﻿<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:spout="http://www.spout.com/schemas/rss/core/2006" xmlns:cf="http://www.microsoft.com/schemas/rss/core/2005">
  <channel>
    <cf:treatAs>list</cf:treatAs>
    <cf:listinfo>
      <cf:group element="type" label="Type" ns="http://www.spout.com/schemas/rss/core/2006" data-type="text" />
    </cf:listinfo>
    <title>The Conqueror's Recent Activity - Spout</title>
    <link>http://www.spout.com/</link>
    <description>Recent community activity around The Conqueror on Spout</description>
    <copyright>Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC</copyright>
    <generator>Spout RSS</generator>
    <image>
      <url>http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg</url>
      <title>The Conqueror's Recent Activity - Spout</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/</link>
      <width>136</width>
      <height>30</height>
    </image>
    <item>
      <title>Film:The Conqueror</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/films/The_Conqueror/6948/default.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<table width='100%' style='font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><tr><td><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t17115ok1ah.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' /></td>
<td>
<strong>Title:</strong> The Conqueror<br/>
<strong>Year:</strong> 1956<br/>
<strong>Director:</strong> Dick Powell<br/>
<strong>Plot:</strong> In the historical epic The Conqueror, <a href="/players/P___116130/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>John Wayne</a> stars as Temujin, better known as Genghis Khan. Red-haired <a href="/players/P____31331/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Susan Hayward</a> costars as Bortai, the Tartar princess whom Temujin claims as the spoils of battle. Eventually, Bortai's hatred for her captor metamorphoses into love, while Temujin's hordes lay claim to the entire Gobi Desert. Director <a href="/players/P___106959/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Dick Powell</a>, many of the actors (<a href="/players/P___116130/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>John Wayne</a>, <a href="/players/P____31331/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Susan Hayward</a>, Pedro Armendariz, <a href="/players/P____27572/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Thomas Gomez</a>, <a href="/players/P____50390/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Agnes Moorehead</a>), and several of the crew members later fell victim to cancer, allegedly the result of producer Howard Hughes' decision to lens the film on location near the atomic testing grounds in the Utah desert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide<br/>
<strong>Number of blog posts:</strong> 2<br/>
<strong>SpoutRating:</strong> 2<br/>
</td></tr></table>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:00:37 GMT</pubDate><spout:Title>The Conqueror</spout:Title><spout:Year>1956</spout:Year><spout:Director>Dick Powell</spout:Director><spout:Plot>In the historical epic The Conqueror, &lt;a href="/players/P___116130/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;John Wayne&lt;/a&gt; stars as Temujin, better known as Genghis Khan. Red-haired &lt;a href="/players/P____31331/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Susan Hayward&lt;/a&gt; costars as Bortai, the Tartar princess whom Temujin claims as the spoils of battle. Eventually, Bortai's hatred for her captor metamorphoses into love, while Temujin's hordes lay claim to the entire Gobi Desert. Director &lt;a href="/players/P___106959/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Dick Powell&lt;/a&gt;, many of the actors (&lt;a href="/players/P___116130/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;John Wayne&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="/players/P____31331/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Susan Hayward&lt;/a&gt;, Pedro Armendariz, &lt;a href="/players/P____27572/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Thomas Gomez&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="/players/P____50390/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Agnes Moorehead&lt;/a&gt;), and several of the crew members later fell victim to cancer, allegedly the result of producer Howard Hughes' decision to lens the film on location near the atomic testing grounds in the Utah desert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide</spout:Plot><spout:NumberOfBlogPosts>2</spout:NumberOfBlogPosts><spout:SpoutRating>2</spout:SpoutRating><spout:FilmCoverURL>http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t17115ok1ah.jpg</spout:FilmCoverURL><spout:SpoutFilmDetailURL>http://www.spout.com/films/The_Conqueror/6948/default.aspx</spout:SpoutFilmDetailURL><spout:type>Film</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: 15 Characters Who Unconvincingly Play Another Race</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/8/8/33761.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t17115ok1ah.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/9325/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog on spout.com</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 8/8/2008 2:00:37 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> 
Yesterday’s list dealt with Tom Cruise’s performance in Tropic Thunder. Today, a response to Robert Downey Jr.’s role in the same film as a white actor portraying a black soldier in a war movie (seen in the above clip). Doesn’t it seem such an original and shocking idea? I guess not if you see it as an update on blackface. Fortunately, it’s different when it’s an actor playing a character who makes himself up to look black. It’s funny. But isn’t it typically more acceptable when the make-up isn’t quite as authentic-looking as Downey’s? He actually looks black. Specifically, he looks like Fred Williamson.
I’ve seen plenty of lists detailing the worst instances of one race or nationality playing characters of another race/nationality (John Wayne and Susan Hayward in The Conqueror comes to mind as #1), but I can’t recall any lists involving actors playing characters disguised as or playing another race. So here’s one:

