Cultural depictions of George Washington

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Washington at Princeton,
by Charles Willson Peale, 1779 WashingtonPeale.jpg
Washington at Princeton,
by Charles Willson Peale, 1779

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.

Contents

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.

Art

Washington is among the historical figures depicted in Our Nation's 200th Birthday, The Telephone's 100th Birthday (1976) by Stanley Meltzoff for Bell System [1]

Documentaries

DateTitlePortrayerCountryNotesIMDB
1994The American Revolution Cliff Robertson USAVoice role
2002Founding Brothers Brian Dennehy USAVoice role
2007Searching for George Washington Martin Sheen USAVoice role
2007Alexander Hamilton Richard Easton USAVoice role

Films

DateTitlePortrayerCountryNotesIMDBRef.
1909Washington Under the American Flag Joseph Kilgour USADirected by J. Stuart Blackton [2]
1909Washington Under the British Flag
1915 The Battle Cry of Peace Directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Wilfrid North [3]
1916The Dawn of FreedomDirected by Theodore Marston and Paul Scardon [4]
1917 The Spirit of '76 William BeeryDirected by Frank Montgomery [5]
1924YorktownGeorge NashBlack and white silent film directed by Webster Campbell
1924 America Arthur DeweyDirected by D.W. Griffith
1927 The Flag Francis X. Bushman Directed by Arthur Maude
1931 Alexander Hamilton Alan Mowbray Directed by John G. Adolfi
1932 The Phantom President Alan MowbrayDirected by Norman Taurog
1936 Give Me Liberty Robert Warwick Directed by B. Reeves Eason
1939 Sons of Liberty Montagu Love Directed by Michael Curtiz
1940 The Howards of Virginia George Houston Directed by Frank Lloyd
1942 The Remarkable Andrew Montagu LoveDirected by Stuart Heisler
1945 Where Do We Go from Here? Alan MowbrayDirected by Gregory Ratoff
1946 Monsieur Beaucaire Douglass Dumbrille Directed by George Marshall
1947 Unconquered Richard Gaines Directed by Cecil B. DeMille [6]
1951 When the Redskins Rode James Seay Directed by Lew Landers [7]
1959 John Paul Jones John Crawford USA / SpainDirected by John Farrow [8]
1961 La Fayette Howard St. John France / ItalyDirected by Jean Dréville [9]
1976 Independence Patrick O'Neal USADirected by John Huston [10]
2000 The Patriot Terry LaymanDirected by Roland Emmerich [11]
2006 We Fight to Be Free Sebastian Roché USADirected by Kees Van Oostrum
2008 An American Carol Jon Voight USADirected by David Zucker [12]
2014 Mr. Peabody & Sherman Jess Harnell USADirected by Rob Minkoff
2015 Beyond the Mask John Arden McClureUSADirected by Chad Burns [13]
2021 America: The Motion Picture Channing Tatum USADirected by Matt Thompson [14]
The GeneralUSA
The VirginianUSADirected by Jason Hall

Television

DateTitlePortrayerCountryNotesIMDB
1952 Hallmark Hall of Fame The Plot to Kidnap George Washington Tod Griffin USA
1955 You Are There Washington Crosses the Delaware (December 25, 1776) CBSRuss ConwayUSA

1972 Bewitched George Washington Zapped Here (Parts 1 and 2) Will Geer USA
1975 The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence Jim Henson USAFeatured a Muppet version of George Washington
1989A Little Bit StrangeUSA/Canada
1998–2001 Histeria! USAFeatured a caricature of Washington modeled after Bob Hope as an occasional guest host.
1999Celebrity DeathMatchUSAFaced-off against Abraham Lincoln
2007 Masters of Horror "The Washingtonians"USAWashington is portrayed as a cannibal in a fictional account of alternate history.
2011 Deadliest Warrior Nick Schroeder (young)USAIn the third-season premiere, Washington battled Napoleon.
2013–2014 Sleepy Hollow Louis Herthum USA
2014 Epic Rap Battles of History Peter Shukoff USA YouTube web series; episode "George Washington vs. William Wallace".
2014 Ben 10: Omniverse David Kaye USAVoice role
2014–2017 Turn: Washington's Spies Ian Kahn USA
2015Turn: Washington's SpiesBryan AdrianUSA
2016 Timeless Damian O'Hare USA
2017 Legends of Tomorrow Randall Batinkoff USATwo episodes
2018 Outlander Simon HarrisonScotland/USAEpisode

