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Quiz
Monkey |
| Arts & Entertainment |
| Films |
| Biopics |
| Titles |
| Subjects |
| Actors to Subjects |
| Subjects to Actors |
| Others |
This page covers all fact–based feature films, not all of which might normally be referred to as biopics.
| Q: What was the title of the film … | A: | |
| About the ordeal of US canyoneer Aron Ralston, who was trapped by a rock for more than five days – based on his 2004 memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place (2010 film) |
 |
127 hours |
| Starring Vanessa Redgrave as a famous English writer, Timothy Dalton as her husband, and Dustin Hoffman as an American journalist who falls in love with her (1979) |
|
Agatha |
| About Watergate (1976 – starring Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein and Robert Redford as Bob Woodward) |
|
All the President's Men |
| Starring Richard Burton as Henry VIII (1969) |
|
Anne of the Thousand Days |
| Based on the life of Ritchie Valens (1986) |
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La Bamba |
| Starring Russell Crowe as the mathematician and Nobel laureate John Nash (2001) |
|
A Beautiful Mind |
| Based on Joy Adamson's memoir about raising a lion cub called Elsa, then releasing her into the wild, in Kenya (1966) |
|
Born Free |
| Based on the best–selling autobiography of the same title by Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic (1989) |
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Born on the Fourth of July |
| Starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance: about the conviction of the British–born Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (real name William August Fisher) and his exchange for the American spy plane pilot Gary Powers in 1962 (2015) |
|
Bridge of Spies |
| ... telling the story of Operation Market Garden – an unsuccessful attempt by the Allies to hasten the end of World War II by breaking through German lines and seizing several bridges in the occupied Netherlands, including one at Arnhem; based on Cornelius Ryan's 1974 book of the same title (1977 film) |
|
A Bridge Too Far |
| Based on the wartime exploits of SOE agent Violette Szabo (1958) |
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Carve her Name with Pride |
Starring Leonardo Di Caprio as teenage conman Frank Abagnale, and Tom Hanks as an FBI fraud investigator who
tracks him down (2002 – based on Abaglane's "semi–autobiographical" book)
 |
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Catch Me If You Can |
| Starring Russell Crowe as 1930s heavyweight boxing champion James J. Braddock – directed by Ron Howard (2005; title is a nickname given to the subject by the writer Damon Runyan) |
|
Cinderella Man |
| Based on the life of William Randolph Hearst (1941) |
|
Citizen Kane |
| About the life of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis (2007 – based on the book Touching from a distance, written by his widow Deborah) |
|
Control |
| Loosely inspired by the lives of painters Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener (2015, based on a novel of the same title); stars Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sex reassignment surgery, born Einar Wegener |
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The Danish Girl |
| Loosely based on the lives of the Brontë sisters (1946); starred Ida Lupino as Emily, Olivia de Havilland as Charlotte, Nancy Coleman as Anne, Paul Henreid as Charlotte's husband the Rev. Arthur Nicholls, Arthur Kennedy as Branwell, and Sydney Greenstreet as W. M. Thackeray |
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Devotion |
| Loosely based on the life of Eminem (2002) – starring him as Jimmy 'B–Rabbit' Smith |
|
8 Mile |