 
My Geisha (”Lucy Dell”/”Yoko Mori”) - Shirley Maclaine is an American movie star who fools her filmmaker husband when she disguises herself as Japanese in order to win the lead role in his latest movie. She’s so good that throughout the whole production, he thinks he’s shamefully falling for a woman who isn’t his wife. But really, she’s not so much passing for Japanese as she is passing for the look of a geisha, which itself is not an ethnicity but a costume. Still, the makeup designer (Shu Uemura) pinned Maclaine’s eyes back in a way that wasn’t always done for “yellowface” in Hollywood films. The method (seen here) looks like it must have been excruciatingly painful.

Gambit (”Nicole Chang”) - A few years after My Geisha, Maclaine played white playing Asian again in this crime caper starring Michael Caine, but this time her primary character is apparently part-Asian already, hence her surname, Chang. So, I guess she’s more like Eurasian playing more exaggerated Asian.

Shanghai Noon (”Chon Wang”) - Did you know that Chinese and Native Americans look the same? You don’t even have to do anything cosmetic. Well, maybe some war paint. Otherwise, just put some Native American dress on Jackie Chan, and he’ll pass as an Injun. Or a Jew? (see this gag).

Once Upon a Time in China and America (”Wong Fei-Hung”) - In that part of Shanghai Noon, Chan’s racial “transformation” was likely referencing this film, directed by his oft-collaborator Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, in which an amnesia-inflicted Jet Li mistakes himself for Native American. Which is even more ridiculous when considering that all the Native Americans in this sixth installment of the Once Upon a Time in China series were apparently played by white actors.

Black Like Me (”John Finley Horton”) - The problem with this adaptation of John Howard Griffin’s memoir is that James Whitmore doesn’t look all that convincing as a black guy. Eddie Murphy was more convincing the other way around in the old SNL skit when he goes undercover as a white man.

Soul Man (”Mark Watson”) - Even C. Thomas Howell looked more black in this unofficial remake. The thing I truly don’t buy with this movie, though, is how Rae Dawn Chong’s character forgives him and even falls for him at the end despite the fact that he pretended to be another race to win the scholarship she should have won. That couple belongs on the list I compiled earlier this year of romances that probably didn’t last.
True Identity (”Miles Pope”) - Going back to the Eddie Murphy thing, I never realized that this early ’90s comedy was actually a feature-length spin-off of that SNL skit (both were written by Andy Breckman) combined with the ol’ accidental murder witness plot of Some Like It Hot, Pineapple Express, etc. Here, the witness is a black actor (British comedian Lenny Henry) who disguises himself as white. I’ve never seen True Identity, nor can I even find any stills from the movie (the image above comes from the Siskel & Ebert review), but in the Washington Post review, Henry is said to resemble Mr. Potato Head more than an actual white guy.

Trading Places (”Louis Winthorpe III”) - Another Eddie Murphy connection. Here it’s Dan Aykroyd, though, whose character changes race. Let me tell you: I know this reggae singer who sounds authentically Jamaican and almost seems to think he’s actually Jamaican. But he’s still just a white guy in dreads. Yet I have to give him credit for being more passable as Jamaican than Louis.

Silver Streak (”George Cardwell”) - Maybe it’s just easier to fool people on trains. A few years before Aykroyd’s character did it in Trading Places, Gene Wilder’s character attempted to look black in order to sneak past some cops and get onto a train. I get the tradition to portray policemen as stupid, but nobody is that stupid.

The Master of Disguise (”Pistachio Disguisey”) - Among the many disguises Dana Carvey’s character takes on in this lame comedy, a few are offensively ethnic, including Indian and Cuban (really just an impersonation of Al Pacino as Tony Montana from Scarface). The fact that this guy is supposed to be the greatest master of disguises is upsetting. The fact that so many children saw the thing was even more upsetting.

