What was the worst casting of an actor to play a different race?

[yurbud]

My all time favorite was James Whitmore in Black Like Me. Admittedly, his character was supposed to be a white guy passing as a black guy, but he looked exactly like a white guy painted black, which was especially painful to watch in his scenes with black people who supposed to not notice.



And of course, John Wayne as Genghis Khan:

[SmileyBoy]

1. Tom Criuse is The Last Samurai.

Yeah, and I'm The Last Ethiopian...

[RevCheesehead]

2. Tom Cruise as Human.

[ronnykmarshall]

79. Tom Cruise as a heterosexual.

:hide:

[SharonRB]

92. Rev -- You took the words right out of my mouth

:rofl:

[yurbud]

3. he's short enough for the part

[Floogeldy]

9. Samurai is not a race.

He played a white guy in that movie.

[Left Is Write]

29. That's true. It's akin to the role of John Dunbar...

aka Dances With Wolves, as played by Kevin Costner.

[LostinVA]

62. He wasn't the Last Samurai, Watanabe's character was

His character is based on Saigo Takamori.

[Calliope]

4. Mickey Rooney

as the Japanese neighbor in Breakfast at Tiffanys

[eeyore]

7. Damn...

You beat me to it.

:toast:

[qnr]

38. self-delete

Actually, all the good ones were taken, but I wanted to participate anyway.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

11. OMG....ding, ding, ding...you are the winner! That WAS the worst!

I was embarrassed for him.

[yurbud]

18. that was astonishing--he should have gotten a special Oscar

for worst stereotype in a non-wartime movie

[BigMcLargehuge]

44. you win

Horry Gorightry...

I so wanted to punch him in the throat when I saw that.

[noonwitch]

63. That's hard to watch by today's standards, too.

It's really obnoxious.

[freestyle]

64. Oh hell yes. That was just painful to watch. n/t

[gollygee]

72. Uh yeah I'm gonig to agree with that

Painful.

John Wayne as Gengis Kahn was bad too.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

76. Oh man, talk about offensive stereotypes!

:puke:

[Floogeldy]

5. Ricardo Montalban playing a Japanese.

It was horrid.

[CanuckAmok]

8. Real Osakan Leather!

[Floogeldy]

12. Ha ha!

:)

[eeyore]

6. Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's

MISSSS GORIGHTREEEEEEE!

[Flying Dream Blues]

37. You beat me to it. That was SOOOO bad!

[trof]

10. Wow! You remember "Black Like Me"?

I'd forgotten all about that book.
When I read it, it was a turning point in this Alabama boy's life and how I thought about "Negroes".
Thanks for the memory.

[yurbud]

19. No, I remembered the Eddie Murphy skit "White Like Me" so I rented the

movie.

judging by the movie, it was probably a good book, but Whitmore's appearance was so garishly unrealistic, it made the whole thing seem like a bad episode of the Twilight Zone with a minstrel mixing with real black people.

If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.

[Elidor]

101. The book was a groundbreaking work

It's been ages since I read it, but I seem to remember him coloring himself with walnut husks, which would appear much more realistic than hollywood makeup. It really is an amazing story.

[terrya]

13. C. Thomas Howell in "Soul Man"

Ok, it was about a white kid pretending to be black...but it was so laughably ludicrous...I can't believe anyone thought he was supposed to be black...

[Fenris]

20. Oooh! That's a terrible one!

:rofl:

[yurbud]

21. Wait, you don't think THIS looks realistic? (PHOTO)

[Blue_Tires]

65. good choice

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

88. Damn you, Terrya!

I was hoping to get that one. Julia Louis Dreyfus was in that movie, BTW.

[trof]

14. Wayne as Genghis Kahn would be my choice.

[Jamastiene]

15. Easy one. Brad Pitt as anything other than American.

Seven Years in Tibet would have been a better movie had he not faked that German accent. Brad Pitt is a good American actor, just not good at accents.

[driver8]

25. Pitt played an IRA man from Belfast in "The Devil's Own." A girl

I worked with who was from Belfast said that Pitt's accent was right on.

[ghostsofgiants]

42. Have you not seen Snatch?

Anyone who can don THAT accent knows what he's doing.

[driver8]

48. That accent was hilarious!! I thought he was great in that movie. n/t

[bleedingheart]

98. 'dah yah lik mah doag..."

you can't even write the kind of stuff he said...

