Cultural depictions of George Washington

George Washington has inspired artistic and cultural works for more than two hundred years. The following lists cover various media to include items of historic interest, enduring works of high art, and recent representations in popular culture. The entries represent portrayals that a reader has a reasonable chance of encountering rather than a complete catalog. Lesser known works are not included.

For purposes of classification, popular culture music is a separate section from operas and oratorios. Television covers live action series, TV movies, miniseries, and North American animation but not Japanese anime, which appears with manga and graphic novels.

Contents

Gallery

Films

Date Title Portrayer Country Notes IMDB
1909 Washington Under the American Flag Joseph Kilgour USA early black and white silent film directed by J. Stuart Blackton [1]
1909 Washington Under the British Flag Joseph Kilgour USA early black and white silent film directed by J. Stuart Blackton [2]
1915 The Battle Cry of Peace Joseph Kilgour USA early black and white silent film directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Wilfrid North [3]
1916 The Dawn of Freedom Joseph Kilgour USA early black and white silent film directed by Theodore Marston and Paul Scardon [4]
1917 The Spirit of '76 William Beery USA early black and white silent film directed by Frank Montgomery [5]
1924 America Arthur Dewey USA black and white silent film directed by D.W. Griffith [6]
1924 Alexander Hamilton George Nash USA black and white silent film directed by Kenneth S. Webb [7]
1924 Yorktown George Nash USA black and white silent film directed by Webster Campbell [8]
1927 The Flag: A Story Inspired by the Tradition of Betsy Ross Francis X. Bushman USA color silent film directed by Arthur Maude [9]
1933 The Road is Open Again Alan Dinehart USA short black and white film directed by Alfred E. Green [10]
1936 Give Me Liberty Robert Warwick USA short film directed by B. Reeves Eason [11]
1939 Sons of Liberty Montagu Love USA directed by Michael Curtiz [12]
1943 Don't You Believe It Walter Kingsford USA directed by Edward L. Cahn [13]
1946 Monsieur Beaucaire Douglass Dumbrille USA directed by George Marshall [14]
1957 The Unbearable Salesman Daws Butler USA directed by Paul J. Smith, Butler also portrays Washington's father and Horace Greeley [15]
1959 John Paul Jones John Crawford USA movie directed by John Farrow [16]
1961 La Fayette Howard St. John France / Italy movie directed by Jean Dréville [17]
1976 Independence Patrick O'Neal USA directed by John Huston [18]
1976 The Spirit of Seventy Sex Tyler Reynolds USA directed by Stu Segall [19]
2000 The Patriot Terry Layman USA / Germany directed by Roland Emmerich [20]
2003 George Washington's First War: The Battles for Fort Duquesne Robert Bryan C. Cunning USA directed by Robert Matzen [21]

Television

Date Title Portrayer Country Notes IMDB
1952 Hallmark Hall of Fame The Plot to Kidnap George Washington Tod Griffin USA [22]
1955 You Are There Washington Crosses the Delaware (December 25, 1776) CBS Russ Conway USA [23]

[24]
1972 Bewitched George Washington Zapped Here (Parts 1 and 2) Will Geer USA [25] [26]
1998-2001 Histeria! N/A USA Featured a caricature of Washington modeled after Bob Hope as an occasional guest host. [27]
1989 A Little Bit Strange N/A USA/Canada [28]
2007 Masters of Horror "The Washingtonians" N/A USA Washington is portrayed as a cannibal in a fictional account of alternate history.
2011 Deadliest Warrior N/A USA In the third season premiere, Washington battled Napoleon.

Television movies

Date Title Portrayer Country Notes IMDB
1975 Valley Forge Richard Basehart USA TV movie directed by Fielder Cook [29]
1976 The Patriots Ralph Clanton USA TV movie directed by Bob Hankal and Robert Strane [30]
1979 The Rebels Peter Graves USA TV movie directed by Russ Mayberry [31]
1992 1775 Adam West USA TV movie directed by David Trainer [32]
2000 The Crossing Jeff Daniels USA TV movie directed by Robert Harmonstarring [33]
2002 Founding Brothers Brian Dennehy (voice) USA TV documentary [34]
2003 Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor Kelsey Grammer USA TV movie directed by Mikael Salomon [35]

Miniseries

Date Title Portrayer Country Notes IMDB
1984 George Washington Barry Bostwick USA TV miniseries directed by Buzz Kulik [36]
1986 George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation Barry Bostwick USA TV miniseries directed by William A. Graham [37]
1997 LIBERTY! The American Revolution Stephen Lang (voice) USA TV miniseries directed by Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer [38]
1999 Celebrity DeathMatch N/A USA Faced-off against Abraham Lincoln
2000 Founding Fathers Brian Dennehy (voice) USA TV miniseries directed by Mark Hufnail and Melissa Jo Peltier [39]
2000 The American President Walter Cronkite (voice) USA TV miniseries directed by Philip Kunhardt III, Philip Kunhardt Jr., Peter W. Kunhardt, and James A. Edgar [40]
2006 Washington the Warrior Jackson Bolt, Shea Patrick (young) USA TV miniseries directed by Robert M. Wise [41]
2006 The War That Made America Larry Nehring USA TV miniseries directed by Ben Loeterman and Eric Stange [42]
2008 John Adams David Morse USA TV miniseries directed by Tom Hooper starring David Morse as Washington [43]

Video games

Date Title Portrayer Country Notes IMDB
1991 Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure N/A USA One of the historical figures that must be retrieved within the game.
1993 Day of the Tentacle N/A USA A character that travels to the past meets George Washington, and among other things, "converts" a kumquat tree to a cherry tree for George to cut down [44]
2005 Age of Empires III Daniel Riordan (voice) USA [45]

See also

Book: George Washington
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.


External links

Ancestry and
family
Life
Character
Washington and religion · Washington and slavery · Cultural depictions · Legacy
Navigation
Bibliography · Book · Category · Commons · Papers · Wikiquote · Wikisource