"Elvis & Nixon" Part I: Dicking Around

Understandably, when Richard M. Nixon exited the White House in disgrace as the only U.S. President to resign, he left office with a dismal 24 percent approval rating. Based on surveys of academic historians, political scientists, and popular opinion, Nixon ranks as the 12th worst President in U.S. history.

Unpredictably, there were a number of surprises Nixon had in store for us that shouldn't be overlooked.

Of course, Nixon was the first President to visit a nation not politically recognized by our own government. His historic, unprecedented visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972 opened diplomatic relations.

He was an accomplished musician, adept at playing the piano, violin, accordion, clarinet, and saxophone (take that, Bill Clinton!).

He was an avid bowler and was often fond of hitting the lane in the White House bowling alley in his suit and tie.

"Whatever else might be said about Nixon - and there is still serious doubt in my mind that he could pass for Human - he is a goddamn stone fanatic on every aspect of pro football," Hunter S. Thompson once wrote. In his book Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, Thompson recalled a private, one-on-one interview with Nixon during the 1968 presidential campaign in New Hampshire that became cemented in a shared love of the gridiron. "It was a weird trip," Thompson noted, "probably one of the weirdest things I've ever done, and especially weird because both Nixon and I enjoyed it."

Young Richard Nixon (whose brooding countenance even then was
hard to miss) was a third-string guard for the Poets (no, really) of
Quaker-founded Whittier College in California. Although he rarely
got off the bench, when he was elected President, his old college
coach awarded him an honorary letter in Whittier football.

On September 16, 1968, while running for his first term in the White House, Richard Nixon made a singular appearance on TV in a five-second cameo for "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" (pictured below), proclaiming deadpan, "Sock it to me?" His opponent, Hubert H. Humphrey, was invited to appear on the program but declined.

In July of 1971, President Nixon appointed Sammy Davis Jr. to his National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity. Subsequently, at a public rally at Miami Marine Stadium during the 1972 Presidential campaign, Davis introduced Nixon as "the President and future President of the United States of America!" When Nixon emerged on the stage, Davis hugged him. The photo of the impromptu embrace became as much a viral sensation as it could in an era before the Internet and social media.

By this time, Nixon should have been accustomed to awkward photo ops. On December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley arranged a meeting with the President at the White House, hoping to express, in person, his patriotism and his contempt for the growing drug culture ànd hippies. Even though he had regularly performed Beatles songs in concert, Presley told Nixon that the band exemplified the trend of anti-Americanism and drug use in the counterculture.

Paul McCartney later said he felt "a bit betrayed." Five years earlier, on their third U.S. tour in the summer of 1965, The Beatles were invited to Elvis' Beverly Hills home. It was an uncomfortable, silence-ridden meeting until the musicians joined in a jam session. After Presley's death, McCartney reflected, "The great joke was that we were taking (illegal) drugs and look what happened to him."

In the White House, Presley asked Nixon for a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge, to add to his substantial collection of law enforcement badges and memorabilia. Not unlike the embrace from Sammy Davis Jr., Nixon found the encounter uncomfortable, but he did state his feeling that Elvis could send a positive message to young people.

This fascinating but ultimately negligible historical footnote inspired the upcoming comedy-drama "Elvis & Nixon," co-scripted by actor Cary Elwes and featuring Michael Shannon (General Zod in "Man of Steel" and "Batman v Superman") as Elvis Presley and Kevin Spacey (feeling especially presidential from his ongoing role as President Underwood in the Netflix series "House of Cards") as President Nixon. The movie was released April 22, 2016, 22 years to the day of Nixon's death.

President Richard M. Nixon (Kevin Spacey) and Elvis Presley
(Michael Shannon) share a Kodak moment in "Elvis & Nixon."

Interestingly, the White House rendezvous had been the subject of an earlier comedy. Almost 20 years ago, Showtime aired "Elvis Meets Nixon" (1997), directed by Allan Arkush, a protégé of filmmaker Roger Corman who made the cult comedies "Rock 'n' Roll High School" and "Get Crazy."

(Pictured below) Rick Peters played Presley while Nixon was portrayed by Bob Gunton, a familiar presence in a number of films, including his role as the creepy Warden Norton in "The Shawshank Redemption."

Since as far back as 1971 - just the third year of his first term in the White House - Richard M. Nixon has been the subject, often the target, of several TV movies, miniseries, and motion pictures.

As good a place to start as any, allow us to introduce Richard M. Dixon, born James LaRoe, an actor whose strong resemblance to the President led to a lucrative career impersonating him in a number of productions...

Richard M. Dixon signs an autograph for Rodney Dangerfield.

...beginning with "Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story," a 1971 short film Woody Allen made for PBS after he had sworn off doing television. The supporting cast included Diane Keaton and Louise Lasser. The short was yanked before it had the chance to air because of pressure from the Nixon White House. Allen cited the experience as an example of why he sticks to movies.