Zelig (”Leonard Zelig”) - The titular “Chameleon Man” character of Woody Allen’s mockumentary also “becomes” other ethnicities, such as African American, Chinese and Native American. The fact that he always still just looks like Woody Allen is part of the joke, though.
Torch Song (”Jenny Stewart”) - Most of the time I don’t even buy Joan Crawford as a white woman, but in this movie her character performs in blackface for the infamous number “Two Faced Woman,” and she looks even less authentic as an African American woman. Maybe one day I’ll figure out what race and gender I would have actually accepted her as. Sexless alien creature? (YouTube clip, unauthorized for embedding, can be found here).

L’eclisse (”Vittoria”) - Maybe I’m just used to seeing women with too much bronzer or too many tanning salon visits, but when Monica Vitti’s character goes blackface for a tribal dance in this Antonioni film, she simply looks like a white girl who has darkened her skin. I guess she’s not really trying to pass (neither is Crawford in Torch Song), but her costume isn’t traditional minstrel-type blackface, either.
Krippendorf’s Tribe (”Shelly Krippendorf”) - To produce a fake documentary program on a made up lost tribe, James Krippendorf (Richard Dreyfuss) disguises his children in black skin and junky tribal costume. But as even his daughter (Natasha Lyonne) admits, she looks more like Tammy Faye Baker than a native of New Guinea.

White Chicks (”Kevin Copeland” and “Marcus Copeland”) - Quite possibly the least convincing racial disguises of all time, Shawn and Marlon Wayans play two FBI agents (so I guess this list is actually of 16 characters) who go undercover as Paris Hilton types. But they look like a cross between a Michael Jackson Halloween mask and Eric Stoltz in Mask.
 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:00:37 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>SpoutBlog</spout:postby><spout:postto>SpoutBlog on spout.com</spout:postto><spout:postdate>8/8/2008 2:00:37 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>
Yesterday’s list dealt with Tom Cruise’s performance in Tropic Thunder. Today, a response to Robert Downey Jr.’s role in the same film as a white actor portraying a black soldier in a war movie (seen in the above clip). Doesn’t it seem such an original and shocking idea? I guess not if you see it as an update on blackface. Fortunately, it’s different when it’s an actor playing a character who makes himself up to look black. It’s funny. But isn’t it typically more acceptable when the make-up isn’t quite as authentic-looking as Downey’s? He actually looks black. Specifically, he looks like Fred Williamson.
I’ve seen plenty of lists detailing the worst instances of one race or nationality playing characters of another race/nationality (John Wayne and Susan Hayward in The Conqueror comes to mind as #1), but I can’t recall any lists involving actors playing characters disguised as or playing another race. So here’s one:

 
My Geisha (”Lucy Dell”/”Yoko Mori”) - Shirley Maclaine is an American movie star who fools her filmmaker husband when she disguises herself as Japanese in order to win the lead role in his latest movie. She’s so good that throughout the whole production, he thinks he’s shamefully falling for a woman who isn’t his wife. But really, she’s not so much passing for Japanese as she is passing for the look of a geisha, which itself is not an ethnicity but a costume. Still, the makeup designer (Shu Uemura) pinned Maclaine’s eyes back in a way that wasn’t always done for “yellowface” in Hollywood films. The method (seen here) looks like it must have been excruciatingly painful.

Gambit (”Nicole Chang”) - A few years after My Geisha, Maclaine played white playing Asian again in this crime caper starring Michael Caine, but this time her primary character is apparently part-Asian already, hence her surname, Chang. So, I guess she’s more like Eurasian playing more exaggerated Asian.

Shanghai Noon (”Chon Wang”) - Did you know that Chinese and Native Americans look the same? You don’t even have to do anything cosmetic. Well, maybe some war paint. Otherwise, just put some Native American dress on Jackie Chan, and he’ll pass as an Injun. Or a Jew? (see this gag).

Once Upon a Time in China and America (”Wong Fei-Hung”) - In that part of Shanghai Noon, Chan’s racial “transformation” was likely referencing this film, directed by his oft-collaborator Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, in which an amnesia-inflicted Jet Li mistakes himself for Native American. Which is even more ridiculous when considering that all the Native Americans in this sixth installment of the Once Upon a Time in China series were apparently played by white actors.

Black Like Me (”John Finley Horton”) - The problem with this adaptation of John Howard Griffin’s memoir is that James Whitmore doesn’t look all that convincing as a black guy. Eddie Murphy was more convincing the other way around in the old SNL skit when he goes undercover as a white man.

