updated: 05/03/2004
Cleopatra has appeared in many movies and TV mini-series: sometimes as the leading role and sometimes in a cameo (eg in a biopic of Julius Caesar). The curious thing about her appearance in the movies is how of-its-time each portrayal appears when you look back on them: Elizabeth Taylor’s makeup and hair was very of the 1960s and some of her less formal looks could have come straight out of The Sandpipers or Reflections In A Golden Eye – one of her wigs even looks remarkably like a swimming cap she wore in a beach scene in Suddenly, Last Summer; Claudette Colbert actually wore the same hairstyle in other modern-day movies: and Theda Bara looks like exactly what she was – a silent movie star.
Imperium: Augustus: Anna Valle took the the minor role of cleopatra in this mini-series about Augustus. Federico Laurenti was key makeup artist.
Astérix & Obélix Mission Cléopâtre: Monica Bellucci took the role in the second live-action Astérix & Obélix movie. Khalid Alami, Muriel Baurens, and Turid Follvick were key makeup artists. When I get some captures I’ll build a separate page for this movie.
Julius Caesar: Cleopatra (Samuela Sardo) had a small part in this mini-series. Manlio Rochetti was key makeup artist.
Cleopatra: the recent TV mini-series featured Leonor Varela in the title role.
The Cleopatras: this, I guess, was to be the BBC’s I, Claudius of the 1980s but instead, along with The Borgias, it conclusively proved that the BBC had lost the plot in respect of producing its staple high quality historical mini-series: it also wrecked the careers of some perfectly good actresses. There were I recall seven successive Cleopatras: Michelle Newelle played the Cleopatra and this is Amanda Boxer as Cleopatra Tryphaena. While a shaven head would have been authentic for an ancient Egyptian, I’m not sure if Amanda’s sacrifice – that is no bald-cap! – was appropriate for the Ptolemaic Dynasty, descended from one of Alexander’s generals. Unsurprisingly, this mini-series has never been repeated or released on video or DVD. If anyone has any images from the series please email me.
Carry On Cleo: Amanda Barrie had the Cleopatra role in tired effort from the Carry On stable.
Cleopatra: the longest, most expensive and most boring Cleopatra movie ever filmed: maybe they should have gone with Joan Collins instead of Elizabeth Taylor: there is a separate page with more images of Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra.
Cleopatra (screen test): Before the epic was made with Elizabeth Taylor in the title role it was very nearly going to be Joan Collins as Cleopatra. I don’t have the makeup credits for this 1959 screen test.
Serpent of the Nile: Rhonda Fleming took the Cleopatra role in this movie which has been accurately described in a comment on IMDb as a ‘seldom seen low budget version . . . in some ways better than the mammoth Taylor–Burton opus’. The movie was in colour but I only have a black & white still. It also featured a young Julie Newmar in gold bodypaint.
Caesar and Cleopatra: Vivien Leigh had the role in this movie based on a George Bernard Shaw play. There is a separate page with more images of Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra.
Cleopatra: Claudette Colbert had the title role in Cecil B DeMille’s version of the story. There is a separate page with more images of Claudette Colbert as Cleopatra.
Cleopatra: Theda Bara had the role (and an unforgetable wardrobe) in this now-lost silent version. There is a separate page with more images of Theda Bara as Cleopatra.