[driver8]

102. From the IMDB:

Brad Pitt's character and indecipherable speech was inspired by many critic's complaints about the accents of the characters in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Guy Ritchie decided to counter the criticisms by creating a character that not only couldn't be understood by the audience but that also couldn't be understood by characters in the movie.

[yurbud]

51. He has a snatch? I knew he wasn't a guy...

[ghostsofgiants]

57. Looks like we got us a comedian...

:P

[yurbud]

58. I was just making the obvious joke, officer.

[Jamastiene]

68. Nope. Haven't seen it.

What accent did he do there?

[ghostsofgiants]

70. A exaggerated "Pikey" (Irish gypsie) accent...

It was exaggerated for comic effect. Almost unintelligible. The dvd actually comes with "Pikey subtitles".

[Jamastiene]

73. I can imagine. I'll bet that was a strange movie.

Brad Pitt is just horrible with accents, imo. I can't help it.

[ghostsofgiants]

75. It's a great movie...absolutely hilarious

[Shakespeare]

16. Orson Welles as Othello was pretty outrageous....

And pretty much any pre-1965 casting of an Asian character.

[yurbud]

23. what happened in 1965?

[Left Is Write]

27. Does that include Yul Brynner as the King of Siam?

[yurbud]

50. He fits my other thread on celebs & ethnicity: he doesn't fit ANY

Not that he can play all, but he doesn't look quite right for any.

[tjdee]

80. Holy GOD I LOVED Yul Brynner in that.

:loveya:

[yurbud]

28. I don't think Orson Welles looks too bad here (photo)

[Shakespeare]

66. The point isn't whether he looks good or not...

...the point is it's silly/outrageous to put a white actor in blackface instead of just casting a black actor.

[Rabrrrrrr]

96. If you're gonna be such a purist, then the only rational option

is to start a school for Moorish boys to train them to play Othello, because if you're going for pure accuracy, only a Moor will do; so we need a special school to supply all the world's stages with enough Othellos.

:sheesh:

I hope you're willing to be the big ol' sugar daddy who's gonna start all the specialty schools we'll need to ensure that roles are played by their racially pure type.

We certainly need a HUGE supply of YOUNG Danish men for all the stages doing Hamlet. And come on - we can't let anyone under about 18 or older than about 22 play the role, can we, since we're being pure?

[Shakespeare]

105. ...

:rofl:

[Kickin_Donkey]

60. Yup ...

That's the first thing that came to my mind.

Wasn't Charlie Chan played by a white actor in those old black-and-white Charlie Chan movies?

And didn't Peter Ustinov play a Chinese man? Or was he the one who played Charlie Chan.

Anyway, it was absurd.

[CatBoreal]

17. Conqueror was just painful...

...I tried watching it, but everytime Wayne opened his mouth I cringed. Finally had to turn it off after about 20 minutes.

[ScreamingMeemie]

22. C. Thomas Howell in "Soul Man"...that they actually wanted us to

believe that people were conned by that. :eyes:

[yurbud]

24. painted a couple of shades lighter, he could be Tiger Woods...(PHOTOS)

Okay, maybe not...

[peekaloo]

26. Charlton Heston as a Mexican in 'A Touch of Evil'.

I like the film though.

[yurbud]

31. did you see Gore Vidal explain gay subtext of Ben Hur in CELLULOID CLOSET?

The director told him to tell Heston, but they did tell the guy playing his "buddy" and the have a reunion scene where they throw spears.

Pretty funny.

[peekaloo]

33. LOL!! Yeah supposedly they were involved when they were younger

and Stephen Boyd's character wanted to resume it. They didn't want Chuckles to "fall apart".

:rofl:

I love Gore Vidal.

[yurbud]

34. Oh, I thought you meant Gore and Heston

[peekaloo]

35. I have trouble laughing and typing simultaneously.

:-)

:dunce:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

40. Loved that spray-on tan he had.

Heston voice: "My name is Vargas." :rofl:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

77. Not only that, Charlton Heston AND Marlene Dietrich in dyed black hair

as Mexicans.

Heston even sounds like Heston, not the least trace of a Spanish accent.

[frogmarch]

30. I gotta go with

John Wayne in Conqueror, even though Mickey Rooney was unbearably awful in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

[Kali]

32. Jeff Chandler - Jewish guy as Cochise?

In Broken Arrow (and others) with Jimmy Stewart

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jump to: navigation, search
Jeff Chandler (December 15, 1918–June 17, 1961) was a popular American film actor in the 1950s.

