Whether it’s royalty, presidents, or distinguished executives, audiences have always enjoyed stories about people in powerful positions. Hamilton, which earned a record 16 Tony Award nominations in 2016, tells the story of Alexander Hamilton and the founding fathers of the United States, three of whom later became president. The King and I and The Audience are among the popular stage productions that involve royalty, while dozens of films, including Lincoln (2012) and LBJ (2017), were either about presidents or featured them in the story. Several performers, from comedic actors to those known more for dramatic roles, have played presidents on the stage.
Bruce Altschuler, author of Acting Presidents: 100 Years of Plays About the Presidency, describes presidents as a natural fit for the stage. He explains, “There is usually built-in name recognition and often passions for and against them. In our celebrity culture, we want to know more about what is really happening, either behind the scenes politically or in their private lives.”
Here’s a look at five of the most notable actors to portray American presidents on Broadway.
Bryan Cranston (Lyndon B. Johnson)
Bryan Cranston, best known for playing cancer patient turned drug kingpin Walter White in the TV series Breaking Bad, is among the most recent performers to play an American president on Broadway. Cranston made his Broadway debut as Lyndon B. Johnson in All the Way, a Robert Schenkkan play that details the first few years of the 36th president’s time in the Oval Office and his persistence to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Cranston won the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play and All the Way won Best Play.
All the Way opened on March 6, 2014, at the Neil Simon Theatre and closed on June 29 after 131 performances. Cranston reprised the role in the 2016 HBO series of the same name and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie. Cranston was the first actor to play Johnson on stage, while Brian Cox, known for his work on HBO’s Succession, portrayed him in The Great Society in 2019.
Randy Quaid (LBJ: The Early Years), Liev Schreiber (The Butler), and Woody Harrelson (LBJ) are among the other actors to play Johnson in films.
Ralph Bellamy (Franklin Delano Roosevelt)
More than a dozen actors have played Franklin Delano Roosevelt, affectionately known as FDR, but only two—Ralph Bellamy and Raymond Thorne—have done so on Broadway. Bellamy, whose most popular film credits include Boy Meets Girl (1938) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968), played FDR in Sunrise at Campobello, a Dore Schary play at the Cort Theatre in 1958. He later reprised the role in the film adaptation. The play covered the late president’s battle with polio prior to his time in office, beginning at his summer home on Campobello Island in Canada and culminating with his speech at the 1924 Democratic National Convention.
Bellamy won the Tony for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Sunrise at Campobello. He played FDR 25 years later in the miniseries The Winds of War, for which he earned an Emmy nomination.
Will Ferrell (George W. Bush)
Will Ferrell put his signature comedic spin on the 43rd President of the US in You’re Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush. Ferrell, who also portrayed Bush during his time on Saturday Night Live, wrote the solo show, which ran for a limited engagement in 2009 at the Cort Theatre. It was also broadcast live on HBO and released on DVD.
Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)
Journalist David Frost’s one-on-one interview with former president Richard Nixon has been depicted both in film and on stage. Frank Langella portrayed Nixon in both the Frost/Nixon play, which premiered in London in 2006 and opened on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, and the film released two years later. Langella won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.
George S. Irving is the only other actor to play Nixon on Broadway. Gore Vidal’s An Evening With Richard Nixon ran for just two weeks in 1972 and takes a cynical look at Nixon and the state of the US, with George Washington’s ghost reviling the man behind the Watergate scandal.
Gene Wilder (Multiple Presidents)
Gene Wilder is best known for playing the titular role in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, among other comedic roles in film, but appeared in several Broadway productions, including The White House. The unique play, written by A.E. Hotchner, debuted at Henry Miller’s Theatre and also featured Helen Hayes and Fritz Weaver. It included two dozen presidents and Wilder played several, including Rutherford B. Hayes, John Tyler, and John Quincy Adams. Wilder remains the only actor to portray Hayes and Tyler in a Broadway production.