Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2014 September 13

= September 13 =

Need entry: James T. Hackett
This man is the network center of energy companies supplying a US market worth about 15x the U.S. government's annual budget. We need a page for him. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.16.65.80 (talk) 15:26, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Then create one! Instructions here. Nanonic (talk) 15:42, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * We do have a page on his company, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. Is Mr Hackett notable independently of the company?  If not, he may not be entitled to a separate article - see WP:BIO.  Note also that any article about him, or any material about him added to the APC article, must satisfy WP:BLP. Tevildo (talk) 16:26, 13 September 2014 (UTC)

Male film actors portraying female characters or vice-versa
It is somewhat of a common knowledge that male theatre actors used to play women for certain reasons. I'd like to know how many (if any) film actors were hired to portray characters of the opposite sex simply because the producers thought they would do a good job. Neither the actor nor the character should be a transvestite. To make the matter simpler, let's exclude transsexuals as well. Surtsicna (talk) 17:57, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * I have the 2007 version of Hairspray in mind, specifically John Travolta's role since he did a good job as danny zuko, but idk if that counts..is op looking for a list of some sorts?  ~Helicopter  Llama~  18:06, 13 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Cate Blanchett played Bob Dylan (or a piece of him, anyway) in I'm Not There. Not sure if the producers thought she'd be good, but she was, so they'll likely say it was on purpose. InedibleHulk (talk) 18:16, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * I am looking for examples, and yours appear to be good! Surtsicna (talk) 18:33, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Linda Hunt won an Oscar playing a man in The Year of Living Dangerously. Peter Pan, according to that article, has "traditionally... been played on stage by an adult woman". --65.94.51.64 (talk) 18:57, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Don't confuse pantomime with straight acting! All principal boys in panto are played by women: all dames are played by men. --TammyMoet (talk) 20:09, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * French male actors Michel Fau, Nicolas Maury and Guillaume Gallienne playing women's roles http://yagg.com/2013/11/26/ces-acteurs-qui-jouent-des-femmes-telerama/ Akseli9 (talk) 19:32, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Angela Winklair, Fiona Shaw, Nadia Vonderheyden, Marief Guittier, Iben Rasmussen, actresses playing men's roles http://www.hetsr.ch/upload/file/D_Delmar_Catherine_rech_04_10.pdf Akseli9 (talk) 19:32, 13 September 2014 (UTC)


 * My favorite (Deborah Warner's production of Shakespeare's Richard II has Fiona Shaw, who is rather long boned, play the king, who is assumed to have been homosexual, at least effeminate. Unfortunately it's not been released on DVD and is almost impossible to get a hold of.  The Ovation channel in Manhattan Time Warner Cable used to play it on occasion. μηδείς (talk) 19:53, 13 September 2014 (UTC)


 * I don't want to give the game away for those who haven't seen it, but there's an example of this in Witness for the Prosecution (1957 film). Marlene Dietrich is involved.  A crucial scene in Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film) is also relevant here.  As is The Crying Game.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:54, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * If it's a plot point, it doesn't answer the OP as stated. —Tamfang (talk) 01:50, 14 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks for that clarification. --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  02:28, 14 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Besides which, I'm familiar with all of these movies and I don't think Jack is correct anyway for any one of them. And I'll say no more. --65.94.51.64 (talk) 04:22, 14 September 2014 (UTC)
 * You've said enough. :)  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:01, 14 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Queen Elizabeth I is played by a man in Orlando (film). The movie is about gender-bending to some extent, but Elizabeth's gender is not called into question- she was just played by a male actor.

Staecker (talk) 21:59, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * That same movie has the suspiciously male-sounding Oleg Pogodin playing Desdemona. --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  22:04, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
 * I should have thought of Orlando, since I actually met Quentin Crisp in the early 90's. Tilda Swinton plays the main role, an immortal nobleman who changes sex every few decades.  I can highly recommend the film. μηδείς (talk) 18:02, 14 September 2014 (UTC)
 * It's been a long time since I saw Orlando, but as I remember it, he only changes sex once. Pais (talk) 10:36, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Your account matches the article summary. I was under the impression each new episode in the movie represented a sex change, and thought she ended a male with a very old child.  Damn that Tilda Swinton and her tricky ways! μηδείς (talk) 18:34, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

See also Breeches role... AnonMoos (talk) 22:35, 13 September 2014 (UTC)


 * In Monkey (TV series), the monk Tripitaka was played by Japanese actress Masako Natsume. HiLo48 (talk) 23:12, 13 September 2014 (UTC)

Not sure this quite fits your requirement, but Dustin Hoffman played a woman in Tootsie. -84user (talk) 01:57, 14 September 2014 (UTC)
 * No, he didn't. He played a man disguised as a woman.  That was the main premise of the movie. --65.94.51.64 (talk) 04:21, 14 September 2014 (UTC)


