Special Sub-Topic: Movie Actors Who Played Famous Generals Click Here To Play: Movie Actors Who Played Famous Generals

Who played General Robert E. Lee in 'Faith in God and Generals'?

Robert Duvall. Sheen played Lee in 'Gettysburg'. Duvall is an Oscar winner for 'Tender Mercies'(1983). Greenstreet, an Oscar nominee for 'The Maltese Falcon'(1941), played Union General-In-Chief Winfield Scott in 'They Died With Their Boots On'(1941). Boone of TV 'Have Gun, Will Travel' fame played General Sam Houston in 'The Alamo'(1960). This 'Faith in Gods and Generals' movie of 2001 covered events in the Civil War leading up to 'Gettysburg'.

Who played General Omar Bradley in 'Patton'?

Karl Malden. Malden was already an Oscar winner for 'A Streetcar Named Desire'(1951), and Scott won his for playing Patton. Hoffman was Little Big Man in the movie of the same name. Binns played General Walter Bedell Smith, Eisenhower's military whip, in 'Patton'(1970).

Who played General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. in 'The Longest Day'?

Henry Fonda. The other three actors played General Norman Cota, Raymond Barton, and James Gavin respectively in this 1962 film. I am fond of Fonda. He played a General Custer replica as Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday in the John Ford classic, 'Fort Apache'(1948). He has also played Admiral Chester Nimitz in two movies, 'Midway'(1976) and 'In Harm's Way(1965).

Who played General Walter Short in 'Tora! Tora! Tora!'?

Jason Robards Jr.. Oscar Winner Robards played the short-sighted Army Commander at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. Robards won his Oscar for 'Julia'(1977). This was was very emotional for the actor because he was present and in the military in Hawaii in December of 1941. Andes played Chief Of Staff George Marshall and E.G. Marshall played an aide to General Marshall. Balsam played Admiral Kimmel.

Who played General James Longstreet in 'Gettysburg'?

Tom Berenger. Berenger is an Oscar winner for 'Platoon'. Elliott, who would have been a good Longstreet, was a Union officer as was Daniels, who had played General George Washington in a prior movie. It is interesting that Stephen Lang played Confederate General George Pickett in this movie and General Stonewall Jackson in 'Faith in God and Generals'.

Who played British General Charles Gordon in 'Khartoum'?

Charlton Heston. I had the pleaure of meeting Heston at the premiere of this movie in 1966 and found him to be friendly and intelligent. Heston won his Oscar for 'Ben-Hur'(1959). He had also played General Andrew Jackson in the 1958 movie 'The Buccaneer'. Caine and Baker were the officer heroes of the great movie 'Zulu'. Olivier was the Moslem General known as The Madhi in 'Khartoum'.

Who played future General Robert T. Frederick in 'The Devil's Brigade'?

William Holden. Frederick, as a Lieutenant Colonel, organized a ranger unit of Canadian-American soldiers which was virtually wiped out in WWII combat in Italy. He eventually became Commanding General of the 45th Infantry Division. The other actors, Edwards and Oscar winner Robertson, were playing officers in that unit. Michael Rennie played Lieutenant General Mark Clark. Holden won an Oscar for 'Stalag 17'(1953).

Who played General George Armstong Custer in 'Santa Fe Trail'?

Ronald Reagan. Believe it or not, it was Reagan. Flynn played Jeb Stuart and then was George Armstrong Custer in 'They Died With Their Boots On'. This 1940 movie also had Massey as John Brown. Massey also played Army Air Force General Claire Chennault in 'God is My Co-Pilot'(1945). Mulligan, a fine comedic actor, gave a bravado performance as Custer in his first movie ever, 'Little Big Man'.

Who played General Frank Merrill in 'Merrill's Marauders'?

Jeff Chandler. Merrill led an American unit, fighting the Japanese troops along the Burma Road in WWII Asia. This was Chandler's last movie as he died in 1961 of complications from surgery at age 42. Hoyt played General Joseph Stilwell in this movie. Sinatra and Flynn played other Japanese-fighting officers in Burma in other movies.

Who played General Douglas MacArthur in 'Inchon'?

Laurence Olivier. Olivier has played many Generals in in his long career, six to be exact. Peck and Fonda played MacArthur in other movies. Cagney should have, but he was too short so he played Admiral Bull Halsey instead. Olivier won his Oscar in 'Hamlet'(1948).

Who played Napoleon Bonaparte in 'Waterloo'?

Rod Steiger. Steiger was an Oscar winner for 'In the Heat of the Night'(1967) as was Brando who played Napoleon in 'Desiree'. Sellers would have made a great Napoleon if given the chance and patience. Lom played Bonaparte in three different movies.

Who played General Lord Chelmsford in 'Zulu Dawn'?

Peter O'Toole. Caine was in 'Zulu' while the other three were in this less succesful film about the event preceding the battle at Roake's Drift. O'Toole was an Oscar nominee for 'Lawrence of Arabia (1962), 'Beckett'(1964), and 'The Lion in Winter'(1968).

