My inspiration here was my viewing of Stars and Stripes Forever (1952) that
I watched tonight. A young Robert Wagner was in this one too, with Clifton
Webb, now one of my favorite actors. (They were in the B&W movie "Titanic"
the very next year.) Very engaging and enjoyable (and in color). A couple of
good production numbers as I guess Mr. Sousa tried his hand at operetta at
one point, El Capitan being the result.
IAE, noting that an (uncredited) actor appears as President Benjamin
Harrison in SASF, this might be an interesting exercise: Naming actors who
have played the various U.S. presidents. We could even go more or less in
order, noting also the name of the movie, of course, and maybe even noting
any connections to a musical:
George Washington was played by Barry Bostwick (I don't remember the name of
the TV movie), who was in Rocky Horror Picture Show.
John Adams was, of course, played by William Daniels in the musical 1776.
Our third president, Tommy Jefferson, was played by Ken Howard in 1776, and
by Nick Nolte in some other non-musical movie.
Now I'll jump to John Quincy Adams who was played by William Daniels in, I
think, The Adams Chronicles, which, I think, was a TV mini-series. Wasn't he
also played by Anthony Hopkins in the Steven Spielberg movie about the slave
trade? I don't know that Mr. Hopkins has ever done a musical, however.
Andrew Jackson appears in a flashback in the first National Treasure movie;
I don't know the name of the actor. Probably President Jackson appears also
in one of the Davy Crockett Disney episodes.
Wasn't Abe Lincoln played by Henry Fonda? Was the name of that one Young Abe
Lincoln? Some actor played him also in a flashback in the second National
Treasure movie. (You didn't see his face, IIRC. Bastard Booth shot him from
behind.) And someone played him in The Littlest Rebel with Shirley Temple.
(How come you guys never discuss her? I have to admit I enjoyed some of
those pictures as a kid.) Another actor would have played him in an episode
I recall of The Time Tunnel.
Benjamin Harrison appeared in, as noted, Stars & Stripes Forever.
Teddy Roosevelt was played by Brian Keith (remember him?) in a movie. Was it
The Wind and the Lion?
FDR was played by Jon Voight in the forgettable Pearl Harbor.
Jack Kennedy was played by Cliff Robertson in PT 109; and by Bruce Greenwood
in Thirteen Days. I liked both of these movies, but I don't know of any
musical connections for either actor.
LBJ was played as something of a cartoon by Donald Moffitt (sp?) in my
favorite movie, "The Right Stuff."
Finally, we return to Tony Hopkins as "Tricky Dick" Nixon in Oliver Stoned's
Nixon.
That's a far as I can go tonight. I hope this post turns out okay. It seems
to have retained some of the formatting from an e-mail I sent out earlier.
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