1 David Duchovny Twin Peaks
Agent Denis Bryson (a pre- X-Files David Duchovny, making a BIG impression) arrives in Twin Peaks to assist colleague Agent Cooper in a drugs investigation. Much to everybody’s surprise, “Denis” is now “Denise”, after time spent undercover wearing women’s clothing resulted in him discovering his more feminine side. It’s hard to know what’s so brilliant about Bryson’s introduction: everybody’s reaction to him in this scene, or the fact Duchovny actually looks astonishingly good as a broad...
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2 Alexander Skarsgård True Blood “Frenzy”
Eric. In a dress. With a shotgun. Take out the shotgun, and you may just have someone’s fantasy. In fact, if you keep the shotgun, it’s bound to float somebody’s boat. I certainly wasn’t Lafayette’s – he looked scared shitless.
3 Robert De Niro Stardust
This is the same guy who starred in Taxi Driver . Just thought we’d mention that.
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4 Arnold Schwarzenegger Total Recall
Need to sneak through immigration without anybody realising you’re an on-the-run secret agent who’s just recovered his memory after a spell as a mild-mannered construction worker named Douglas Quaid? Try this handy “large lady” disguise... complete with still-impressive-today early CGI effects and exploding head. Surprise! (We still wish Colin Farrell had re-done this scene in the remake.)
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5 Jon Pertwee Doctor Who: “The Green Death”
Oh, the indignity. Jon Pertwee’s Doctor does an impression of one of those dragged-up women Terry Jones and company were so fond of portraying on Monty Python – or is he practising for Worzel Gummidge? Either way, can you imagine Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor doing this? Nah, us neither. (Though we’re shocked Matt Smith’s Doctor hasn’t done a bit of cross-dressing, frankly, and Tennant in a tutu has to be somebody’s fantasy.)
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6 Heath Ledger The Dark Knight
What’s scarier than The Joker? THE JOKER DRESSED AS A NURSE . And you thought clowns were terrifying...
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7 Nathan Fillion Firefly: “Our Mrs Reynolds”
Cool things about the time Mal disguises himself as a woman: Mal wearing a bonnet; Jayne calling him a “powerful ugly creature”; Mal wearing a bonnet; the bad guy threatening to molest him and deservedly getting his comeuppance; the fact that this scene features a man dressing up as a “helpless” woman in skirts when the real woman, Zoe, is the first to shoot and kill someone (and she’s wearing trousers, too). Also, when Mal Reynolds swears on his pretty floral bonnet that he will end you, he really ain’t kiddin’.
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8 Daniel Craig International Women’s Day 2011
“Ah, good evening Mr Bond… Or should I say Mrs Bond?” Strokes pussy. Daniel Craig as James Bond puts on a dress in a video promoting International Women’s Day with Judi Dench narrating as M. This would probably never happen in the films, but Craig’s legs look brilliant, so maybe the producers should reconsider!
9 Daniel Radcliffe The Deathly Hallows Part 1
To evade the watchful eyes of Voldemort and his cronies – who are very anxious to get their hands on Harry Potter, what with him being Voldie’s nemesis ’n’ all – Harry’s pals all glug down polyjuice potion to replicate our young hero and thus confuse the enemy. Daniel Radcliffe had a very, very long day on set filming this scene in a multitude of different outfits... although we still say it would have made more sense if Harry had just used the potion to disguise himself as someone else. But whatever.
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10 Barry Bostwick The Rocky Horror Picture Show
It’s official: Barry Bostwick has really amazing legs! Many women would die for a pair of those pins (shaven thoroughly, of course). The world was gifted with the sight of them after Bazza went from geeky Brad Majors at the start of The Rocky Horror Picture Show to the basque-wearing, high-kicking, heel-stomping sexy-Brad at the film’s climax... although clearly he didn’t quite get enough of showing off his legs on that 1975 classic, as his appearance in the first LEXX TV movie in 1997 proves.
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11 Christopher Lee The Wicker Man
Yeah, well, living in a small, enclosed community on a tiny Scottish island, you have to get your kicks somehow. And sometimes, burning virgins just isn’t enough.
12 Val Kilmer Willow
When Madmartigan (Val Kilmer) disguises himself as a woman, and has to fend off unwelcome proposals from a beardy fat bloke called Lug, he picks a pair of gazongas the likes of which exist only in the fantasies of men who’d like breasts to look like that.
13 Colin Morgan Merlin “With All My Heart”
Our favourite young warlock invented many elaborate schemes to help hide his powers from Arthur – even dressing up as a woman! To help break Morgana’s hold over Gwen, Merlin and Arthur, taking a drugged Gwen with them, travel to the Cauldron of Arianrhod where Merlin dons a dress to become the sorceress Dolma to perform the powerful magic. Merlin wistfully (a detection of flirting?) sweeps his hair from his eyes and blushes when Arthur hints at recognising him (definitely flirting!). Maybe Merlin should have been a woman more often (and the slash writers go wild).
14 Scott Bakula Quantum Leap, various
It’s fair to say that Scott Bakula wore his fair share of dresses on Quantum Leap. But although he has a reputation as the Danny La Rue of sci-fi, Sam Beckett didn’t actually leap into the body of a woman (stop sniggering at the back) for the first time until the fourth episode of the second season (“What Price Gloria”). Bakula carried off the high heels so well, the writers couldn’t resist repeating the exercise, and Sam leapt into a total of nine women over the course of the series, including real life celebrity sex doctor, Ruth Westheimer.
Ones we didn’t have room for: Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) reveals that he has a penchant for panties in Supernatural’s “The End”; Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) as the bounty hunter in Return Of The Jedi (mind that thermal detonator!); Mulan dressed as a man so she could join an army – she even sang about it in the film of the same name; Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare On Elm Street 4 (another scary nurse); Chris Tucker’s character in The Fifth Element has, shall we say, interesting dress sense; and Plan Nine From Outer Space director Ed Wood was, of course, the king of cross-dressing. We salute you, Ed!