Born Ira Grossel to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, Chandler attended Erasmus Hall High School, the nucleus of many stage and film personalities. Later, he took a drama course and spent two years in stock companies before serving in World War II. After discharged, he was a busy radio actor both in drama (such as episodes of Escape) and comedy (playing bashful biology teacher Phillip Boynton on Our Miss Brooks). His first film appearance was in Johnny O'Clock (1947).

In the 1950s, Chandler became a star in western and action movies. His first important role was in Sword in the Desert (1948), as an Israeli freedom fighter. He would be nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950), the first of three screen appearances as the legendary Apache chief, followed by The Battle of Apache Pass (1952) and Taza, Son of Cochise (1954).

[yurbud]

36. Jeffrey Hunter (Star Trek's Capt. Pike) as an Indian (PHOTO)

MORE


http://www.jeffreyhuntermovies.com./whitefeatherphotos.htm

[GrpCaptMandrake]

45. First thing that came to mind when I saw the thread!

God, that was awful!

[Robeson]

56. He was also a Nordic Christ in King of Kings....

...another bit of baloney...

[qnr]

39. Ringo Starr as a caveman

Actually, all the good ones were taken, but I wanted to participate anyway.

[yurbud]

53. he's one of the better cavemen. Patrick Swayze looks like a Neanderthal

Swayze is the one on top.

[Blue_In_AK]

41. A movie from my childhood

I don't remember the title, but Sal Mineo as an Indian.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

82. "Tonka"

The story of the horse that survived the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

[Blue_In_AK]

89. That's the one...

Thank you, Lydia Leftcoast. What a great memory you have! About all I remember about that movie was that Sal Mineo was an Indian, and I was definitely rooting for the Indians. :)

[Kali]

43. From my movie buff son

Anthony Quinn as an Arab in Lawrence of Arabia. I don't remember, honestly.

[BigMcLargehuge]

47. He also played an arab in "The Message"

he was good though

[PassingFair]

46. Joey Bishop...

in Texas Across the River:



Great site here:

http://home.online.no/~arnfin/native/act/fake.htm

[yurbud]

59. great link

[Aristus]

49. Sean Connery in "The Lion Of The Desert".

And his immortal line: "Aye wazh beorn ahnd rayizzed on the dezhert!"

[yurbud]

52. the Wind and the Lion?

[Robeson]

54. Yep, I'd have to say John Wayne as Genghis Khan....

...that was as bad as bad gets.

[bliss_eternal]

55. Luise Rainer a German Jew as Chinese in the Good Earth--

I know she got an Oscar for this role, but I thought it was awful! I thought her accent was just horrendous!

I understand they wanted to cast an Asian actress but wouldn't because she would be playing opposite a caucasian actor. God forbid they seem like they were encouraging races to 'mix.' :eyes:

Yet, I am one that is REALLY sensitive to seeing caucasians play ethnic roles. There are MANY talented ethnic actors in Hollywood. It just reminds me of how racist the system was (and still is in ways)throughout the years, and how they refused to stand up to the bigotry of this country and cast people realistically.

Lena Horne's musical scenes in many films were cut when films were shown in the south, so as not to 'offend' them. Such crap...

[LostinVA]

61. Katharine Hepburn in "Dragon Seed".... OMG

[Horus45]

67. C. Thomas Howell in "Soul Man"

[maveric]

69. Sydney Toler from the Charlie Chan films.

"Yes honorable #1 son."

[progmom]

71. marlon brando in teahouse of the august moon

[AngryAmish]

74. I don't get so hung up on actors playing other races

Otherwise, how could an African-American ever get a role other than Othello in a Shakespeare production company?

I can understand why a white guy in blackface is offensive but art is art. 100% authenticity is required.

John Wayne as Genghis Khan may be bad but how many Mongols were hanging around Hollywood at that time? Should the story of Genghis Khan not be told?

[tjdee]

81. Uh, not the same thing. They're good enough for stories but not good enoug

h to actually *cast*?

The thing is this. Othello is *supposed* to be black. That's what the part calls for. Many other parts in Shakespeare are race irrelevant. So that's why Denzel Washington can play the Prince in Much Ado About Nothing. Or I could play Titania in Midsummer Night's Dream.

White actors can play damn near everything, which *to me* as a black person who used to act is fine--if blacks and Asians were afforded the same luxury. Some casting calls are still "white female, 20s" when the part does not make any reference to race.