In 1972, Dixon starred in "Richard," a comedy featuring Mikey Rooney as a guardian angel in danger of losing his wings who comes down to Earth to instruct the title character on the finer points of acting presidential. Veteran character actors John Carradine, Kevin McCarthy, and Paul Ford costarred.

Richard M. Dixon and Mickey Rooney relax on the set of "Richard."

Dixon appeared in the 1975 adult comedy "The Presidential Peepers," which intercut inept comic sequences (Dixon's scenes) with unrelated X-rated loops. He was also featured in the 1976 comedy "The Faking of the President," in which he confesses to Watergate and steals flowers from the grave of FDR's dog.

Legitimacy as an actor came with a brief cameo as Vice President Nixon (to Andrew Duggan's President Eisenhower) in the 1997 made-for-television movie "Tail Gunner Joe," starring Peter Boyle as Senator Joseph McCarthy. Burgess Meredith won an Emmy Award for his performance as Joseph Welch, the courageous counsel responsible for initiating the turning point in the downfall of McCarthyism.

Also in 1977, Dixon portrayed Nixon in "The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover," written and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Broderick Crawford in the title role. Quentin Tarantino regular Michael Parks played Robert F. Kennedy in an eclectic supporting cast that included Ronee Blakley ("Nashville"), Jose Ferrer, Celeste Holm, Rip Torn, Dan Dailey, Howard da Silva, John Marley, June Havoc, Lloyd Nolan, and George Plimpton. Andrew Duggan, who portrayed Eisenhower in "Tail Gunner Joe," popped up here as LBJ.

Finally, in 1980, Richard M. Dixon appeared in "Where the Buffalo Roam" (pictured below), with Bill Murray as Hunter S. Thompson and Peter Boyle as his attorney, Carl Lazlo.

Comic impressionist Rich Little starred as Richard Nixon in 1972's "Another Nice Mess," written and directed by Bob Einstein. Einstein, the older brother of comedian and filmmaker Albert Brooks (Einstein is the family name), was a former, Emmy Award-winning writer for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."

Brothers Bob Einstein and Albert Brooks rarely worked together,
but their scene in a sporting goods store in Brooks' 1981 comedy
"Modern Romance" - featuring Einstein as a deadpan but devious
salesman - is a hilarious treasure.

Produced by Tom Smothers and Jonathan Haze (best known for appearing in several Roger Corman movies, particularly as the Jerry Lewis-like schlemiel Seymour Krelboyne in the original 1960 "Little Shop of Horrors"), "Another Nice Mess" revamps Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew (played by Herb Voland, a familiar face as General Clayton in the series "M*A*S*H") as a bumbling Laurel & Hardy-type duo.

Nearly unrecognizable save for his voice, Steve Martin made his film debut in "Another Nice Mess" as a long-haired hippy. Among others, Martin had shared the 1969 Best Writing Emmy for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" with Bob Einstein.

Yes, there was a time when Steve Martin (pictured here
with Bob Einstein) didn't have white hair.

"Hail" (1972) was an acerbic satire of the administration, featuring Dan Resin as a Nixon-like president who engineers political assassinations and constructs homeland concentration camps for subversives.

"Hail" was the sole feature directed by Fred Levinson, who filmed the famous Hertz commercials that featured O.J. Simpson sprinting through an airport. Fans of "Caddyshack" (and who isn't?) will recogonize "President" Dan Resin as Dr. Beeper (pictured below, center, with Ted Knight, Chevy Chase, and Rodney Dangerfield).

"Blind Ambition" (1979) was a four-part miniseries based on the like-titled memoir by John Dean, Nixon's White House Counsel for the United States whom the FBI deemed the "master manipulator of the cover-up" following the Watergate break-in. Martin Sheen portrayed John Dean and Rip Torn costarred as President Nixon. A fellow Watergate conspirator, attorney G. Gordon Liddy, was covicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping for his role in the scandal and served 52 months in federal prisons. His 1980 memoir was adapted for the 1982 TV docudrama "Will: G. Gordon Liddy," starring Robert Conrad. Comedic impressionist John Byner supplied the off-camera voice of Nixon.

John Dean visits the set of "Blind Ambition" and chats with actors
Rip Torn (Richard Nixon) and Martin Sheen (John Dean).

In 1984, Robert Altman produced and directed "Secret Honor," based on the play by Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone. It's a one-man rant, with a post-White House Richard Nixon pacing his study in his New Jersey home in the late 1970s, keeping company with a tape recorder, a bottle of whisky, and a loaded revolver. Over the next 90 minutes of stream-of-conscious reflection, he recalls, with disappointment, suspicion, and rage, his controversial career.

Philip Baker Hall delivers a searing solo performance in "Secret Honor."

Roger Ebert called "Secret Honor" "one of the most scathing, lacerating and brilliant movies of 1984." He noted, "Nixon is portrayed...with such savage intensity, such passion, such venom...that we cannot turn away."