Harve Presnell played General George Marshall in 'Saving Private Ryan'.

True. He was graced with a fine singing voice and was the star of screen and stage in the musical 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown'. After appearing in several films, he seemed to vanish from sight in 1976. Twenty years later, he reappeared as a fine actor in films such as this and 'Fargo'.

Which of these Academy Award winners never played a famous, real-life, historical General in the movies?

James Stewart. It is ironic that Stewart was a real-life Air Force Major General, yet he never portrayed a real-life General in a movie although he played the fictitious General Sherwood in'The Big Sleep'(1978). Brando was Mark Antony in 'Julius Caesar'. Tracy was James Dolittle in 'Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'. Cooper was Billy Mitchell in 'The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell'.

Who played Union General William T. Sherman in 'How the West Was Won'?

John Wayne. Morgan, of TV 'M.A.S.H.' fame, played General Ulysses Grant along side of Wayne. Massey played Abraham Lincoln and Fonda played an Army Scout. Wayne won an Oscar for 'True Grit'(1969).

Who played British General Lord Cardigan in 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'(1968 version)?

Trevor Howard. Howard gave another fine performance as the despicable Cardigan. Andrews was Lord Lucan, his brother-in-law, commanding officer, and nemesis. Gielgud was the properly befuddled Lord Raglan. Errol Flynn starred in the 1936 version of this movie.

Who played German General Erwin Rommel in 'Desert Fox'?

James Mason. After this 1951 film, he again played Rommel in the 1953 movie 'The Desert Rats' with Richard Burton. Kurt Jurgens, a real German, played General Gunther Blumentritt in 'The Longest Day'. Plummer was the Duke of Wellington in 'Waterloo', and played Rommel in 'The Night of the Generals'(1966).

Who played the Roman General Julius Caesar in 'Cleopatra'?

Rex Harrison. Harrison was an Oscar winner in 'My Fair Lady'(1964). Burton played Mark Antony. Rains played Caesar in 'Caesar and Cleopatra'(1946) and Napoleon in 'Hearts Divided'(1936). Calhern was Caesar in 'Julius Caesar'(1953).

Who played Ex-General Billy Mitchell in 'Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell'?

Gary Cooper. Cooper played Colonel Mitchell of the Army Air Force who had been reduced in rank from Brigadier General for his criticisms of military air policies. Mitchell was a Brigadier General from 1918 to 1925, but was a Colonel at the time of his court-martial. Cooper also won Oscars for 'High Noon'(1952) and 'Sergeant York'(1941). Robinson played ex-General Carl Schurz in 'Cheyenne Autumn'. Bogart and Douglas never made it to the official rank of General.

Who played British General Roy Urquhart in 'A Bridge Too Far'?

Sean Connery. Connery won his Oscar for 'The Untouchables'(1967). Fox played General Brian Horrocks with exhuberance. Bogard played General Frederick Browning. Hopkins played Lieutenant Colonel Frost.

In 'A Bridge Too Far', Academy Award Winner Maximilian Schell played Polish Major General Stanislaw Sosabowski.

False. The Polish general was played by Oscar winner Gene Hackman. Schell played German General Wilhelm Bittrich. Schell won his Oscar for 'Judgement at Nuremberg'(1961). Hackman won Oscars for 'The French Connection'(1971) and 'Unforgiven'(1992).

Who played the Roman General Marcus Lucinius Crassus in 'Spartacus'?

Laurence Olivier. In this 1960 film, Laughton was Sempronius Gracchus, Ustinov was Lentulus Batiatus, and Gavin was Julius Caesar.

Which Oscar winning actor played General George Patton in 'Brass Target'?

George Kennedy. Newman played General Leslie Groves in 'Fat Man and Little Boy'(1989). Arthur Kennedy played fictitious General Lesly (based on the real General Lucas) in 'Anzio'(1968). Barry Bostwick played that famous General in 'George Washington'(1986). George Kennedy won his Oscar appearing with Paul Newman in 'Cool Hand Luke'(1967).

Who played the Greek General Alexander in 'Alexander the Great'?

Richard Burton & Burton. This not-so-good 1956 movie had the great American actor Fredric March as Alexander's father, Philip of Macedonia. Stanley Baker and Harry Andrews were also in the cast. Burton was repeatedly an Oscar nominee for 'Anne of the Thousand Days'(1969), 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'(1966), "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold'(1965), 'Beckett'(1964), 'The Robe'(1953), and 'My Cousin Rachel'(1952). He never won that Best Actor Award.

Who played the future Army Air Force General James Dolittle in 'Thirty Seconds over Tokyo'?

Spencer Tracy. He played Dolittle when he was a Lieutenant Colonel and led the famous air raid on Tokyo early in WWII. Taylor played Colonel (later General) Paul Tibbits in 'Above and Beyond'(1953) about the dropping of the atomic bomb in WWII. Gable and Grant never portrayed a General in the movies. Tracy, of course, is one of the greatest American actors ever.