Actors Who Played U.S. Presidents Quiz

Answer: Nixon

In the 2008 film "Frost/Nixon", Frank Langella played Richard Nixon being interviewed by David Frost (Michael Sheen). In 1995, Anthony Hopkins was the President in Oliver Stone's movie "Nixon", which documents the President's personal and professional life through narratives, illustrating both his successes and his failures. Richard Nixon was played by Dan Hedaya in "Dick" (1999), John Cusack in "The Butler" (2013), and in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014) with Mark Camacho in the role.

The other choices include Ian Wolfe/Coolidge in "The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell; Corbin Bernsen/Ford in "The Commission" and Keene Curtis as Ike in "IQ".

Answer: New Hampshire

On Aaron Sorkin's show "The West Wing" (1999-2006), fictional President Bartlet was from Manchester, New Hampshire and, prior to his presidency, Bartlet had been the Governor of New Hampshire. According to the script, Josiah 'Jed' Bartlett was a direct descendant of Josiah Bartlet, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Actually, Franklin Pierce was from New Hampshire; Calvin Coolidge and Chester A. Arthur were both from Vermont; Massachusetts had John Adams, John Quincy Adams and John F. Kennedy.

Answer: Ralph Bellamy

"Sunrise at Campobello" was a 1960 film starring Ralph Bellamy (1904-1991). Bellamy was a star of stage, screen and TV for 62 years, including the early TV show "Man Against Crime" where he played a tough New York private detective named Mike Barnett from 1949-1954. "Sunrise at Campobello" was set in 1921 where unsuccessful VP candidate FDR was vacationing and was diagnosed with polio. Bellamy was so good that he got to reprise the role in Herman Wouk's miniseries "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" (1983 & 1988). And he was also Randolph Duke in "Trading Places"!

Answer: Andrew Shepherd

In 1995, Michael Douglas got to play the fictional President Andrew Shepherd in "The American President" where Shepherd (a widower) fell in love with a lobbyist played by Annette Bening; the tagline for the movie asked why the most powerful man in the world couldn't have the one thing he wanted most.

As for the incorrect choices: James Dale was the President in the 1996 film "Mars Attacks!" and was played by Jack Nicholson; President Tom Beck was Morgan Freeman in 1998's "Deep Impact"; Harrison Ford played the very athletic President James Marshall in the drama "Air Force One" from 1997.

Answer: William Devane

The docudrama "The Missiles of October" was based on Robert F. Kennedy's book "Thirteen Days" which depicted the tension of the nation for thirteen days in October 1962, where the United States and the Soviet Union were on the brink of nuclear war, i.e. the Cuban Missile Crisis. Wiliam Devane was believable as young President JFK. The other choices were all in this powerful TV movie.
Martin Sheen was not the President but, rather, played the Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy; Clifford David was Ted Sorenson, President Kennedy's special counsel; Howard da Silva was Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev.
The 2000 movie "13 Days" was also based on the same event.

Answer: Daniel Day-Lewis

With his award winning portrayal of "Lincoln" in 2012, Daniel Day-Lewis became the first male performer to win three Oscars for lead roles, i.e. for "Lincoln", "There Will Be Blood" (2007) and "My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown" (1989). Additionally, he was nominated for both "In the Name of the Father" (1993) and "Gangs of New York" (2002). And did you know that Daniel Day-Lewis' father, Cecil Day-Lewis, was named Poet Laureate in 1968? For the incorrect choices: Paul Giamatti played John Adams in the TV miniseries "John Adams" (2008); Josh Brolin was George W. Bush in "W" (2008); Jeff Daniels was George Washington in "The Crossing" (2000).

Answer: Patty Duke

With all the testosterone in this quiz, I figured it was time to hear from the distaff side. After his appearance as Brad Majors in "Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975), less than ten years later, Bostwick was crossing the Delaware as George Washington. George's wife, Martha, was played by Patty Duke (or Patty Duke Astin at the time). Patty had already conquered the big and small screens with "The Miracle Worker" and as "cousins, identical cousins", Patty and Cathy Lane.

The other ladies were: Jaclyn Smith as Sally Fairfax, Theresa Payne as Betty Washington, Christine Estabrook as Abigail Adams.

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt

Ben Stiller starred in "Night at the Museum" (2006) as security guard Larry Daley, who managed to set free an Egyptian curse where the museum exhibits came to life. One of those exhibits was Teddy Roosevelt atop a horse; the old 'rough rider' was played by Robin Williams. Teddy, of course, was dressed in his hunting garb (a environmentalist hunter? an oxymoron?) trying to help Larry 'save the day'. FDR seems to be the President who has been portrayed the most. John Travolta was a Bill Clinton 'type' in "Primary Colors" (1998), and William Howard Taft ('the big guy') was depicted by Walter Massey in "The Greatest Game Ever Played" (2005).

Answer: House of Cards

On the Netflix TV drama "House of Cards", the ruthless politician Frank Underwood went from the House of Representatives from South Carolina all the way to the White House with Robin Wright as First Lady. This show was based on the British miniseries, but it showed the greed and corruption in American politics. "House of Cards" began airing in 2013.

The other series were released earlier, i.e. "Veep" with Julia-Louis Dreyfus in 2012, "House of Lies" (2012) with Don Cheadle, and "Shameless" in 2011 with William H. Macy.

Answer: George H. W. Bush

"The Butler", a 2013 film with Forest Whitaker, told the story of Cecil Gaines, a man who was hired as a White House butler and served for three decades. In real life, Eugene Allen served as White House butler for eight Presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan. Cecil began working for the Eisenhower Administration where he got to see history in the making: from JFK to Civil Rights, to Watergate, the War in Vietnam, Black Panthers, Iran hostages, the electronic era, etc.

In the same film, Liev Schreiber was LBJ, Robin Williams played Eisenhower and Alan Rickman was Reagan...but no G.H.W. Bush.