Your personal choice of actors who have portrayed Lincoln

[LincolnMan]

Linda: That looks like a really interesting book. Since I prefer hardcover copies-looks like I have to wait a bit due to the price of over forty dollars. Another Lincoln book!

[Hess1865]

Lets not forget Frank McGlynn who played Lincoln in 'The Prisoner of Shark Island' [1936]
According to IMDB, McGlynn basically made a career of playing Lincoln in the movies.
He played Abe in THIRTEEN films and shorts between 1914-1939

[emma1231]

I have finally ( ! ) registered on this great site and would like to chime in on my favt. topic -- how Lincoln and aspects of his assassination have bee depicted in the Theatre arts. Reinhart's book is tops. He made a couple of mistakes in his 1st ed., which he corrected in the 2nd one. ANything I can add about who played Lincoln first, who played him first in a talkie, etc; is covered in the book. I will say that my favt. Lincoln is Walter Houston. The movie itself, unfortunately, is episodic and dull. I think -- not sure -- that the first actor to play Lincoln in a talkie was actually George Billings, who had played him in the first sil. feature about Lincoln in 1924. I feel that Massey's Lincoln is overrated. Waterston's Lincoln seems too chipper and young. His acting was OK. That mini-series was badly cast. Let's hope Spielberg did a better job of casting. It would appear so. Sally Field -- if she gained a little weight for it -- will prob. be great. SHe's a great actress and I predict that if the script is decent she'll be nominated for an Oscar. Day-Lewis has great promise, too. I never cared for the way Holbrook loooked as Lincoln. But he had a good grasp of it and did very nicely. As someone said here, he studied the voice from contemporary accts. and seemed to have really captured it. Frank McGlynn is a favt. of mine,but I can't pin down just why. Have you seen him sharing an apple with Shirley Temple in "The Littlest Rebel"? If not, rent it! Borrow it! Buy it! It's priceless! Incidentally, McGlynn played Lincoln in 1915 -- the same year Giffith did "Birth of a Nation"-- in an Edison film that was made in, of all places, the Bronx. Betty Ownsbey's choice of David what's-his-name- (Selby?) is a good one. I saw him as Abe in an episode of "Touched By an Angel," and he was tops. Well, that's enough from me on Abe.[/size][/font] I enjoyed everyone's input on this subject. How about we discuss who the best John Wilkes Booth was, eh?
For starters, I have four "screen" favts. -- Jack Lemmon in "The Day Lincoln Was Shot," John Derek in "Prince of Players," an actor whose name I can't recall who played him in that above-mentioned epsode of "Touched By an Angel," and John LaSalle, who played him in the episode of "The Twilight Zone" entitled "Back There." The "Touched..." actor certainly looked the most like JWB.

[LincolnMan]

Wow! That was a great first post! Welcome What did you think of the "Lincoln" of Star Trek fame? I love the reception he got upon boarding the Enterprise.

[Laurie Verge]

I am so happy to see Richard Sloan posting on this forum. He's been a friend and Lincoln mentor to me since the 1970s, and was the editor of the wonderful Lincoln Log, the grapevine newsletter that kept most of us assassination nuts going for years. Between Richard's knack for fleshing out history news and passing it along and John C. Brennan's wonderful correspondence, it was a lot of fun being "edumacated" back then.

And, I'm still pulling for Johnny Depp to be cast as JWB. I don't care if he's about 15 years older than Booth at the time of his death, make-up can work wonders -- and only Depp's eyes can mesmerize one the way I think Booth's did.

[RJNorton]

Welcome, Richard! I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot from your wonderful chapter in The Lincoln Assassination: Crime & Punishment, Myth & Memory entitled "Abraham Lincoln's New York City Funeral." Bill, if you have Richard Bak's The Day Lincoln Was Shot please see Richard's article titled "The Reel Lives of Lincoln and Booth" (pp. 202-217). Also, Richard is a co-founder and past president of the Lincoln Group of New York.

[BettyO]

Welcome, Richard!

So very, very glad to see you posting!

