders)
Herbert Hoover (Larry Gates)
Franklin D. Roosevelt (John Anderson)
Harry S. Truman (Harry Morgan)

JamesG
08-03-2009, 07:51 PM
Jeff Daniels played Pres. George Washington in The Crossing (2000)

Charlton Heston played Pres. Andrew Jackson in The President's Lady (1953) and The Buccaneer (1958)

Lance Henricksen played Pres. Lincoln in The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1998)

David Patrick Kelly played Pres. Truman in Flags of our Fathers (2006)

William Petersen played J.F.K. in The Rat Pack (1998)

Tim Robbins played Pres. Clinton in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Timothy Bottoms played Pres. Bush in The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (2002) and in a serious performance in DC 9/11: Time of Crisis (2003)

JamesG
08-03-2009, 08:03 PM
Kelsey Grammer played George Washington in a TV movie about Benedict Arnold in 2003.

That was Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor

comedyfreak
08-04-2009, 03:58 AM
I think I found it.

He played Pres. Eisenhower in Kelly's Heroes (1970)
I knew he played a President before, couldn't remember the name. Could've been the antholgy series, he looked very young and I seen it in Jr. High in '75/76.