| Set in the Boxer Rebellion, starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and David Niven (1963) |
|
55 Days at Peking |
| ... in which Leslie Howard played R. J. Mitchell, the designer of the Spitfire (1942) |
|
The First of the Few |
| Loosely based on the life of rapper 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) (2005) – starring him as Marcus Greer; using 8 Mile as a "template", and with the same title as his debut album |
|
Get Rich or Die Tryin' |
| About the conflict between veteran US radio and TV journalist Edward R. Murrow and anti–communist Senator Joseph McCarthy (2008); George Clooney co–wrote, directed and stars; McCarthy only appears in archive footage; title is the line with which Murrow routinely signed off his broadcasts |
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Good Night, and Good Luck |
| Based on the work of Diane Fossey (1988) |
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Gorillas in the Mist |
| "Mockumentary" about the Sex Pistols (1980) |
|
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle |
| About three African American female mathematicians who worked at NASA during the Space Race – Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson (2016, based on a book of the same year and title) |
|
Hidden Figures |
| 2007: "inspired by the music and the many lives of Bob Dylan" – different facets of whose personality were played by Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Whishaw |
|
I'm Not There |
| About the Guildford Four (1993) |
|
In the Name of the Father |
| About Nelson Mandela's progress from political prisoner to world statesman – particularly during the 1995 rugby world cup (2009, directed by Clint Eastwood) |
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Invictus |
| 2005: starring Jake Gyllenhaal, based on a memoir of the first Gulf War by Anthony Swofford; title is a slang term for a US marine |
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Jarhead |
| 1984: based on the experiences of journalists Dith Pran (Cambodian, 1942–2008) and Sydney Scharnberg (US, 1934–2016) during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia |
|
The Killing Fields |
| 1962 World War II epic about the D–Day landings – based on the book of the same title by Cornelius Ryan; claimed a cast of "42 international stars" |
|
The Longest Day |
| 2008: Sean Penn won an Oscar for his portrayal of the first openly gay man elected to public office in the USA |
|
Milk |
| 1982: stars Jack Lemmon as US businessman Ed Horman, searching for his journalist son Charles, in the bloody aftermath of Pinochet's 1973 coup against Allende in Chile; Sissy Spacek plays Charles's wife Beth |
|
Missing |
| 2011: an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season and the attempts by their general manager Billy Beane to use statistical analysis to assemble a competitive team; stars Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman |
|
Moneyball |
| About the adolescence of John Lennon and the evolution of the Beatles (2009) |
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Nowhere Boy |
| About the 1936 Olympics, directed by Leni Riefenstahl |
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Olympia |
| Based on the wartime exploits of Luftwaffe fighter pilot Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, a prisoner of war who escaped in the USA while being transferred between camps in Britain and Canada, and returned to Berlin via Mexico and South America (1957; based on a book of the same title, and starring Hardy Krüger as von Werra) |
|
The One that Got Away |
| Based on the memoir by the Danish author Karen Blixen (sometimes published under her pen name Isak Dinesen) about her 17 years as a coffee planter in British East Africa (now Kenya) (1985) |
