Such degrees of separation
Actors who know the meaning of range
It was revealed earlier this month that Paul Giamatti would be playing Larry Fine, of Three Stooges fame, in the Farrelly brothers’ upcoming biopic about the comedy team. Giamatti won an Emmy last year for playing the second president of the United States in the HBO miniseries “John Adams.’’
Talk about range! Does Giamatti do windows, too? Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
Yet impressive as Giamatti’s stretch from Stooge to Founding Father might be, it’s only the most recent instance of a film actor adding wildly different real-life figures to his or her resume. Mary Pickford, that queen of the silent screen, managed to play both Charles II’s mistress, Nell Gwyn (“Mistress Nell,’’ 1915), and the Virgin Mary (“The Gaucho,’’ 1927). And the Adams-Fine pair might not even be the most incongruous one-two punch in Hollywood casting history. How about Judy Davis playing Israeli premier Golda Meir (in “A Woman Named Golda,’’ 1982) and Judy Garland (in “Life With Judy Garland,’’ 2001)?
These fact/fiction connections can get complicated. Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for playing Katharine Hepburn in “The Aviator’’ (2004). Hepburn played Mary Queen of Scots (in “Mary of Scotland,’’ 1936). Mary was executed by Elizabeth I, whom Blanchett has played not once but twice.
Sometimes the difference may not be as great as it might at first appear. Spartacus (“Spartacus,’’ 1960) and George S. Patton (“Is Paris Burning?,’’ 1966) have more in common than just Kirk Douglas. Bonnie Parker probably didn’t care one way or the other about wire hangers. But she and fellow Texan Joan Crawford are united by more than Faye Dunaway (in “Bonnie and Clyde,’’ 1967, and “Mommie Dearest,’’ 1981). As for Cliff Robertson playing both John F. Kennedy (“PT 109,’’ 1963) and Hugh Hefner (“Star 80,’’ 1983), well, the more you think about it the less of a stretch that might seem. One man’s White House, perhaps, is simply another’s Playboy Mansion.
Here are 20 actors who’ve played roles that go from point A to point Z.
CATE BLANCHETT
Katharine Hepburn, “The Aviator,’’ 2004
Oscar-winning female film star
Jude (Bob Dylan), “I’m Not There,’’ 2007
Oscar-winning male rock star
MARLON BRANDO
Emiliano Zapata, “Viva Zapata!,’’ 1952
Revolutionary leader
Napoleon Bonaparte, “Desiree,’’ 1954
Revolutionary dictator
RUSSELL CROWE
John Nash, “A Beautiful Mind,’’ 2001
Nobel Prize winner
Jim Braddock, “Cinderella Man,’’ 2005
Heavyweight champion
WILLEM DAFOE
Jesus, “The Last Temptation of Christ,’’ 1988
Messiah
Max Schreck, “Shadow of the Vampire,’’ 2000
Sanguinary actor
JOHNNY DEPP
Ed Wood, “Ed Wood,’’ 1994
Filmmaker
John Dillinger, “Public Enemies,’’ 2009
Gangster
MORGAN FREEMAN
God, “Bruce Almighty,’’ 2003 and “Evan Almighty,’’ 2007
Universe-creating deity
Principal Joe Clark, “Lean on Me,’’ 1989
Bat-wielding educator
ALEC GUINNESS
Sigmund Freud, “Lovesick,’’ 1983
Founder of psychoanalysis
Adolf Hitler, “Hitler: The Last Ten Days,’’ 1973
Nazi dictator
ED HARRIS
John Glenn, “The Right Stuff,’’ 1983
Astronaut
Jackson Pollock, “Pollock,’’ 2000
Abstract Expressionist
ANTHONY HOPKINS
Pablo Picasso, “Surviving Picasso,’’ 1996
Protean painter
Richard Nixon, “Nixon,’’ 1995
Disgraced president
JEREMY IRONS
Franz Kafka, “Kafka,’’ 1991
Visionary author
Claus von Bulow, “Reversal of Fortune,’’ 1990
Accused wife murderer
BEN KINGSLEY
Mohandas K. Gandhi, “Gandhi,’’ 1982
Avatar of nonviolence
Meyer Lansky, “Bugsy,’’ 1991
Mob boss
HELEN MIRREN
Elizabeth II, “The Queen,’’ 2006
Britannic majesty
Ayn Rand, “The Passion of Ayn Rand,’’ 1999
Right-wing ideologue
GARY OLDMAN
Beethoven, “Immortal Beloved,’’ 1994
Composer
Lee Harvey Oswald, “JFK,’’ 1991
Assassin
GREGORY PECK
F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Beloved Infidel,’’ 1959
Author
Douglas MacArthur, “MacArthur,’’ 1977
General
DENNIS QUAID
Ben Schwartzwalder, “The Express,’’ 2008
Football coach
Jerry Lee Lewis, “Great Balls of Fire!,’’ 1989
Rocker
VANESSA REDGRAVE
Agatha Christie, “Agatha,’’ 1977
Mystery writer
Isadora Duncan, “The Loves of Isadora,’’ 1968
Modern dancer
JASON ROBARDS JR.
Ben Bradlee, “All the President’s Men,’’ 1976
Dashing newspaper editor
Howard Hughes, “Melvin and Howard,’’ 1980
Delusional billionaire
MERYL STREEP
Julia Child, “Julie & Julia,’’ 2009
“The French Chef’’
Ethel Rosenberg, “Angels in America,’’ 2003
Soviet spy
FOREST WHITAKER
Charlie Parker, “Bird,’’ 1988
Bebop saxophonist
Idi Amin, “The Last King of Scotland,’’ 2006’’
Ugandan dictator
JOHN WAYNE
Davy Crockett, “The Alamo,’’ 1960
Heroic frontiersman
Genghis Khan, “The Conqueror,’’ 1956
Barbarian chieftan
Mark Feeney can be reached at mfeeney@globe.com.
Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story about actors who play real-life characters in Sunday's Movies section gave the wrong last name for Larry Fine, one of the Three Stooges.
