Abraham Lincoln's Image on Film and Television
Liam Neeson to Recreate Honest Abe for a New Generation
Feb 12, 2009
Parents give photos of their children to family members and put up the same photos somewhere in the house. The passage of time is recorded through formal school photos and home movies, as keepsakes and reminders, but can you imagine having your image recognized by millions of people?
Almost all Americans can describe what Abraham Lincoln looked like with his fluffy beard and tall hat. We see likenesses of his image everywhere from the sculpture of his face carved into Mount Rushmore to the statue of him that sits in the Lincoln Memorial. We carry his image in our pockets because his portrait is on the five dollar bill. If we do forget what Lincoln looks like, we need only look at the one penny coin.
But although his image is one of the most remembered images of a United States’ president, he has seldom been depicted in movies in the past fifty years. Is it because we all have such a clear idea of Lincoln that an actor playing this famous president would seem odd to us? This seems unlikely since Lincoln has been a featured character in television, but, as his 200th birthday is celebrated, it is intriguing to chart the celluloid depiction of one of the USA presidents to have developed one of the most iconic images.
The Image of Abraham Lincoln
Although many images of the various United States presidents are largely familiar to the eye, Lincoln was one of the first American presidents to have his likeness actually captured not only by paint but also by photograph. Thus, in true honest Abe fashion, while the accuracy of the appearance of earlier presidents can be questioned, since a portrait painter can alter the looks of the subject, Lincoln’s likeness is undeniable.
Of course, despite sayings to the contrary, the camera is capable of lying, just as it is capable of recreating. Movies about history recreate fact as fiction, and in doing so tell the stories of many historical figures.
Yet, while some faces of history, such as Elizabeth I, seem to have proved popular subject matter for Hollywood blockbusters in recent years, other iconic figures such as Lincoln seem to have begun to be air-brushed from historical films.
Abraham Lincoln and Early Film
Interestingly, although the depiction of Lincoln in movies has declined, Lincoln was a popular movie subject even before movies had sound. In fact, in less than twenty years, Lincoln was played in over forty silent films, and once the silent movies were replaced with talkies, the 16th President was still a commonly revisited screen subject.
Between 1930 and 1945, Lincoln continued to feature on the big screen, with at least three different movies being made solely about the life of Lincoln. Two of the more often discussed movies about Lincoln are “Young Mr. Lincoln” (1939), with Lincoln being played by Henry Fonda, and “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” (1940), in which Raymond Massey plays the title role. Each of these films are followed by a degree of controversy, but the fact that the films were made in consecutive years exhibits the popularity of Lincoln as a screen subject.
Televising Lincoln
Since the introduction of television, Abraham Lincoln has more often appeared on the small screen than the large screen. Lincoln has also less often been the main focal point of the story of these TV tales, although some television dramas and documentaries have continues to utilize the former president as a key character.
Now the USA presidents most often captured on film are the presidents of the past sixty years. The few exceptions, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Teddy Roosevelt, like Lincoln are among the best known presidents.
However, these older presidents are still more often confined to the small screen, usually only appearing if a presidential life is turned into a biographical miniseries. In the past thirty years, one of the few presidents to have featured in the living room and the movie theater is John Adams.
Yet, with few exceptions, recently when the older presidents appear in a feature film, it is usually as a cameo character. For example, Teddy Roosevelt was shown as the governor of New York in the Walt Disney movie “Newsies” (1992). Other presidents have been mentioned in various movies but not seen.
Steven Spielberg Directs Abraham Lincoln
A motion picture entitled “Lincoln” is to return the 16th President to movie theaters in 2011. Spielberg is set to direct the project, which plans to star Liam Neeson. It is also rumored the Sally Field will play Mary Todd Lincoln.
Star of Historical Films: President Lincoln Turns Two-Hundred
Having existed for 200 years, Abraham Lincoln has probably been depicted by as many faces. The image of the 16th president has become iconic, and it continues to be reproduced in many mediums. However, it seems that while the heads of many actors have attempted to fill the tall hat of the tall man, it is the likeness of the real man which remains as embedded on the mind as it is imprinted on the penny.