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Out of Africa |
| About the winner of 1930 Melbourne Cup (1983) |
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Phar Lap |
| Based on the autobiography of Wladyslaw Szpilman, starring Adrian Brody |
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The Pianist |
| Based on Carrie Fisher's semi–autobiographical novel |
|
Postcards from the Edge |
| Stars Meryl Streep as the eponymous trade union activist and nuclear whistleblower, who died in a suspicious car accident while investigating alleged wrongdoing at the plutonium plant where she worked (1993) |
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Silkwood |
| Telling the story of Facebook (2010) |
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The Social Network |
| In which Paul Newman played boxer Rocky Graziano (1956) |
|
Somebody Up There Likes Me |
| Based on the 2012 memoir Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters (2016) |
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Sully |
| About Stephen Hawking's relationship with his wife Jane (2014 – based on her book) |
|
The Theory of Everything |
| About the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), starring Kevin Costner as Kenneth O'Donnell, a Special Advisor to President John F. Kennedy (2000) |
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Thirteen Days |
| 1993: based on the memoir of the same title by Tobias (Toby) Wolff, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Toby, Ellen Barkin as his mother, and Robert De Niro as his abusive stepfather |
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This Boy's Life |
| Based on Joe Simpson's 1989 book of the same title, describing his struggle for survival following a climbing accident in the Peruvian Andes (2003) |
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Touching the Void |
| About the 1934 Nuremberg Rally, directed by Leni Riefenstahl (1935) |
|
Triumph of the Will |
| About the flight that was intended to be part of the 9/11 attacks (of 2001), but which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to take control from the hi–jackers (2006) |
|
United 93 |
| 2007 French–language film starring Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf (winning the Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and César for Best Actress) |
|
La Vie en Rose |
| Starring Josh Brolin as US President George W. Bush (2008) |
|
W. |
| 1987: based on the so–called 'Happy Valley' murder case, in Kenya in 1941, in which Sir Henry 'Jock' Delves Broughton (played by Joss Ackland) was tried for the murder of Lord Erroll (Charles Dance), a serial philanderer who was trying to persuade Delves Broughton's beautiful young wife Diana (Greta Scaachi) to divorce Delves Broughton and marry him |
|
White Mischief |
| 2013: black comedy directed by Martin Scorsese, stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the disgraced former stockbroker Jordan Belfort (based on his memoirs) |
|
The Wolf of Wall Street |
| Q: Who (or what) was the subject of the film ... ? | A: | |
| The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958 – missionary) |
|
Gladys Aylward |
| The Greatest Showman (2017 – played by Hugh Jackman) |
|
P. T. Barnum |
| Cry Freedom (1987) |
|
Steve Biko |
| Cinderella Man (2005) – played by Russell Crowe (US boxer) |
|
James J. Braddock |
| Champions (jockey) |
|
Bob Champion |
| Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942 – played by James Cagney) |
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George M. Cohan |
| Mommie Dearest (1981) |
|
Joan Crawford |
| The Mercy (2018): tragic single–handed yachtsman, played by Colin Firth |
|
Donald Crowhurst |
