To some he’s a failure of a president, a disgrace to his office, a punching-bag of political humor. To others he is a fascinating historical figure whose ambition was outweighed by a mixture of his hubris and paranoia. Regardless of your own view, Richard Nixon remains one of the most debated figures in American history. As the only U.S. President to ever resign from the presidency, he is perhaps best described by filmmaker Oliver Stone as “King Lear to some, Richard III to others.” From his stunning political comeback in 1968 to leaving the presidency in disgrace, Nixon’s life story remains one of the most cinematic of all U.S. Presidents — few have been depicted as often on film as Nixon, and certainly none from the latter half of the 20th century have been aside from his one-time rival John F. Kennedy.
But as with every role, some actors play Nixon much better than others. Since Nixon was a very public figure with an extremely recognizable face, most actors don’t have much freedom to play with his appearance or persona. In fact, nearly every actor who has played Nixon has done so under heavy makeup.
But makeup alone doesn’t do it, of course. Unfortunately, it seems like many actors find it easier to portray a caricature of Nixon than trying to portray the man himself. After all, not every actor puts in the effort to portray a president as Daniel Day-Lewis did for Lincoln (although, as you’ll see, at least one below did!) Here is a list of the actors who have played Nixon in major films and an assessment of how well they portrayed the 37th President.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Nixon has been portrayed in a number of films in cameo appearances, often as a punchline. In Watchmen (2009) he represents the corruption of the political system as he is still President in the 1980s. He was played by Robert Wisden under heavy makeup. Also in 2009, one cannot forget to mention Nixon’s kung-fu battle in the blaxpoitation spoof Black Dynamite (2009). Nixon was humorously played by James McManus.
Nixon also makes a brief appearance in Where the Buffalo Roam, the 1980 comedy based on Hunter S. Thompson’s rise in journalism when Thompson (Bill Murray) runs into Nixon in the bathroom and has a disjointed conversation. Nixon is played by 1970s Nixon impersonator “Richard M. Dixon” (AKA James LaRoe), but his voice was dubbed over by Brian Cummings. While you probably don’t recognize Cummings’ name, you definitely would recognize his voice — he’s an accomplished voiceover actor who has done voices for G.I. Joe (Dr. Mindbender), DuckTales, and dozens of other cartoons and video games.
Interestingly, all of these movies that featured Nixon in cameo appearances cast a relatively unknown actor to play the president, something the first movie in our list didn’t do…
John Cusack in Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)
John Cusack’s Nixon is just one of the many presidential cameos that dress the scenery in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, and in my opinion like many of them he was horrifically miscast. Cusack has two key scenes as Nixon– once as Vice President during his 1960 presidential campaign to give the butler staff Nixon campaign buttons and ask what African American voters want, and a second time fourteen years later in a drunken state shortly before his resignation. In both, Cusack looks nothing like Nixon. It appears the makeup folks did nothing to alter Cusack’s still-youngish looks except slap a prosthetic nose on him (and I’m not even sure if they did that or Cusack’s nose is just bigger than I remembered). I don’t think Cusack could look even less like Nixon if he tried. Even worse, Cusack’s attempts to do Nixon’s voice sounds like a gruff whisper.
It’s obvious that the filmmakers and Cusack intend Nixon to be played for laughs here, but because Cusack doesn’t do much to make Nixon a distinct character the audience is always aware that they’re starring directly at Lloyd Dobler with a fake noise. There’s a reason why the “Honorable Mention” films used less-recognizable actors to play Nixon in cameos — so the audience doesn’t get distracted by a star making a quick appearance. The fact that a normally strong actor like Cusack does little more than a bad off-the-cuff Nixon impression is disappointing.
Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon (2008)
Langella developed his portrayal of Nixon on stage in the original play Frost/Nixon before the movie adaptation, and even won a Tony for his portrayal. It was well-deserved. Though he stayed away from heavy makeup (especially nose makeup), he still manages to resemble Nixon despite his completely different body type (Langella is about half a foot taller than Nixon). Langella’s voice is more natural and not the gruff growl that other Nixon actors tend to adopt. In fact, one could describe Langella’s performance as the most “natural” of all the big-screen Nixons, likely because he spent more time cultivating the character than most.
In fact, Langella reportedly put as much effort into becoming Nixon as Daniel Day-Lewis did into becoming Honest Abe because he stayed in-character on set in order to build tension with Michael Sheen‘s Frost. In fact, Langella once remarked that many people who worked on the film with him never actually met Frank Langella. That kind of dedication led to Langella being nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal.
Dan Hedaya in Dick (1999)
Let’s get one thing straight — of all the movies on the list, this Clueless meets All the President’s Men comedy (as Leonard Maltin perfectly called it) about two dimwitted girls who bring down the Nixon administration is the worst. Like The Butler, it reduces Nixon to goofy punchlines that are more childish than cutting. Unlike The Butler, the filmmakers at least made an effort to make Dan Hedaya look like Nixon. At least Hedaya exaggerates the voice and sort of looks like Nixon (though I think he actually looks more like Bob Dole), it’s just a shame that he didn’t have a better platform to play the character. It’s no surprise that a teenage comedy based on a twenty-five year old political scandal did poorly at the box office, making less than half of its budget. And why did distributors even bother releasing it internationally? I can’t imagine Iceland was clamoring for an American political comedy.
Anthony Hopkins in Nixon (1995)
Many were surprised that director Oliver Stone offered such a sympathetic portrait of Nixon in his autobiographical film considering Stone’s political leanings. Even more were surprised that Stone cast Anthony Hopkins, who was only a few years removed from playing serial killer Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, to play the president.
Hopkins appears to have mostly gone sans makeup for the role, but perfected Nixon’s body language, including his stiff smile and wobbly gait. His husky voice completes one of Hopkins most amazing transformation in his career of transformations. It’s particularly impressive considering that Hopkins is stockier than Nixon was and had to move completely differently. Within the film itself Hopkins makes multiple transformations, including from the younger 1950s Nixon to the older, stressed by scandal 1970s Nixon. Like Langella, Hopkins earned a well-deserved Oscar nomination for the role.
Philip Baker Hall in Secret Honor (1984)
It’s difficult to judge Secret Honor as a film even though it was directed by film legend Robert Altman. That’s because Secret Honor is an adaptation of the the one-man stage play written by Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone. As such, Philip Baker Hall is the only cast member and has to the carry the entire film as a rambling, sometimes incoherent Nixon. The plot features a drunken, post-presidency Nixon as he records his memoirs on tape and contemplates suicide. It’s an extraordinary rare example of a one-man film, and is amazingly powerful in that way — perhaps its only flaw is the heavy reliance on atmospheric, odd Twilight Zone-sounding music.
It’s hard to call Hall’s performance anything else but that: extraordinary. Of all the actors mentioned in this article, Hall has the best look/voice Nixon combo. He had to, because there were no other actors to carry the weight. While others might have sounded more like Nixon (Langella) or carry themselves better (Hopkins), Hall manages to be above average in all aspects.
Of all the movie Nixons, who do you think portrayed the former president the best? How about the worst? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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