Soul Man (”Mark Watson”) - Even C. Thomas Howell looked more black in this unofficial remake. The thing I truly don’t buy with this movie, though, is how Rae Dawn Chong’s character forgives him and even falls for him at the end despite the fact that he pretended to be another race to win the scholarship she should have won. That couple belongs on the list I compiled earlier this year of romances that probably didn’t last.
True Identity (”Miles Pope”) - Going back to the Eddie Murphy thing, I never realized that this early ’90s comedy was actually a feature-length spin-off of that SNL skit (both were written by Andy Breckman) combined with the ol’ accidental murder witness plot of Some Like It Hot, Pineapple Express, etc. Here, the witness is a black actor (British comedian Lenny Henry) who disguises himself as white. I’ve never seen True Identity, nor can I even find any stills from the movie (the image above comes from the Siskel &amp; Ebert review), but in the Washington Post review, Henry is said to resemble Mr. Potato Head more than an actual white guy.

Trading Places (”Louis Winthorpe III”) - Another Eddie Murphy connection. Here it’s Dan Aykroyd, though, whose character changes race. Let me tell you: I know this reggae singer who sounds authentically Jamaican and almost seems to think he’s actually Jamaican. But he’s still just a white guy in dreads. Yet I have to give him credit for being more passable as Jamaican than Louis.

Silver Streak (”George Cardwell”) - Maybe it’s just easier to fool people on trains. A few years before Aykroyd’s character did it in Trading Places, Gene Wilder’s character attempted to look black in order to sneak past some cops and get onto a train. I get the tradition to portray policemen as stupid, but nobody is that stupid.

The Master of Disguise (”Pistachio Disguisey”) - Among the many disguises Dana Carvey’s character takes on in this lame comedy, a few are offensively ethnic, including Indian and Cuban (really just an impersonation of Al Pacino as Tony Montana from Scarface). The fact that this guy is supposed to be the greatest master of disguises is upsetting. The fact that so many children saw the thing was even more upsetting.

Zelig (”Leonard Zelig”) - The titular “Chameleon Man” character of Woody Allen’s mockumentary also “becomes” other ethnicities, such as African American, Chinese and Native American. The fact that he always still just looks like Woody Allen is part of the joke, though.
Torch Song (”Jenny Stewart”) - Most of the time I don’t even buy Joan Crawford as a white woman, but in this movie her character performs in blackface for the infamous number “Two Faced Woman,” and she looks even less authentic as an African American woman. Maybe one day I’ll figure out what race and gender I would have actually accepted her as. Sexless alien creature? (YouTube clip, unauthorized for embedding, can be found here).

L’eclisse (”Vittoria”) - Maybe I’m just used to seeing women with too much bronzer or too many tanning salon visits, but when Monica Vitti’s character goes blackface for a tribal dance in this Antonioni film, she simply looks like a white girl who has darkened her skin. I guess she’s not really trying to pass (neither is Crawford in Torch Song), but her costume isn’t traditional minstrel-type blackface, either.
Krippendorf’s Tribe (”Shelly Krippendorf”) - To produce a fake documentary program on a made up lost tribe, James Krippendorf (Richard Dreyfuss) disguises his children in black skin and junky tribal costume. But as even his daughter (Natasha Lyonne) admits, she looks more like Tammy Faye Baker than a native of New Guinea.

White Chicks (”Kevin Copeland” and “Marcus Copeland”) - Quite possibly the least convincing racial disguises of all time, Shawn and Marlon Wayans play two FBI agents (so I guess this list is actually of 16 characters) who go undercover as Paris Hilton types. But they look like a cross between a Michael Jackson Halloween mask and Eric Stoltz in Mask.
 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: 10 Actors Who Changed Ethnicity Using Facial Hair</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/6/18/31371.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t17115ok1ah.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/9325/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog on spout.com</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 6/18/2008 1:01:16 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> 
I keep forgetting that Mike Myers is not actually playing an Indian in The Love Guru, and yet I’m constantly reminded by the film’s commercials, which show that ridiculous shot of a little kid’s body with Myers’ giant head digitally superimposed onto it. Really, Myers’ character (Pitka) is a white American who is left on the doorstep of an Indian ashram when he’s a child. Then he’s raised as Indian, I guess (or simply Hindu, but then why the accent?).
Apparently the character, Pitka, couldn’t simply look and talk like Myers. He had to have that silly accent and the clothes and the facial hair, despite the fact that Deepak Chopra, who partially inspired the character (and who appears in the movie), is able to wear jeans and be clean-shaven. Because who would believe Myers as an Indian guru with just the voice, the clothes and his baby face?
Of course, Myers is not the first actor to wear or grow a beard and/or mustache in order to take on the guise of another ethnicity. Sure, it’s also the accent and the makeup that transforms the actor, but with the most recognizable faces, it’s the facial hair that really seals the deal for supposed authenticity.

