10 US presidents as seen by Hollywood

Hollywood has Richard Nixon to thank for many of its iconic presidential screen portrayals. Among the best was Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins, who played the 37th US president in Oliver Stone's 1995 biopic, "Nixon." The politician's life has been particularly fascinating to directors, who have often captured him as a villainous persona on the silver screen.

The very first US president, George Washington, was portrayed in the silent film era. But no president showed up on the silver screen as often as Abraham Lincoln. Here, Henry Fonda played the 16th president of the United States in the successful John Ford film "Young Mr. Lincoln," released in 1939.

Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as the president in Steven Spielberg's 2012 film, "Lincoln," was a triumph. Again - as with Hopkins' portrayal of Nixon nearly 20 years earlier - a Brit played an American president with a highly nuanced performance.

On film, US presidents are generally the subject of heroic dramas or sophisticated biopics. Playing the president as a source for laughter is rare. But as Theodore Roosevelt, actor Robin Williams (right, with Ben Stiller) proved the exception to that rule in the "Night at the Museum" series (2006, 2009, 2014).

It's been far more common to have US presidents appear in movies when Hollywood chooses to portray dramatic events and internal and external political crises. In 2001, Jon Voight played Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the film "Pearl Harbor," which dramatized the 1941 attack by the Japanese in Hawaii.

After Roosevelt's death in 1945, Harry S. Truman took on the job of the world's most powerful man. Fifty years later, actor Gary Sinise took on the role of the 33rd US president in the 1995 TV film "Truman." Next to major stars like Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Day-Lewis, many lesser known actors have also portrayed American presidents on screen.

Often, the actors playing the president were overshadowed by the film's main stars. Roger Donaldson's "Thirteen Days," released in 2000, is a prime example. In the dramatization of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as presidential adviser Kenny O'Donnell, superstar Kevin Costner (right) played the lead role. In a supporting role, Bruce Greenwood (center) played President John F. Kennedy.

No other president has offered actors as many possibilities as Richard Nixon. Even less familiar episodes from his political life have been committed to film. In 2008, Frank Langella played the 37th president in "Frost/Nixon," which showed the legendary interview with journalist and TV host David Frost.

"Elvis & Nixon" traces the historic 1970 White House meeting between the US president and rock 'n' roll star Elvis Presley. In the 2016 film, Nixon is played by Kevin Spacey - an actor who brought a lot of presidential experience to the role.

Since 2013, Spacey has portrayed the fictional US President Francis Underwood in the Netflix series "House of Cards." Spacey is perhaps one of the best-known actors to play a fictional president in cinema and TV. But that remains a subject for another gallery - the list of fictional presidents is at least as long as the number of films featuring real US leaders.