Biopics with actual footage

November 29, 2004 12:36 AM

What were the first few mainstream/indie biographical films that ended by transitioning from the actor to the real-life person that the actor was portraying?
[examples inside may be considered spoilers]

Examples from recent years include:
Schindler's List
Rabbit-Proof Fence
America Splendor
The Motorcycle Diaries

But surely this technique goes back a lot further than Schindler's List, no?

posted by gluechunk to media & arts (16 comments total)

Nixon.
The Limey does something weird like this where they flash back to another older movie the same character was in as a weird means of giving the guy a history.
posted by jessamyn at 5:23 AM on November 29, 2004

Europa Europa.
posted by thomas j wise at 5:47 AM on November 29, 2004

"The Naked Civil Servant" begins with the real Quentin Crisp who then is played by John Hurt for the rest of the film.

"Yellow Submarine" stars cartoon-drawings and voice actors, but there's a transition to the real Beatles at the end.
posted by grumblebee at 5:49 AM on November 29, 2004

I think Blow ends talking to the real George Jung, but that's pretty recent.

How about Audie Murphy playing Audie Murphy in To Hell and Back based on his autobiography. No transition necessary, the actor is the person. Also (thanks to one of the discussions on IMDB) Jackie Robinson and Howard Stern did the same sort of thing. Probably not exactly what you were looking for, sorry to digress, found it interesting.
posted by tetsuo at 6:34 AM on November 29, 2004

American Splendor
posted by TimeFactor at 8:35 AM on November 29, 2004

What's Love Got To Do With It? again, recent.
posted by whatnot at 9:52 AM on November 29, 2004

Um, Timefactor--There are now eight comments here, starting with:

Examples from recent years include:
Schindler's List
Rabbit-Proof Fence
America Splendor
The Motorcycle Diaries
posted by y2karl at 9:58 AM on November 29, 2004

What's Love Got to Do with It, if memory serves.
posted by LinnTate at 10:20 AM on November 29, 2004

Jessamyn, that older movie is Poor Cow and features the same actor, Terrance Stamp.

The prisoners in Le Trou are played by themselves, don't know if that counts. Like, they're not prisoners acting in a prison movie. They're prisoners playing themselves who were prisoners at the time the story is taking place.

If I recall correctly Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid opens with footage of the real Hole In the Wall Gang.
posted by dobbs at 10:31 AM on November 29, 2004

I have made a mistake and therefore must die! Kill me kill me kill kill kill. Thank you.
posted by TimeFactor at 11:29 AM on November 29, 2004

In 24 Hour Party People the real Tony Wilson (portrayed by Steve Coogan in the film) appeared as an extra.
posted by glibhamdreck at 11:34 AM on November 29, 2004

I seem to recall that, Great Balls of Fire, the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic, either opens or closes with a sequence in which the actor playing the role (Dennis Quaid) and the real Jerry Lee goof around at the piano together.
posted by Clay201 at 12:47 PM on November 29, 2004

It's not quite the same thing, but in Jolson Sings Again (which is the sequel to The Jolson Story), there is a scene where Larry Parks (as Jolson) watches Larry Parks as himself playing Jolson.
posted by briank at 12:48 PM on November 29, 2004

The Newton Boys, too... though I think you'll have tough time find the beginning of this trend, since biopics on living subjects has to be a somewhat recent cinematic development.
posted by glibhamdreck at 1:07 PM on November 29, 2004

I apologize for the tangent. But if you recall from blaxploitation class, in Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, writer/director Melvin Van Peebles played Sweetback and cast his own son Mario to play the young Sweetback. In Baadasssss: How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass, writer/director Mario’s homage to Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Mario played Melvin playing Sweetback (and a young actor played a young Mario playing the young Sweetback). They slipped Melvin into the end of the credits, I think.
posted by glibhamdreck at 1:36 PM on November 29, 2004

I'm pretty sure "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" ends with some words from the real Chuck Barris.
posted by schoolgirl report at 6:26 PM on November 29, 2004