Charlton Heston as Mexican in Touch of Evil (pictured above) - Maybe if Heston could maintain the accent he wouldn’t have needed the mustache. But then in photos he still would have just looked like regular old Heston. With the whiskers, however, he looks like regular old Heston with a mustache. If this look defined a man as Mexican, then many characters from the ’30s must have been Mexican. Rhett Butler? Mexican. Nick Charles (and anyone else played by William Powell)? Mexican.


John Wayne as Mongolian in The Conqueror - I don’t think Wayne even tried with the accent, and it doesn’t appear like any makeup was applied to his face. But thanks to that catfish stash he’s totally convincing as Mongolian emperor Genghis Khan. Too bad Susan Hayward couldn’t wear facial hair to make her look more like a Tartar queen. Actually, it might have helped.

Peter Sellers as Chinese in Murder By Death - He certainly wasn’t the first white actor to play Charlie Chan. There was Warner Oland, Sidney Toler and Roland Winters, among others. But he’s probably the only one not primarily famous for playing the Chinese-American detective. Not that it would be acceptable for anyone to portray Chan without the iconic facial hair.

Edward G. Robinson as Reubenite in The Ten Commandments - Born a Romanian Jew, Robinson was more acceptably cast as an ancient Israelite than it would seem. Yet after playing so many Italians in so many gangster movies, he was going against type as the traitor Dathan. Did the character grow the beard to align him more with the Egyptians, though? If so, then this is a twofold instance of facial hair making the race.

Wallace Beery as Mexican in Viva Villa! -Long before Charlton Heston wore a mustache to pass as Mexican, Wallace Beery did the same. At least Beery was playing a real person, though, and had to wear a mustache. Still, would anyone have believed the star as any non-iconically-stashed Mexican?

Sacha Baron Cohen as a Kazakh in Borat - OK, so without the accent, Sacha Baron Cohen would just look like an early ’80s Freddie Mercury wannabe. But also, without that mustache, he’d merely look like Sacha Baron Cohen. Not that any of us knew what the actor really looked like prior to his publicity tour for this movie, but that’s beside the point.

Eddie Murphy as white on Saturday Night Live - In the early ’80s, when many white men wanted to be Tom Selleck or Burt Reynolds, this kind of mustache was absolutely necessary for Murphy’s transformation.

Anthony Quinn as an Arab in Lawrence of Arabia - The Mexican-American Quinn was great at playing against race. And he wasn’t the first or last to don a beard to play an Arab. But his portrayal was probably the most iconic representation of Arab for most of us who grew up in non-ethnically-diverse suburbs.

John Cleese as French in Monty Python and the Holy Grail - You may recognize that he’s French by the exaggerated accent (his lines as the taunter are popular audio samples), but Cleese just wouldn’t be convincing as French without the exaggerated mustache. I know this, because at Halloween time, I see items called “French mustache,” meaning it’s an essential part of the stereotype.

Meryl Streep as Jewish in Angels in America - You can’t play an Orthodox rabbi without the big frizzy beard, but when you’re Meryl Streep, regardless of how much of a chameleon you are, the beard is more than a must. It’s perhaps the only way of being passable as male and Jewish.
 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:01:16 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>SpoutBlog</spout:postby><spout:postto>SpoutBlog on spout.com</spout:postto><spout:postdate>6/18/2008 1:01:16 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>
I keep forgetting that Mike Myers is not actually playing an Indian in The Love Guru, and yet I’m constantly reminded by the film’s commercials, which show that ridiculous shot of a little kid’s body with Myers’ giant head digitally superimposed onto it. Really, Myers’ character (Pitka) is a white American who is left on the doorstep of an Indian ashram when he’s a child. Then he’s raised as Indian, I guess (or simply Hindu, but then why the accent?).
Apparently the character, Pitka, couldn’t simply look and talk like Myers. He had to have that silly accent and the clothes and the facial hair, despite the fact that Deepak Chopra, who partially inspired the character (and who appears in the movie), is able to wear jeans and be clean-shaven. Because who would believe Myers as an Indian guru with just the voice, the clothes and his baby face?
Of course, Myers is not the first actor to wear or grow a beard and/or mustache in order to take on the guise of another ethnicity. Sure, it’s also the accent and the makeup that transforms the actor, but with the most recognizable faces, it’s the facial hair that really seals the deal for supposed authenticity.

