Santa Claus

From Christmas Specials Wiki

The character known as Santa Claus has been portrayed in many films and television specials. Here is a partial list of the actors who have played him.

[edit] Live-Action

Picture	Performer	Feature	Year	Notes
	Edmund Gwenn	Miracle on 34th Street	1947	Kris Kringle, resident of a Long Island old age home, takes up a job at Macy's department store in New York city, and wins the heart of an office executive.
	Ed Wynn	Miracle on 34th Street (1959 special)	1959	The famous TV (and former vaudeville) comic played Kris Kringle in a live telecast on NBC,
	Sebastian Cabot	Miracle on 34th Street (Made-for-TV movie)	1974
	Sir Richard Attenborough	Miracle on 34th Street (1994)	1994
	Jan Rubes	One Magic Christmas	1985	Santa and Gideon the Christmas Angel help Abbie Grainger's mother find the spirit of Christmas.
	Charles Durning	Elmo Saves Christmas	1996	When Elmo helps him get unstuck from the chimney on Christmas Eve, Santa grants three wishes to the 3½ year old, and sets him on a quest with Lightning the Reindeer.
	Charles Durning	Mrs. Santa Claus	1996	Durning played Santa Claus twice in the same year, as the co-start of Angela Lansbury's titular character in the made-for-TV movie musical.
	Charles Durning	Mr. Saint Nick	2004	Durning donned the red suit a third time, playing Kelsey Grammer's father in this made-for-cable film.
	Charles Edward Hall	Christmas Eve on Sesame Street	2002	Elmo visits Santa at his home in the North Pole. Hall also portrays Santa in the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes.
	Kevin James	Elmo's Christmas Countdown	2007
	Tim Allen	The Santa Clause	1994	Scott Calvin is a divorced father who is down on his luck, when he accidentally kills Santa Claus and inadvertently becomes the new Father Christmas. His role would be repeated in The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.
	Art Carney	The Twilight Zone: The Night of the Meek	1960	A rare videotaped telecast of CBS' sci-fi series created and written by Rod Serling saw Carney as a department store Santa.
	Art Carney	The Great Santa Claus Switch	1970	Carney portrays both Santa and his evil lookalike, Cosmo Scam, who plots to take over Santa's workshop in this Jim Henson-produced movie.
	Art Carney	The Night They Saved Christmas	1984	Once again, the long-time second banana of Jackie Gleason played Jolly Old St. Nicholas, this time saving his workshop from evil oil prospectors.
	Leslie Nielsen	Santa Who?	2000
	Edward Asner	Elf	2003
	William Hootkins	Like Father, Like Santa	1998	Is the father to a son (Harry Hamlin) who is a ruthless tycoon in the toy industry.
	John Goodman	The Year Without a Santa Claus (live action film)	2006
	David Huddleston	Santa Claus: The Movie	1985	The story of Santa's origins are revealed from the days before he became a Christmas hero all over the world.
	Paul Giamatti	Fred Claus	2007	Is brother of title character.
	John Call	Santa Claus Conquers the Martians	1964	Santa gets kidnapped by Martians who believe that their planet needs someone like him. In the end, Santa suggests that a martian named Dropo be the Mars equivalent of him.
	George Wendt	Santa Baby	2006	Santa falls ill and his daughter (Jenny McCarthy) has to fill in for him on Christmas Eve.
	Paul Sorvino	Santa Baby 2: Maybe Baby	2009	The Oscar winning actor took over in the 2009 sequel.
	Douglas Seale	Ernest Saves Christmas	1988

