Actors who changed sex for movie roles

Though it's not compulsory for men to dress as women in the lively arts any longer (as it was in Shakepeare's day), many in the acting game insist on doing so nonetheless. Adam Sandler is the latest, playing his own sister in his new comedy 'Jack & Jill'. And it's not just the fellas either. Let's take a look at cinema's best examples of gender-bending and cross-dressing...

Words: Ben Arnold

[See also: Film star waxworks: The good, the bad and the ugly]

Alec Guinness in 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' (1949)

In this quintessential Ealing comedy, Alec Guinness takes on the many roles of the D'Ascoyne family, including Reverend Lord Henry D'Ascoyne, Admiral Lord Horatio D'Ascoyne and General Lord Rufus D'Ascoyne, but none so impressively (or convincingly) as the unfortunate suffragette Lady Agatha D'Ascoyne, for which he donned a fetching hat and dress. Guinness was only initially offered four roles in the film, but insisted in taking on all eight. Greedy.

[See also: Film star waxworks: The good, the bad and the ugly]

Terry Jones in 'The Life of Brian' (1979)

'He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy,' wailed Brian's mother in one of the most memorable of all lines from any Monty Python sketch, film or otherwise. The grizzled old crone was played, of course, by Terry Jones, who of all the Pythons seemed to end up wearing women's clothes perhaps a little too often for comfort. But he was always the best at it.

[See also: Film star waxworks: The good, the bad and the ugly]

Alastair Sim and Rupert Everett in 'St Trinians' (1950s and 2007)

The legendary character actor Alastair Sim donned the school ma'am garb to play headmistress Miss Fritton first of all in 'The Belles of St Trinians' in 1954, which introduced the unruly girl's boarding school to the silver screen. He also played her shady brother Clarence. He then played her again in a cameo role in 'Blue Murder at St Trinians' in 1957. His mantle would be taken on in 2007 by Rupert Everett who was a vision in a neck-scarf.

[See also: Film star waxworks: The good, the bad and the ugly]

Kathy Burke in 'Kevin and Perry Go Large' (2000)

Kathy Burke played teenage boy Perry in the TV shows 'Harry Enfield's Television Programme' and 'Harry Enfield and Chums' in all his floppy, whinging glory. In 2000, the daft pair made the leap to the movies, 'going large' in the largely cringeworthy 'Kevin and Perry Go Large'. 'Nil By Mouth' it was not.

[See also: Film star waxworks: The good, the bad and the ugly]

Linda Hunt in 'The Year of Living Dangerously' (1982)

'The Year of Living Dangerously' was the breakthrough role for actress Linda Hunt, but she made it by playing a male. And a male dwarf at that. The action followed a group of foreign correspondents during the uprising in Jakarta in 1965. Hunt played Billy Kwan, a photographer and contact for Mel Gibson's handsome hack. She won the Best Supporting Actress gong at the 1983 Oscars.

[See also: Film star waxworks: The good, the bad and the ugly]

Dustin Hoffman in ‘Tootsie’ (1982)

Nice guy Dustin was scarily convincing as a difficult male actor forced to play a woman to get hired. He got a Oscar nomination and the film is still one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

[See also: Film star waxworks: The good, the bad and the ugly]