| I'm not there (2007 – played by six different actors) |
|
Bob Dylan |
| Tom & Viv (1994): Tom was |
|
T. S. Eliot |
| American Hot Wax (1978 – American DJ) |
|
Alan Freed |
| Somebody up there likes me (1956) – played by Paul Newman (US boxer) |
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Rocky Graziano |
| Lady Sings the Blues (1972) |
|
Billie Holliday |
| The Aviator (2004) – played by Leonardo DiCaprio |
|
Howard Hughes |
| The Miracle Worker (1962): Anne Bancroft played Annie Sullivan, teaching |
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Helen Keller |
| Raging Bull (1980) – American boxer, noted for his stamina and fierceness in the ring; played by Robert de Niro |
|
Jake LaMotta |
| Song without End (1960) |
|
Franz Liszt |
| Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) |
|
Loretta Lynn |
| The First of the Few (1942 – known in the USA as Spitfire) |
|
R. J. Mitchell |
| A Beautiful Mind (2001 – Nobel prize–winning economist) |
|
John Forbes Nash Jr. |
| The White Crow (2018) – directed by Ralph Fiennes (who also appeared), based on a 2007 biography by Julie Kavanagh |
|
Rudolf Nureyev |
| The Last Emperor (1987) |
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Puyi |
| The Music Lovers (1970) |
|
Pyotr Il'ich Tchaikovsky |
| 300 (2007): Battle of (480 BC) |
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Thermopylae |
| A Night to Remember (1958) |
|
Titanic (sinking of) |
| The Keeper (2018) |
|
Bert Trautmann |
| Give 'em Hell, Harry! (1975) – James Whitmore was Oscar nominated for the title role |
|
Harry S. Truman |
| The Imitation Game (2014) |
|
Alan Turing |
| La Bamba (1987) |
|
Ritchie Valens |
| I Saw the Light (2015) – country music legend, played by Tom Hiddleston |
|
Hank Williams |
| Film4's 2015 BAFTA–winning documentary (the title was her first name) |
|
Amy Winehouse |
| Tea with Mussolini (1999 – based on his autobiography; he also directed) |
|
Franco Zeffirelli |
| Q: In ..., who (which composer, etc.) was portrayed by ... ? | A: | ||
| Immortal Beloved (1994) | Gary Oldman |
|
Beethoven |
| The Lady in the Van (2015) | Alex Jennings |
|
Alan Bennett |
| Young Guns (1988) | Emilio Estevez |
|
Billy the Kid |
| The Left Handed Gun (1958) | Paul Newman |
|
Billy the Kid |
| In the Name of the Father (1993) | Daniel Day–Lewis |
|
Gerry Conlon |
| They Died with their Boots on (1941) | Errol Flynn |
|
General Custer |
| Shadowlands (1993): | Debra Winger |
|
Joy Gresham |
| The Conqueror (1956) | John Wayne |
|
Genghis Khan |
| Selma (2014) | David Oyeluwo (o–yellow–o) |
|
Martin Luther King |
| Shadowlands (1993) | Anthony Hopkins |
|
C. S. Lewis |
| Song without End (1960) | Dirk Bogarde |
|
Franz Liszt |
| Apollo 13 (1995) | Tom Hanks
|
|
Jim Lovell |
| The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) | Charlton Heston |
|
Michelangelo |
| Night and Day (1946) | Cary Grant |
|
Cole Porter |
| De–Lovely (2004) | Kevin Kline |
|
Cole Porter |
| Scandal (1989) | Bridget Fonda |
|
Mandy Rice–Davies |
| John Hurt |
|
Stephen Ward | |
| Ian McKellen |
|
John Profumo | |
| Joanne Whalley |
|
Christine Keeler | |
| Lust for Life (1956) | Kirk Douglas |
|
Vincent van Gogh |
| Reversal of Fortune (1990) | Jeremy Irons |
|
Claus von Bülow bulow |
| I Saw the Light (2015) | Tom Hiddleston |
|
Hank Williams |
| The Hours (2002) | Nicole Kidman |
|
Virginia Woolf |
| Q: In ... , who played ... ? | A: | ||
| Ali (2001) | Muhammad Ali |
|
Will Smith |
| The Alamo (1960 – opposite John Wayne as Davy Crockett) | Jim Bowie |
|
Richard Widmark |
| All Creatures Great and Small (1974) | James Herriot |
|
Simon Ward |
| All the President's Men (1976) | Carl Bernstein |
|
Dustin Hoffman |
| Bob Woodward |
|
Robert Redford | |
| Amadeus (1984) | Mozart |
|