---

(08-29-2012 11:53 AM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  I am so happy to see Richard Sloan posting on this forum. He's been a friend and Lincoln mentor to me since the 1970s, and was the editor of the wonderful Lincoln Log, the grapevine newsletter that kept most of us assassination nuts going for years. Between Richard's knack for fleshing out history news and passing it along and John C. Brennan's wonderful correspondence, it was a lot of fun being "edumacated" back then.

And, I'm still pulling for Johnny Depp to be cast as JWB. I don't care if he's about 15 years older than Booth at the time of his death, make-up can work wonders -- and only Depp's eyes can mesmerize one the way I think Booth's did.

Laurie --

You haven't seen Jesse Johnson! He's GRAND and he can really ride a horse to boot. Best Booth yet! I'm sorry to say it, but for some reason, the guy who played Booth in The Conspirator reminded me of Borat.

[Laurie Verge]

I agree about the likeness to Borat. I also thought that The Conspirator's John Surratt looked like Justin Bieber! Also did not like the characters they chose for Powell and Weichmann.

[RJNorton]

Here's John Lloyd from The Conspirator. I thought this actor did a good job.

[BettyO]

(08-29-2012 02:51 PM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  I agree about the likeness to Borat. I also thought that The Conspirator's John Surratt looked like Justin Bieber! Also did not like the characters they chose for Powell and Weichmann.

Agreed! When I saw first saw The Conspirator's John Surratt, I expected him to break into song! Lew Powell was too old and Weichmann -- just didn't look like Weichmann - he was too "squeaky clean" or something. Not rotund and bookish looking enough....

---

(08-29-2012 03:52 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Here's John Lloyd from the Conspirator. I thought this actor did a good job.

He was my FAVORITE character in the movie, Roger -- a PERFECT Lloyd!

[Laurie Verge]

I agree. Everyone thought Lloyd's character was perfect. It's funny because we have no idea what the real John Lloyd looked like.

[emma1231]

(08-29-2012 02:51 PM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  I agree about the likeness to Borat. I also thought that The Conspirator's John Surratt looked like Justin Bieber! Also did not like the characters they chose for Powell and Weichmann.

I think like yuo, Laurie. We don't know what Lloyd looked like, but the actor in the Redford movie seemed right on, and the one who played JHS did remind me of J. Beiber, too! I guess I know too much about LJWeichmann to be able to accept anyone's portrayal. Maybe I felt that the acting was the problem, not the way he looked. LJW should have not bveen quite so confident. I think he should have been nervous about glancing at Mrs. Surratt. Not intimidated, just upset. I think he was described by someone (reporters?) as looking self assured, which puzzles me, based upon all I have learned. I would think he would have been a nervous wreck. Does anyone agree with that assessment?

[BettyO]

I agree with you, Richard. I think that Weichmann was sweating to keep his own neck out of a hemp necktie. Self-assured? I don't think so. I think he perhaps felt more than a little guilty about what he was saying, but at the same time feared for his neck.

[L Verge]

I agree. IMO Weichmann the person would be the last one chosen for a recess baseball game in sixth grade. With the pressure that was on him in that courtroom, I view him as shaking in his boots.

[emma1231]

(08-02-2012 05:13 PM)Craig Hipkins Wrote:  The best Lincoln in my opinion was the actor John Anderson. This guy played Lincoln on numerous occasions in his career. He actually resembled Lincoln.

I forgot about JohnA nderson and Royal Dano. Anderson was terrific in "Trial By Fire," a seldom seen show nowadays. I think I have it in 16 mm. He was a good comic character actor, and wsa seen in such shows as "The Golden Girls." His craggy features lent themselves to the role, and he did a fine job. But when he played Abe in "The Lincoln Conspiracy," he was awful, thans to lousey script, poor direction, and horrible make-up men.
Dano (the voice of Abe at the Disney parks shows and LP record) was the best, voice-wise. HE was terrific in "Agee's Lincoln" on "Omnibus," altho (and I don't recall Reinhart mentioning this) the series was much too slowly paced. I have most of the episodes, some on 16mm, some as VHS. I would love to re-edit them for private viewing, and just quicken the pace. That would make it all the more worth while to watch. (It's like toe old "Amos n' Andy" TV series. Those were wonderful in all respects but one -- too slow. I have been thinking of re-editing one great episode just to see if it improves it.)