Adolf Hitler has been played by some notable
luminaries including Sir
Alec Guiness (better known as
Obi Wan Kanobi), Stephen Berkoff,
Bruno Ganz, Sir
Ian McKellen (
Gandalf) and Sir
Anthony Hopkins (
Hannibal Lector), as well as rising talents
Robert Carlyle and
Noah Taylor.
However, a number of actors have the dubious distinction of being typecast to play the role of the ultimate incarnation of evil, with some not having much of an opportunity to develop other characterisations. Anthony Hopkins described playing a manically complex mass-murderer as an emotionally draining experience, but for others they can seemingly fit the role like a glove.
Actors who have played Adolf Hitler more than once include:
Bobby Watson
American actor (1888 - 1965). Nobody has played Hitler more than Bobby. Originally from Vaudeville, he got his break as playing a female role in William Shakespeare's Rosalind, and then moved on to Coney Island, Broadway and ultimately Hollywood. He melted into the role of quirky, effeminate characters, but has also played derogatory sterotypes of Irish and African-American buffons. In summary, he the kind of person you would want your soldiers to laugh at with derision, so he played Hitler in a number of films: Hitler: Dead or Alive, The Hitler Gang, Miracle of Morgan's Creek, That Nazty Nuisance, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, On the Double, The Devil with Hitler, A Foreign Affair, The Whip Hand, The Heavenly Body and the notoriously preachy, unfunny and generally confusing film The Story of Mankind.
Friz Deiz
German actor (1901 - 1979). Films include Ernest Thalman, Die Gefrorenen Blitze, I Justice, Soldaty Svobody, Velikij polkovodets Georgi Zhukov, Direction of the Main Blow and Liberation filmed after 1945 presumably
Michael Sheard
Scottish actor. Michael is also a prolific Hitler, and has cameoed with this role in The Dirty Dozen 2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Rogue Male and once in the TV series The Tomorrow People .
Michael is better remembered as playing Mr Bronson, the grumpy, repressed French teacher in the children's television series Grange Hill. He also played Admiral Ozzel in The Empire Strikes Back and a number of roles in Dr Who.
Gunter Meisner
German Actor (1926-1994). Gunter was Hitler in The Winds of War, Blood and Honour - Youth under Hitler, Ace of Aces where he also played Hitler's sister and Churchill : The Wilderness Years.
Billy Frick
French actor. His films include Nazis dans le métro, Paris brûle-t-il ? and How to Seduce a Woman
Carl Ekberg
American actor (1903-1976). Carl took the role of Hitler in The Wife takes a Flyer, Man Hunt, Once Upon a Honeymoon and What did you do in the War, Daddy ?
Ludwig Haas
German actor (1933 - ). His credits include The Great Escape II: The Untold Story, Petain and Shining Through
Luther Adler
American actor (1903-1984). He is credited with playing Hitler in Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel and The Magic Face
Mikhail Astangov
Polish actor (1900 - 1965) and winner of three Stalin awards little golden men with a pipe and moustache ? . Played Hitler in the two part film Stalingradskaya Bitva (The Battle for Stalingrad)
Mel Blanc
American actor (1908-1989). With credits that include The Ducktators, Herr meets Hare, Plane Daffy, Daffy - the Commando, Scrap Happy Daffy and Russian Rhapsody, he has voiced both actual and feathered versions of the Fuehrer.
Bill Freed
American actor. He took the role in They Saved Hitler's Brain and Madmen of Mendoras, and has done precious little else since.
These actors have the hypnotic stare required, and only need to grow a moustache:
- Christopher Walken
- Robert de Nero
- Geoffrey Rush
- David Bowie
- Jeremy Irons
source: www.imdb.com