"Wilmington"

Television movies

DateTitlePortrayerCountryNotesIMDBRef.
1975Valley Forge Richard Basehart USATV movie directed by Fielder Cook [15]
1976The PatriotsRalph ClantonUSATV movie directed by Bob Hankal and Robert Strane [16]
1979The Rebels Peter Graves USATV movie directed by Russ Mayberry [17]
19921775 Adam West USATV movie directed by David Trainer [18]
2000 The Crossing Jeff Daniels USATV movie directed by Robert Harmonstarring [19]
2003 Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor Kelsey Grammer USATV movie directed by Mikael Salomon [20]

Miniseries

DateTitlePortrayerCountryNotesIMDB
1984 George Washington Barry Bostwick USATV miniseries directed by Buzz Kulik
1986 George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation Barry BostwickUSATV miniseries directed by William A. Graham
1997LIBERTY! The American Revolution Stephen Lang (voice)USATV miniseries directed by Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer
2000Founding Fathers Brian Dennehy (voice)USATV miniseries directed by Mark Hufnail and Melissa Jo Peltier
2000The American President Walter Cronkite (voice)USATV miniseries directed by Philip Kunhardt III, Philip Kunhardt Jr., Peter W. Kunhardt, and James A. Edgar
2002 Liberty's Kids Michael Santo (voice)USATV animated series
2006Washington the WarriorJackson Bolt, Shea Patrick (young)USATV miniseries directed by Robert M. Wise
2006The War That Made AmericaLarry NehringUSATV miniseries directed by Ben Loeterman and Eric Stange
2008 John Adams David Morse USATV miniseries directed by Tom Hooper starring David Morse as Washington
2015 Sons of Liberty Jason O'Mara USATV miniseries
2020 Washington Nicholas Rowe USATV miniseries

Theatre

DateTitleOriginal portrayerCountryNotesIMDB
1920George Washington Walter Hampden USARan for 16 performances [21]
2015 Hamilton Christopher Jackson USAMusical based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, written by Lin Manuel-Miranda. Washington features as a main character in the musical. A digital recording of the musical is available on Disney+.

Video games

George Washington is featured in modern video games as a prominent fictionalized character from world history in Age of Empires III , Civilization V and Assassin's Creed III (as himself in game and a counter-history King in DLC). These games are discussed in Winnerling and Kershbaumer's Early Modernity and Video Games explaining that the player manipulating the games' semiotic system of communications thereby "gives insights in his historical consciousness." [22]

DateTitlePortrayerCountryNotesIMDBRef.
1991 Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure USAOne of the historical figures that must be retrieved within the game.
1993 Day of the Tentacle USAA 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
1993 Mario's Time Machine USA
1994 Liberty or Death Japan, USA [23]
2004 The Political Machine USA
2005 Age of Empires III Daniel Riordan USAVoice role
2005 Civilization IV USA
2007 Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs Daniel Riordan USAVoice role
2008 The Political Machine 2008 USA
2008 Civilization IV: Colonization USA
2009 Scribblenauts USAWashington also appears in a similar fashion in all of the sequels to Scribblenauts.
2009 Empire: Total War USAWashington is a selectable general for the United States faction
2010 Civilization V Marcel JeaninUSAVoice role
2012 The Political Machine 2012 USA
2012 Assassin's Creed III Robin Atkin Downes CanadaVoice role. The assassin ancestor Ratonhnhaké:ton interacts with Washington during the course of the American Revolution. [24]
2012 Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington Robin Atkin DownesCanadaVoice role. Revolves around an alternative history, wherein Washington becomes corrupted by an ancient artifact, and dubs himself King. [25]
2013 BioShock Infinite Patriot robots are modeled after George Washington. [26]
2014 Second Chance Heroes USA, CanadaGeorge Washington is featured in a comic book introduction to the game.
2014 Assassin's Creed: Rogue Tod Fennell BulgariaVoice role. A young Washington briefly appears during a party for his half-brother, Lawrence.
2016 The Political Machine 2016 USA
2018 The Council Christian Erickson FranceVoice role [27]
2020 The Political Machine 2020 USA
2020 Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition Daniel Riordan USAVoice role
2021Funko Pop! BlitzUSA

Internet

DateTitlePortrayerCountryNotesIMDBRef.
2014 Epic Rap Battles of History Peter Shukoff USAWashington features in a rap battle against Scottish resistance leader William Wallace. [28]

See also

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References

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Further reading