The problem is not so much "you can't play Othello if you're not black". Genghis Khan would have been fine if some Asian was allowed to star in ANY film. That's the whole point, IMO. There *were*, and *are* Asian actors, but no one was casting them for anything but servants. And then they make a movie about an Asian? They're not good enough to cast but they're good enough to make films about? Insulting.

[AngryAmish]

86. I disagree

Hamlet "King of Denmark". Are Danes only allowed to play the part? Of course not.

There was a thread yesterday about 3 Chinese actresses playing Japanese characters in "Memoirs of a Geisha" and how it was inappropriate. Chinese folks and Japanese folks look different stereotypically. But I think it is not wrong, artistically, to allow folks of different nationalities play different nationalities.

Lets face it - "Asian" is a huge group. A Mongol looks a lot different than a Vietnamese person. If there were a Vietnamese person around in 50s Hollywood would he any more appropriate to play Genghis Khan than John Wayne? And why?

[Rabrrrrrr]

95. I'm with you - to say that a character can only be played by a certain

race denies thousands of years of thespianism.

In Shakespeare's time, men played the women's roles - is that wrong? According to the person you are arguing with, yes it is.

And as you say, only a Dane should be able to play Hamlet. SO that means that Randall Duk Kim, who I saw play Hamlet, is an asshole for thinking that he, an Asian, could play a white guy.

And not just a black person to play Othello - only a Moor will do.

I remember the brouhaha about the Passion of the Christ because they had a white guy playing Jesus - who fucking cares? Does this mean that Japanese churches have to call Israel and order out for a Jewish baby if they decide to do a Christmas pageant? Or that American churches have to go find a Jewish baby?

For fuck's sake people, it's art - Katherine Hepburn could play Hamlet opposite Phylicia Rashad as Ophelia and Dakota Fanning as Pelonious and Sean Connery as Rosencrantz and Chris Rock as Guildenstern.

Who cares?

[AngryAmish]

100. When movies, plays etc are unrealistic

It can be held against the performance that it is unrealistic. But if the only metric to measure art is realism than that can get in the way of great art.

[Hugin]

78. Yul Brynner as a Native American...

"Kings of the Sun"

The sunburn didn't fool me, man!

[tjdee]

83. Natalie Wood as "Maria" in West Side Story.

OH PLEASE!

Poor Rita Moreno. She could dance *and* act *and* sing...but she wasn't good enough to star.

Though, Rita probably wasn't right for the part. She was kind of old for it. And she did get an Oscar out of it.

(Really, my answer is Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's, but Natalie is #2. Even though she's adorable.)

[WeRQ4U]

84. Sean Connery playing a Russian in Hunt for Red October

But that's less "race" than it is "nationality".

Either way, it was kind of dreadful.

[Hugin]

87. In a similar vein as...

The Italian "Mexicans" in most Spaghetti Westerns.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

85. Some that I recall, not mentioned yet

1. Donna Reed as Sacajawea, Lewis and Clark's Shoshone Indian guide, in The Far Horizons

2. Juanita Hall (African-American) as Madame Liang in Flower Drum Song

3. Marlon Brando as the Okinawan interpreter in Teahouse of the August Moon

4. Jeanne Crain as an African-American woman passing for white in Pinky, similarly Susan Kohner in Imitation of Life

[Splatter Phoenix]

90. That white guy in Passion as Jesus?

Anyone who says Jesus was white needs a slap upside the head with a geography book, followed by another resounding slap with the thickest history book available.

[grannylib]

93. Like Ted Neely in JCSuperstar (which I loved at the time, and actually

watched twice a couple of Easters ago, when I was alone on the road for business and didn't have much better to do than hang out in the hotel room, everything else being pretty much closed...)
I know there is something of value in picturing Jesus as like oneself, like you see Asian-looking Christs in Christian Asian art, and Black Christs in African Christian art, etc.) but this overriding image of Jesus as a western white guy has always disturbed me a lot.

[grannylib]

91. This was TV, but Marlo Thomas as a Chinese woman on "Bonanza"

was about as painful as anything I've seen.

[yurbud]

103. damn, I wish I saw that

[Spirochete]

94. Chuck Connors

as Geronimo.

[uppityperson]

97. Ronald Reagan as human.

or would that be species?

[bigwillq]

99. "The Honeymooners"

Didn't see the remake that came out over the summer but I can't imagine it being any good.

[yurbud]

104. didn't see it, but it looked funny in trailers