The 20 most memorable portrayals of Santa Claus

It’s perhaps the quintessential Santa story, one that has been told a few times. This version of “Miracle on 34th Street” remains the top one, though. Each time, the story is about a man playing Santa Claus who insists he is the real Santa. Edmund Gwenn plays Kris Kringle, and actually won an Oscar for it.

Ah, the ‘90s. A time when Tim Allen was a leading man. The Santa Clause franchise is his most successful live-action work in film. Allen witnesses Santa fall off his roof and is cursed to become Santa. It’s a family film.

Hot Topic shoppers, rejoice. Henry Selick and Tim Burton joined forces for The Nightmare Before Christmas, a spooky goth take on Christmas that brings Halloween into the mix. Jack Skellington wants to get in on the Christmas fun, and in the process, Santa is kidnapped. Stop-motion hijinks ensue.

A modern Christmas classic, the show star is Will Ferrell as Buddy the elf, and the film's crux is him adjusting to life away from the North Pole after he learns he's a human and decides to find his birth father. However, there is plenty of time up at Santa’s headquarters, and none other than Ed Asner plays Mr. Claus, which is wise casting.

“They do exist!” For whatever reason, one M&M's commercial has stood the test of time for so long that it’s still in standard definition. Red and Yellow, the M&M boys, are talking about Santa, then they run into him. It's a commercial that will never die and perhaps the most-seen depiction of Santa out there.

In the irreverent world of Teen Titans Go!, Santa is not a figure of joy and love. He’s a petty tyrant who wants to rule all holidays and hates those “garbage kids,” the Teen Titans. Most of the time, Santa is a figure of good. Once you’re old enough to realize that (spoiler alert!) he’s not real, maybe a depiction of Santa like this one is just what you need.

Santa has headlined some bad Christmas films. A few of them have been on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Among those, only one has the title Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, an iconic film title, to be sure. Although there isn’t a ton of Martian conquering, all things considered.

We’re talking about the classic Rankin/Bass TV special from 1964. Rudolph and his glowing red nose are front and center, but ol’ Saint Nick is in the mix. Stop-motion Santa, of course, figures heavily into this story. Rudolph's big moment can’t happen without a certain dude’s sleigh.

Robert Zemeckis’ The Polar Express made money and conjured nightmares in equal measures. He was trying something new in animation. It did not work. When you see The Polar Express, the images are burnt into your head. That includes Santa.

Since this blockbuster movie is oh-so-very British, he goes by the name Father Christmas, but it’s the same guy showing up. This fantasy story has Tilda Swinton as a witch and Liam Neeson voicing a Jesus lion, so everything tracks. The kids in Narnia run into Father Christmas and get some presents, but they are with some beavers on their journey.

Ernest P. Worrell has done all sorts of stuff in his interesting life. Saving Christmas is probably on top of the list, though. There’s a bit of a Santa Clause scenario here — the role of Santa being passed on from person to person. Ernest, by the way, does not take on the Santa role, but he does drive Santa around in a taxicab.

This is a weird team-up movie thing, and the premise may make you roll your eyes. Santa is one of the “Guardians" along with the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, and the Tooth Fairy. The bad guy is Pitch Black, and the Guardians need Jack Frost to stop him. Alec Baldwin voices Santa, who is called, um, Nicholas St. North.

Back in 2005, Santa’s Slay came and went. Now, it has been rediscovered and reclaimed as a “so bad it’s good” holiday horror film. Pro wrestler Bill Goldberg plays an evil Santa figure about punishing the naughty. The movie has some problems that make you squeamish in a sincere viewing, but when you are watching a bonkers misfire of a film, that is a little easier to swallow (if not ideal).

Given the nature of Doctor Who, Santa Claus was inevitably going to show up. It’s happened a few times. That includes somewhat recently when Nick Frost played Santa opposite Peter Capaldi’s version of the Doctor.

The Flintstones did a Christmas episode when the show was on the air. However, A Flintstones Christmas is a 1977 made-for-TV special with songs and stuff. Now, plenty of shows have done Christmas specials, but this one has an appearance from Santa. Also, it’s fun to point out that The Flintstones takes place in the Stone Age and, thus, you know, because Christmas was a thing.

All these years later, it can be easy to forget that South Park started as a Christmas short. It was, of course, irreverent and raunchy. Although, in the world of South Park, Santa Claus comes out of things looking a lot better than most for whatever reason.

Rankin/Bass returned to the realm of Christmas with Frosty the Snowman, the first real introduction to the character to most people. This time it isn’t stop-motion, but the animation of the 1969 special is still distinct. Frosty gets most of the attention and the bulk of the love from the songs, but Santa shows up at the end because it is a family-friendly Christmas special.

For a little while there, Hollywood would throw Vince Vaughn in a movie and say, “Hey, do your thing.” Like, say, play the ne’er-do-well brother of Santa Claus, the titular Fred. The movie poster is literally Vaughn laughing and riding on a Big Wheel while Santa looks on disapprovingly with his hand on his hips. Santa is played by Paul Giamatti, at least. The film lost money, and Vaughn’s time as a movie star continued to dwindle.

In the world of Harold and Kumar, anything is possible. The film franchise cares about the laughs, many of the gross-out gag variety. So, of course, Santa can be real and show up in the third film in the series. This was during the peak of the return of 3D, which means in theaters, there was a lot of gimmicky 3D stuff in the movie.

In the future, Santa is real. Also, he’s a robot. Oh, and he’s malfunctioning, so he believes everybody (save for Dr. Zoidberg) is naughty and must be punished…with extreme violence. In Futurama, people view Xmas (they don’t say Christmas anymore) with fear, not excitement. You don’t mess with Santa in the year 3000. Only Zoidberg gets a pogo stick.