 * In ''Friedrich – Ein deutscher König, a German TV movie, Katharina Thalbach and her daughter Anna Thalbach play old and young Frederick the Great respectively. ---Sluzzelin  talk  03:07, 14 September 2014 (UTC)
 * The main character of CJ7 is a boy played by a girl. Probably because the actress was only 11, she passed as a boy pretty well. Also in Iron Monkey (1993 film) a 12 year old girl actress played the male character of Wong Fei-hung. In both cases no gender confusion in the character is suggested. I guess they just liked the actress best, and put enough makeup on them that you can't tell the difference. Staecker (talk) 12:09, 14 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Not quite what you're looking for, but Spuds MacKenzie was actually a female dog despite being dressed up and otherwise portrayed as being a "male". Matt Deres (talk) 12:16, 14 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson (and several others). —Tamfang (talk) 06:44, 15 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Zelda in Pet Sematary was played by a man, as was the Bloated Woman in the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. King Zog in Aria was played by a woman, and there are numerous cases of infants being played by opposite-sexed infants. Pais (talk) 09:32, 15 September 2014 (UTC)


 * We have a whole article on Cross-gender acting. Pais (talk) 10:42, 15 September 2014 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure if it counts, but as far as I can recall, Lassie, who is supposed to be a female dog, was frequently actually played by male dogs. J I P  &#124; Talk 11:38, 15 September 2014 (UTC)


 * The Guinness Book Of Movie Facts & Feats includes the following list of women who have playem men (some are listed above) :


 * Francesca Bertini in the title role of Histoire d'un Pierott (It 1913)
 * Mathilde Comont as the Persion prince in The Thief of Bagdad (US 1924)
 * Elspeth Dudgeon (billed as 'John Dudgeon') as the old man in the upstairs bedroom in The Old Dark House (US 1932)
 * Virginia Engles as old man who falls down the stairs during saloon brawl in San Antonio (US 1945)
 * Jean Arless as Warren (also as his wife Emily) in Homicidal (US 1961)
 * Sena Jurinac as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier (GB 1962)
 * Ivy Ling Po as the hero Chang in The Mermaid (HK 1966)
 * Caroline Johnson as the Prince of Denmark in Hamlet (Can 1971)
 * Anne Heywood as Roy, a transsexual man, in I Want What I Want (GB 1972)
 * Victora Abril as an effeminate young man, Pao Yu, with voracious sexual (hetero) appetite in Dream of the Red Chamber (HK 1977)
 * Ethel Merman as a shell-shocked soldier suffering from the delusion that he is Ethel Merman in Airplane (1980)
 * Linda Hunt, 4 ft 9 in American actress, as the male Eurasian cameraman Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously (Aus 1982)
 * Eva Mattes as a male film director based on Rainer Werner Fassbinder in A Man Like Eva (FRG 1983)
 * Ina-Miriam Rosenbaum as Jesus Christ in Johannes' Hemmelighed (Den 1985)
 * Vanessa Redgrave as Richard Radley, who underwent a sex change and became tennis champion Renee Richards, in Second Score (US 1986 TVM)
 * Gillian Jones as Sebastian (also Viola) in Twelfth Night (Aus 1986)
 * Debra Winger as redheaded male archangle Emmett, who is in charge of Heaven in Made in Heaven (US 1987) (Ms Winger played the role on condition she was neither credited not identified)
 * Theresa Russell as King Zog of Albania in husband Ken Russell's segment of portmanteau film Aria (GB 87)
 * Lanah Pella as black waiter turned revolutionary Alex in Eat the Rich (GB 1987)
 * Barbara Leary as moustachioed Russian heavy Dimitri in 9 1/2 Ninjas (US 1991)

In Summer Vacation 1999 (Jap 1989) all of the boys were played by 14 year old girls. In The Christine Jorgensen Story (US 1970), Jorgensen as both sexes, is played by John Hensen. --TrogWoolley (talk) 21:00, 15 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Oooh, that list just reminded me: Glenn Close as bearded "Gutless the Pirate" in Hook . ---Sluzzelin talk  21:16, 15 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Now it's my turn. Der Rosenkavalier is an opera in which the male title character is always sung and played by a female.  Richard Strauss had his reasons for setting the music for a soprano voice rather than a tenor.  Sena Jurinac was the soprano in question in a famous recording of the opera under Herbert von Karajan, which was also filmed using the same forces.  So this entry does not satisfy the OP's condition.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  23:06, 15 September 2014 (UTC)


 * I wonder if the OP would count the various films where one actor plays pretty much everyone (or at least multiple roles). The first one that comes to mind is Eddie Murphy in Norbit, or Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets. MChesterMC (talk) 09:11, 16 September 2014 (UTC)


 * In 1994 there was a production of Jesus Christ Superstar with the Indigo Girls as Jesus and Mary Magdalen. —Tamfang (talk) 09:20, 16 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Blanca Portillo played a male inquisitor in Alatriste.--Pacostein (talk) 16:32, 16 September 2014 (UTC)