[edit] Animated

Picture	Voice actor	Feature	Year	Notes
	Stan Francis	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer	1964	A skinny (and rather cranky) Santa fattens himself up before asking Rudolph to guide his sleigh through the stormy weather on Christmas Eve.
		The Night Before Christmas	1932	Santa reads letters from children as he prepares for his big night. The same Santa was seen the following year in The Night Before Christmas as he embarks upon a home filled with children.
	Edward Ivory	The Nightmare Before Christmas	1993	Santa is held captive by Oogie Boogie while Jack Skellington poses in his place.
	Ricky Tomlinson	Robbie the Reindeer	1999
		Christmas Vacation	1989	A clumsy Santa is depicted during the film's opening title sequence.
	Paul Frees	Frosty the Snowman	1969	Hocus Pocus flags down Santa as the only magical being who can bring Frosty back to life after he's melted in a greenhouse.
	Ted Lewis	Pokémon: "Holiday Hi-Jynx"	1998 (Japan); 1999 (USA)	In the Pokémon World, Santa works with Jynx as his elves and a team of Rapidash.
	Tom Kane and Phil LaMarr	Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: A Lost Claus	2005	Pictured here are a pair of a gaggle of Imaginary Santas who are created every Christmas by kids fighting with each other.
	Trey Parker	South Park	1992
	Tom Hanks	The Polar Express	2004	Hanks' role in this CGI movie was one of many in this 2004 version Chris Van Allburgh's story.
		Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie
	Jonathan Winters	Santa vs. the Snowman	1997
	Mickey Rooney	Santa Claus is Comin' to Town	1970	The same representation of Santa is seen in The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979). A slightly different characterization of Rooney's Santa Claus is seen in A Miser Brothers Christmas (2008), for which Rooney reprised the role.
	Hal Smith	The Flintstones: "Christmas Flintstone"	1965	When he's sick with a flu, Santa has Fred Flintstone substitute for him.
	Hal Smith	Casper's First Christmas	1979	All that Casper wants for Christmas is for his friend Hairy Scary's house to not be torn down. Although Hairy doesn't believe in Christmas, Santa Claus nevertheless delivers him a deed to the condemned house.
	Hal Smith	The Town Santa Forgot	1993	To repay Jeremy Creek for his unexpected kindness, Santa makes him his assistant in his annual trek.
	Earl Hammond	The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus	1985	In the only Rankin/Bass special that did not feature a narrator celebrity, this is a more loosely based darker toned version of his story.
		Christmas Comes to Pac-Land	1982
		The Super Mario Bros. Super Show: "Koopa Klaus"	1989
		Sonic Christmas Blast	1996	At the end of this special, Santa retires and gives his position to Sonic.
	Earl Boen	A Pinky and the Brain Christmas	1995
	Earl Boen	A Johnny Bravo Christmas	2001
	Tom Arnold (Corporate Santa) and Kevin Michael Richardson (Magic Santa)	The Fairly OddParents	2001	In "Christmas Every Day", Santa has the image and personality of a corporate CEO outside of Christmas. Every Christmas Eve, all the fairies transfer their magic to him, transforming into his more familiar jolly appearance. However, the corporate side of him is apparently forgotten in later episodes (including "Merry Wishmas").
		Super Why!: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas	2008	Super Why and his friends learn what makes Santa give gifts to children on Christmas Eve.
	Clancy Brown	Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation	2009	Prior to this special, a completely different-looking Santa also makes a brief cameo in the episode "I, Brobot" (where he's instead Dan Povenmire) using the Chimneyvator with Perry the Platypus, and later ends up saving him while doing his "summer run".
		Bonkers: "Miracle at the 34th Precinct"	1993
		Codename: Kids Next Door: "Operation: N.A.U.G.H.T.Y."	2005	Doesn't actually go flying around the world; instead he uses a sleigh-shaped computer to beam presents and coal into the homes of good children and bad children, respectively.
	William Shatner	Gotta Catch Santa Claus	2009
	Carl Reiner	Merry Madagascar	2009	Santa is mistaken for the Great Red Night Goblin that comes every "Julienary" throwing black rocks at the animal residents of the east African island. Alex the Lion accidentally crashed Santa in his sleigh with a case of amnesia that lasts until Mort, Marty and Gloria join Alex and the penguins to take his place.
		Merry Nickmas: "Holiday Party"	2002	Based loosely off of the version from the Rankin/Bass Rudolph, he is referred to as St. Nick in direct reference to the channel's name and laughs to the tune of the Nickelodeon jingle.

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