"The Final Days" (1989), a made-for-television adaptation of the best seller by All the President's Men authors Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, featured a Golden Globe Award-winning turn by Lane Smith (known for playing Daily Planet editor Perry White on the 1990s TV series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman") as Richard Nixon (pictured below). Theodore Bikel portrayed Henry Kissinger.

 

Based on author Walter Isaacson's Kissinger: A Biography, the 1995 TV movie "Kissinger and Nixon" cast Beau Bridges (pictured below) in an Emmy-nominated performance as Nixon, and Ron Silver as Kissinger.

Like his 1991 film, "JFK," director Oliver Stone's 1995 picture, "Nixon," is a lumbering juggernaut, replete with performances by numerous thespic heavyweights, among them Powers Boothe (as Al Haig), Ed Harris (E. Howard Hunt), Bob Hoskins (J. Edgar Hoover), E.G. Marshall (John Mitchell), David Paymer (Ron Ziegler), David Hyde Pierce (John Dean), Paul Sorvino (Henry Kissinger), J.T. Walsh (John Erlichman), and James Woods (H.R. Haldeman). Anthony Hopkins and Joan Allen received Best Acting Academy Award nominations for their roles as Richard and Pat Nixon (pictured below).

Roger Ebert commented, "Thoughts of Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear come to mind; here, again, is a ruler destroyed by his fatal flaws." In praise of Anthony Hopkins, Ebert wrote, "This is not an impersonation; Hopkins gives us a deep, resonant performance that creates a man instead of imitating an image."

Since 1999, the character of Nixon's Head appeared regularly as President of Earth on the animated series "Futurama" (pictured below). Billy West, who also provided the voices of the program's Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg, and Zapp Brannigan, performed Nixon's voice as a parody of Anthony Hopkins' portrayal in "Nixon."

In the refreshingly quirky alternate history lesson offered in "Dick" (1999), Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams play a pair of 15-year-old friends who inadvertently become the enigmatic personage called "Deep Throat" and bring down the presidency of Richard Nixon. Nixon is effectively parodied by a brooding Dan Hedaya (best known as Carla's loutish ex-husband, Nick Tortelli, on "Cheers").

Will Ferrell and Bruce McCullough (formerly of The Kids in the Hall) portray Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (pictured below) in "Dick," which also features ex-Kid in the Hall Dave Foley as Bob Haldeman, Harry Shearer as G. Gordon Liddy, and comedian Jim Brewer as John Dean.

The so-called "Nixon Interviews," conducted by British journalist and television personality David Frost, were recorded and broadcast in four installments in 1977, three years after Richard Nixon's resignation.

The series of interviews inspired the 2006 play "Frost/Nixon" by Peter Morgan. The play premiered with Michael Sheen as Frost and Frank Langella as Nixon. When Ron Howard, a director more at home with ensemble casts, signed on to direct the 2008 film version, he insisted that Sheen and Frost repeat their stage roles.

Frank Langella (pictured above, with Michael Sheen)
received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role as
Richard Nixon in "Frost/Nixon."

"Frank Langella and Michael Sheen do not attempt to mimic their characters, but to embody them," Roger Ebert noted. "All we know about the real Frost and the real Nixon is almost beside the point. It all comes down to those two men in that room while the cameras are rolling."

The Nixon Interviews were lampooned on "Saturday Night Live" not long after the broadcast of the original interviews, featuring Eric Idle as David Frost and Dan Aykroyd as Nixon (pictured above).

 

Not unlike Cesar Romero's refusal to shave off his mustache
when he played Joker on the "Batman" series and the makeup
crew merely smeared over it with white-face greasepaint,
whenever Dan Aykroyd impersonated Nixon on "SNL," his
mustache was always visible under his flesh-toned makeup.

In the 2009 comic book movie "Watchmen," Richard Nixon was played by Robert Wisden.

Robert Wisden poses on the set of "Watchmen" with costar Peter Dinklage.

Another sci-fi flick we didn't see in the Moviehouse, "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014), featured Mark Camacho as a Nixon with a gun (pictured below).

For "J. Edgar" (2011), which starred Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover, director Clint Eastwood cast Christopher Shyer as Richard Nixon (pictured below).

Another historical drama we didn't see in the Moviehouse, "The Butler" (2013), chronicling the 34-year tenure of a White House butler (played by Forest Whitaker), found John Cusack improbably cast as Nixon.

(...Yeah, we know...)

Comedy Renaissance man Harry Shearer created a grotesque caricature of Richard Nixon (pictured below) for the Sky Arts channel's broadcast of "Nixon's the One" (2013), which utilized the Watergate tapes as a script.

Finally, bringing this journey around full circle, the meeting between Elvis Presley and President Richard Nixon was reenacted with an irreverent twist on the Comedy Central series "Drunk History," co-created and hosted by Funny or Die's Derek Waters. Jack Black appeared as Elvis, while Nixon was played by comedian-actor Bob Odenkirk (best known as the star of the AMC series "Better Call Saul" and as the costar, along with David Cross, of the HBO comedy sketch program "Mr. Show").