Tom Hulce |
| Salieri |
|
F. Murray Abraham | |
| Hans Christian Andersen (1952) | Title role |
|
Danny Kaye |
| Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) | Anne Boleyn |
|
Genevieve Bujold |
| Henry VIII |
|
Richard Burton | |
| Annie get your Gun (1950) | Title role (Annie Oakley) |
|
Betty Hutton |
| The Aviator (2004) | Howard Hughes |
|
Leonardo di Caprio |
| A Beautiful Mind (2001) | John Nash (troubled mathematician) |
|
Russell Crowe |
| Beckett (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968) | Henry II |
|
Peter O'Toole |
| Behind the Candelabra (2013) | Liberace |
|
Michael Douglas |
| The Bird Man of Alcatraz (1962) | Title role (Robert Stroud) |
|
Burt Lancaster |
| Prison warder |
|
Karl Malden | |
| Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) | Freddie Mercury |
|
Rami Malek |
| Bonnie and Clyde (1967) | Bonnie Parker |
|
Faye Dunaway |
| Clyde Barrow |
|
Warren Beatty | |
| Braveheart (1995) | King Edward I of England |
|
Patrick McGoohan |
| Erin Brockovich (2000) | Title role (won the Best Actress Oscar) |
|
Julia Roberts |
| Buster (1988) | Buster Edwards |
|
Phil Collins |
| Buster's long–suffering wife, June |
|
Julie Walters | |
| June's mother |
|
Sheila Hancock | |
| Bruce Reynolds |
|
Larry Lamb | |
| Calamity Jane (1953) | Title role |
|
Doris Day |
| Al Capone (1959) | Title role |
|
Rod Steiger |
| Chaplin (1992) | Title role |
|
Robert Downey Jr. |
| Chariots of Fire (1981) | Eric Liddell (the Scottish athlete who didn't run on a Sunday) |
|
Ian Charleson |
| Harold Abrahams (the Jewish athlete who did) |
|
Ben Cross | |
| Lord Lindsay (based on Lord Burleigh) |
|
Nigel Havers | |
| Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) | Loretta Lynn |
|
Sissy Spacek |
| Cromwell (1970) | Title role |
|
Richard Harris |
| Cry Freedom (1987) | Steve Biko |
|
Denzel Washington |
| Journalist Donald Woods |
|
Kevin Kline | |
| A Cry in the Dark (1988) | Lindy Chamberlain |
|
Meryl Streep |
| The Dam Busters (1955) | Barnes Wallis |
|
Michael Redgrave |
| Wing Commander Guy Gibson |
|
Richard Todd | |
| Darkest Hour (2017) | Winston Churchill |
|
Gary Oldman |
| The Desert Fox (1951) | Rommel |
|
James Mason |
| The Doors (1991) | Jim Morrison |
|
Val Kilmer |
| Eddie the Eagle (2016) | Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards |
|
Taron Egerton |
| The Elephant Man | John Merrick |
|
John Hurt |
| Dr. Frederick Treves |
|
Anthony Hopkins | |
| The Fifth Estate (2013) | Julian Assange |
|
Benedict Cumberbatch |
| Finding Neverland (2004 – "semi–autobiographical") | J. M. Barrie |
|
Johnny Depp |
| Gandhi (1982) | Title role |
|
Ben Kingsley |
| Gorillas in the Mist (1988) | Dian Fossey |
|
Sigourney Weaver |
| Hawking (2004) | Title role |
|
Benedict Cumberbatch |
| Hitler: the Last Ten Days (1973) | Adolf Hitler |
|
Alec Guinness |
| The Hurricane (1999) | Title role (Rubin "Hurricane" Carter) |
|
Denzel Washington |
| The Imitation Game (2014) | Alan Turing |
|
Benedict Cumberbatch |
| The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) | Gladys Aylward (missionary) |
|
Ingrid Bergman |
| The Iron Lady (2011) | Margaret Thatcher |
|
Meryl Streep |
| Denis Thatcher |
|
Jim Broadbent | |
| J. Edgar (2011) | J. Edgar Hoover |
|
Leonardo Di Caprio |
| JFK (1991) | LA district attorney Jim Garrison |
|
Kevin Costner |
| Lee Harvey Oswald |
|
Gary Oldman | |
| The Al Jolson Story (1946; also the 1949 sequel Jolson Sings Again) | Title role |
|
Larry Parks |
| The King's Speech (2010) | Speech therapist Lionel Logue |
|
Geoffrey Rush |
| King George V |
|
Michael Gambon | |
| Queen Mary |
|
Claire Bloom | |
| Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother) |
|
Helena Bonham Carter | |
| King Edward VIII |
|
Guy Pearce | |
| Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang |
|
Derek Jacobi | |
| Lady Sings the Blues | Billie Holliday |
|
Diana Ross |
| The Last King of Scotland (2006) | Idi Amin |
|
Forest Whitaker |
| The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese, 1988) | Pontius Pilate |
|
David Bowie |
| Lawrence of Arabia (1962) | Title role |
|
Peter O'Toole |
| King Feisal |
|
Alec Guinness | |
| The Madness of King George (1995) | George III |
|
Nigel Hawthorne |
| Malcolm X (1992) | Title role |
|
Denzel Washington |
| A Man for All Seasons (1966) | Sir Thomas More |
|
Paul Schofield |
| Henry VIII |
|
Robert Shaw | |
| McVicar (1980) | Title role |
|
Roger Daltrey |
| The Glenn Miller Story | Glenn Miller |
|
James Stewart |
| Miss Potter (2006) | Beatrix Potter |
|
Renée Zellwegger |
| Mrs. Brown (1997) | Queen Victoria |
|
Judi Dench |
| John Brown |
|
Billy Connolly | |
| Mrs. Lowry and Son (2019) | Mrs. Lowry |
|
Vanessa Redgrave |
| L. S. Lowry |
|
Timothy Spall | |
| Mr. Turner (2014) | J. M. W. Turner |
|
Timothy Spall |
| The Music Lovers (1970) | Tchaikovsky |
|
Richard Chamberlain |
| His wife, Antonina Miliukova |
|
Glenda Jackson | |
| Nixon (1995) | Title role |
|
Anthony Hopkins |
| J. Edgar Hoover |
|
Bob Hoskins | |
| Nowhere Boy (2009) | John Lennon |
|
Aaron Johnson |
| Patton: Lust for Glory | Title role |
|
George C. Scott |
| Postcards from the Edge | Carrie Fisher |
|
Meryl Streep |
| Her mother (Debbie Reynolds) |
|
Shirley MacLaine | |
| Rembrandt (1936) | Title role |
|
Charles Laughton |
| Rocketman (2019) | Elton John |
|
Taron Egerton |
| Rogue Trader (1995) | Nick Leeson |
|
Ewan McGregor |
| Lisa Leeson (his wife) |
|
Anna Friel | |
| Santa Fe Trail (1940) | General Custer |
|
Ronald Reagan |
| Saving Mr. Banks (2013) | Walt Disney |
|
Tom Hanks |
| P. L. Travers |
|
Emma Thompson | |
| Schindler's List | Oskar Schindler |
|
Liam Neeson |
| Stan & Ollie (2018) | Stan Laurel |
|
Steve Coogan |
| Oliver Hardy |
|
John C. Reilly | |
| Sully (2016) | Heroic airline pilot Chesley Sullenberger |
|
Tom Hanks |
| Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010) | Ian Dury |
|
Andy Serkis |
| Surviving Picasso (1996) | Pablo Picasso |
|
Anthony Hopkins |
| 10 Rillington Place (1971) | John Christie |
|
Richard Attenborough |
| Timothy Evans |
|
John Hurt | |
| Beryl Evans |
|
Judy Geeson | |
| 24 Hour Party People (2002) | Anthony H. 'Tony' Wilson (founder of Factory Records) |
|
Steve Coogan |
| They Died With Their Boots On (1941) | General Custer |
|
Errol Flynn |
| To Hell and Back (1955 wartime biography) | Himself |
|
Audie Murphy |
| Valentino (1977) | Title role |
|
Rudolf Nureyev |
| Wagner (1983) | Title role (one of his last film roles) |
|
Richard Burton |
| Walk the Line (2005) | Johnny Cash |
|
Joaquin Phoenix |
| June Carter |
|
Reese Witherspoon | |
| Wild (2014) | Cheryl Strayed
|
|
Reese Witherspoon |
| Young Winston (1972) | Winston Churchill |
|
Simon Ward |
| Zulu (1964) | Cetewayo |
|
Chief Mangosuthu Buthelesi |
| Made a cameo appearance as a waitress in a year–2000 film about her life |
|
Erin Brokovich |
| Swiss–born actor: played Adolf Hitler in the internationally–acclaimed German film Der Untergang (Downfall, 2004); died in 2019, aged 77 |
|
Bruno Ganz |
| Stage name of Danish circus performer Hedvig Jensen (1867–89) – made famous in a 1967 biopic |
|
Elvira Madigan |
| Played by Kate Winslet and Judi Dench (as a young and mature woman respectively) in a 2001 biopic taking her forename as its title |
|
Iris Murdoch |
| Played Tony Blair in Peter Morgan's "Blair trilogy" (The Deal 2003, The Queen 2006, The Special Relationship 2010); David Frost in Frost/Nixon (2008); Brian Clough in The Damned United (2009) |
|
Michael Sheen |
© Haydn Thompson 2017–22