Who Portrayed Abraham Lincoln Most Accurately?
Only one person has been portrayed on-screen more than Abraham Lincoln, and he doesn’t actually exist: Sherlock Holmes. Honest Abe has been inspiring filmmakers since 1908, when Van Dyke Brooke directed The Reprieve: An Episode in the Life of Abraham Lincoln, and has since appeared in more than 300 movies.
An unknown actor played the 16th president in The Reprieve, which concerned Lincoln’s pardon of the “sleeping sentinel” — a Union soldier who fell asleep on duty and was initially sentenced to death for his mistake. Given Lincoln’s status as one of America’s most revered leaders, it’s little surprise that the first movie made about him focused on his mercy and compassion — traits highlighted in just about every other film inspired by Lincoln.
But which of these portrayals was most accurate? Before answering that, it’s worth taking a look at some honorable mentions.
Noteworthy Films About Lincoln
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
Before he was president, Lincoln worked as a lawyer. Oscar-winning director John Ford chose to focus on this era of Honest Abe’s life in his excellent biographical drama. Henry Fonda — another screen legend who received an Oscar nomination for his leading role in The Grapes of Wrath and also starred in such classics as The Lady Eve and 12 Angry Men before winning Best Actor for 1981’s On Golden Pond — was perfectly cast as the idealistic attorney defending two brothers who are falsely accused of murder.
Screenwriter and critic Frank Nugent lauded Fonda’s performance as one of those “once-in-a-blue-moon things: a crossroads meeting of nature, art, and a smart casting director. Nature gave Mr. Fonda long legs and arms, a strong and honest face, and a slow smile; the make-up man added a new nose bridge.” You could argue that on a physical level, Fonda captured Lincoln’s essence better than any other actor.
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The Tall Target (1951)
Despite being the title character in Anthony Mann’s underseen thriller, Lincoln himself appears for less than a minute of The Tall Target. And yet the film is worth mentioning not only because it’s a good movie but also because it focuses on a lesser-known chapter of the former president’s life: the unsuccessful Baltimore Plot. The assassination attempt occurred just prior to Lincoln’s inauguration and was initiated by Southern sympathizers to prevent him from taking office. Dorothea Dix, a nurse who heard rumors of the conspiracy and alerted authorities, described it simply: “Mr. Lincoln’s inauguration was thus to be prevented, or his life to fall a sacrifice.” Leslie Kimmel played Lincoln during what was essentially a cameo appearance, doing a fine job given his limited screen time.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)
This adaptation of the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith deserves a brief mention for the outlandishness of its premise. Though it’s feasible that Lincoln might have spent nights and weekends slaying the undead if they actually existed, they of course do not. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times put it best when she wrote that the title Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is so good that “it’s too bad someone had to spoil things by making a movie to go with it.”
The Most Accurate Portrayal
Lincoln (2012)
On the question of both the best and most accurate portrayal of Lincoln, the consensus is clear: Daniel Day-Lewis in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. Between 2002 and 2017, Day-Lewis appeared in just seven movies. He received Oscar nominations for four of them, and won twice: once for There Will Be Blood and again for Lincoln. The famously unprolific thespian is among the most renowned screen actors of all time, and the many fans who were saddened to hear of his second retirement following Phantom Thread are surely looking forward to his return in 2025’s Anemone, which was directed by his son Ronan.
While there’s no question that Day-Lewis’ portrayal of Honest Abe was amazing — in addition to his third Academy Award, he also won a BAFTA Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award, among others — many viewers were naturally curious as to its historical accuracy.
The actor, whose reputation for being choosy about his roles precedes him, was hesitant to sign on to the project because, he told The New York Times, he felt that Lincoln had “been mythologized almost to the point of dehumanization.” He only accepted the role on the condition that he be given a year to prepare, which he spent reading books about the president as well as Lincoln’s own speeches. Latching on to historical accounts that Lincoln had a somewhat reedy voice, Day-Lewis made this a crucial aspect of his performance — in part because high-pitched voices carry better in crowds, which could have contributed to Lincoln being such a compelling orator.
The result received high marks from historians. In an interview with NPR, A. Lincoln: A Biography author Ronald White praised Day-Lewis for his “delicate balance between the homely Lincoln — the homespun Lincoln — and the high Lincoln of the second inaugural address,” adding that the actor “walks like Lincoln, the way he puts his feet down one at a time. He talks like Lincoln — not the baritone voice of Disneyland, but the high tenor voice. Daniel Day-Lewis studied Lincoln intensely, and what comes out is a very accurate depiction of the spirit of the man.”
Allen Guelzo, a Civil War professor at Gettysburg College, was similarly laudatory. “I remember thinking afterwards that all the time I’d been watching the movie I had never thought that Daniel Day-Lewis was acting,” he said in an interview, “because what he portrayed seemed so close to my own mental image of what Lincoln must have been like.” Given the universal praise and bevy of awards Day-Lewis received for his performance, it’s hard to disagree.
