Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Cultural depictions of Winston Churchill

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit

The life of Winston Churchill has frequently been fictionalised for film, television, radio and other media.

Contents

Film

  • Darkest Hour (2017) – Gary Oldman
  • Churchill's Secret (2016) – Michael Gambon
  • Paradox (2010) – Alan C. Peterson;
  • The King's Speech (2010) – Timothy Spall;
  • Into the Storm (2009) – Brendan Gleeson, for HBO;
  • Inglourious Basterds (2009) – Rod Taylor;
  • I Am Bob (2007) – Ian Beyts;
  • Allegiance (2005) – Mel Smith;
  • Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004) – Christian Slater;
  • The Virgin of Liverpool (2003) – Paul Barber (uncredited);
  • The Gathering Storm (2002 film) – Albert Finney, for HBO;
  • Two Men Went to War (2002) – David Ryall;
  • Operación gónada (2000) – Craig Stevenson;
  • Shaheed Uddham Singh: Alais Ram Mohammad Singh Azad (2000) – Joe Lamb;
  • Caro dolce amore (1994) – John Evans;
  • Casablanca Express (1989) – John Evans;
  • Jane and the Lost City (1987) – Richard Huggett;
  • Katastrofa w Gibraltarze (1984) – Wlodzimierz Wiszniewski;
  • Bourreau des coeurs, Le (1983) – René Douglas;
  • Sekret Enigmy (1979) – Józef Zacharewicz;
  • Picassos äventyr (1978) – Sune Mangs;
  • The Eagle Has Landed (1976) – Leigh Dilley;
  • Young Winston (1972) – Simon Ward;
  • Liberation (1970) – Yuri Durov;
  • Operation Crossbow (1965) – Patrick Wymark;
  • A King's Story (1965) – Patrick Wymark (voice only);
  • The Finest Hours (1964) – Patrick Wymark (adult Churchill, voice only)/George Westbury (young Churchill, voice only);
  • The Siege of Sidney Street (1960) – Jimmy Sangster (uncredited);
  • The Man Who Never Was (1956) – Peter Sellers (voice only, uncredited);
  • Above Us the Waves (1955) – Peter Cavanagh (voice only, uncredited);
  • Nezabyvaemyy god 1919 (1952) – Viktor Stanitsyn;
  • An American in Paris (1951) - Dudley Field Malone
  • Due mogli sono troppe (1950) – Pietro Meloni;
  • The Fall of Berlin (1950) – Viktor Stanitsyn;
  • The Lights of Baku (1950)– Viktor Stanitsyn;
  • Stalingradskaya bitva I (1949) – Viktor Stanitsyn;
  • Mission to Moscow (1943) – Dudley Field Malone;
  • Captains of the Clouds (1942) – Miles Mander (voice only);
  • Royal Cavalcade (1935) – C.M. Hallard.
  • Theatre

  • The Audience (2013) – Edward Fox (replacing Robert Hardy, who withdrew prior to press night for health reasons);
  • Three Days in May (2011) – Warren Clarke (premiere run in 2011).
  • Never So Good (2007) – Ian McNeice (premiere run in 2007).
  • TV

  • The Valiant Years (1960–1963) – Richard Burton;
  • The Gathering Storm (1974) – Richard Burton;
  • Days of Hope (1975) – this is a relatively negative portrayal of Churchill that highlights his attitude towards the coal miners during the strikes of 1921 and 1926
  • Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977) – Arthur Gould-Porter;
  • Churchill and the Generals (1979) – Timothy West;
  • Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981) – Robert Hardy;
  • The Winds of War (1983) – Howard Lang;
  • War and Remembrance (1988) – Robert Hardy;
  • Bomber Harris (1989) – Robert Hardy;
  • 'Allo 'Allo!, series 7, episode 4, Up the Crick Without a Piddle (1991) – John James Evanson (as John James Evans);
  • World War II: When Lions Roared (1994) - Bob Hoskins
  • The Lost World (2001) – Linal Haft;
  • Bertie and Elizabeth (2002) – David Ryall;
  • The Gathering Storm (2002) – Albert Finney;
  • Wallis and Edward (2005) – David Calder;
  • The Sittaford Mystery (2006) – Robert Hardy;
  • ′′Menzies and Churchill at War′′(2008) Australian television documentary portrayed by Charles 'Bud' Tingwell;
  • Into the Storm (2009) – Brendan Gleeson;
  • Doctor Who – "The Beast Below", "Victory of the Daleks", "The Pandorica Opens", "The Wedding of River Song" (2010–11) – Ian McNeice;
  • Horrible Histories (2009–) – Jim Howick;
  • Peaky Blinders (2013) – Andy Nyman, (2014) – Richard McCabe;
  • Murdoch MysteriesWinston's Lost Night – Thomas Howes
  • Churchill: The Lost Interviews (2014) – Richard Beenham.
  • Up the Women – "Train" (2015) – Harry Peacock
  • The Crown (2016) - John Lithgow
  • Music

  • The Kinks recorded "Mr. Churchill Says" for their 1969 album "Arthur".
  • The YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History featured Dan Bull as Churchill in its fifth season; Churchill battled against Theodore Roosevelt, played by EpicLLOYD.
  • Iron Maiden included parts of Churchills famous speech "We shall fight on the beaches" in live versions of the song "Aces High" from the 1984 album Powerslave.
  • Radio

  • Peter Sellers included Churchill as his standard PM for the Goon Show. Churchill is depicted as he was during the Second World War. In the Goon Show, he is of course treated humorously, having a very African foreign secretary called Basil (played by Ray Ellington in Red Bladder mode). In addition he is responsible for supporting Neddie Seagoon's harebrained plans for long range jet propelled guided NAAFI's, atomic dustbins, and throwing batter puddings at Clement Attlee;
  • Churchill's Other Lives, documentary series, played by Roger Allam (2011).
  • Literature

  • The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2012);
  • Churchill's Triumph, the fourth in a quartet of Churchill novels by Michael Dobbs (2005);
  • Churchill's Hour, the third in a quartet of Churchill novels by Michael Dobbs (2004);
  • Never Surrender, the second in a quartet of Churchill novels by Michael Dobbs (2003);
  • Winston's War, the first in a quartet of Churchill novels by Michael Dobbs (2002);
  • Players, a Doctor Who novel by Terrance Dicks (1999);
  • Winston Churchill is a significant character in the novel Redemption (1995), by Leon Uris;
  • The Curse of the Nibelung: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery (1981) by "Marcel 'd'Agneau", a pseudonym of Sam North (subsequent editions published under North's own name).
  • Miscellaneous

  • The Chat to Churchill TV Adverts feature a Bulldog called Churchill.
  • Garfield 2 has a Bulldog called Winston.
  • The James Bond London 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony featured an animated version of Churchill's London statue where Bond and the Queen fly over it in a helicopter and salute him when suddenly he comes alive and raises his cane in salute to British History, Monarchy and Britain's role in World War II .
  • Churchill was featured in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Syndicate as an ally to Lydia Frye.
  • References

    Cultural depictions of Winston Churchill Wikipedia