Charlton Heston as Mexican in Touch of Evil (pictured above) - Maybe if Heston could maintain the accent he wouldn’t have needed the mustache. But then in photos he still would have just looked like regular old Heston. With the whiskers, however, he looks like regular old Heston with a mustache. If this look defined a man as Mexican, then many characters from the ’30s must have been Mexican. Rhett Butler? Mexican. Nick Charles (and anyone else played by William Powell)? Mexican.


John Wayne as Mongolian in The Conqueror - I don’t think Wayne even tried with the accent, and it doesn’t appear like any makeup was applied to his face. But thanks to that catfish stash he’s totally convincing as Mongolian emperor Genghis Khan. Too bad Susan Hayward couldn’t wear facial hair to make her look more like a Tartar queen. Actually, it might have helped.

Peter Sellers as Chinese in Murder By Death - He certainly wasn’t the first white actor to play Charlie Chan. There was Warner Oland, Sidney Toler and Roland Winters, among others. But he’s probably the only one not primarily famous for playing the Chinese-American detective. Not that it would be acceptable for anyone to portray Chan without the iconic facial hair.

Edward G. Robinson as Reubenite in The Ten Commandments - Born a Romanian Jew, Robinson was more acceptably cast as an ancient Israelite than it would seem. Yet after playing so many Italians in so many gangster movies, he was going against type as the traitor Dathan. Did the character grow the beard to align him more with the Egyptians, though? If so, then this is a twofold instance of facial hair making the race.

Wallace Beery as Mexican in Viva Villa! -Long before Charlton Heston wore a mustache to pass as Mexican, Wallace Beery did the same. At least Beery was playing a real person, though, and had to wear a mustache. Still, would anyone have believed the star as any non-iconically-stashed Mexican?

Sacha Baron Cohen as a Kazakh in Borat - OK, so without the accent, Sacha Baron Cohen would just look like an early ’80s Freddie Mercury wannabe. But also, without that mustache, he’d merely look like Sacha Baron Cohen. Not that any of us knew what the actor really looked like prior to his publicity tour for this movie, but that’s beside the point.

Eddie Murphy as white on Saturday Night Live - In the early ’80s, when many white men wanted to be Tom Selleck or Burt Reynolds, this kind of mustache was absolutely necessary for Murphy’s transformation.

Anthony Quinn as an Arab in Lawrence of Arabia - The Mexican-American Quinn was great at playing against race. And he wasn’t the first or last to don a beard to play an Arab. But his portrayal was probably the most iconic representation of Arab for most of us who grew up in non-ethnically-diverse suburbs.

John Cleese as French in Monty Python and the Holy Grail - You may recognize that he’s French by the exaggerated accent (his lines as the taunter are popular audio samples), but Cleese just wouldn’t be convincing as French without the exaggerated mustache. I know this, because at Halloween time, I see items called “French mustache,” meaning it’s an essential part of the stereotype.

Meryl Streep as Jewish in Angels in America - You can’t play an Orthodox rabbi without the big frizzy beard, but when you’re Meryl Streep, regardless of how much of a chameleon you are, the beard is more than a must. It’s perhaps the only way of being passable as male and Jewish.
 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:love</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/love/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/love/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>love</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 12478</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 338</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 1480</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:28:29 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>12478</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>338</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>1480</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:romance</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/romance/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/romance/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>romance</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 7163</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 169</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 1005</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:16:35 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>7163</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>169</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>1005</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:kidnapping</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/kidnapping/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/kidnapping/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>kidnapping</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 2851</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 49</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 172</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:39:42 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>2851</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>49</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>172</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:history</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/history/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/history/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>history</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 999</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 48</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 156</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:15:22 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>999</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>48</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>156</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:battle-war</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/battle-war/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/battle-war/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>battle-war</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 1931</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 7</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 10</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:03:15 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>1931</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>7</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>10</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:empire</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/empire/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/empire/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>empire</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 196</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 7</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 8</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:01:43 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>196</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>7</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>8</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:capture</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/capture/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/capture/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>capture</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 730</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 5</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 10</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:02:24 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>730</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>5</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>10</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:conquest</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/conquest/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/conquest/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>conquest</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 215</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 1</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 1</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:02:17 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>215</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>1</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>1</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:tartar</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/tartar/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/tartar/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>tartar</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 3</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 0</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 0</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 07 Dec 2005 20:14:32 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>3</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>0</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>0</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
  </channel>
</rss>