# Anyone met a fictional character's real-life original? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545 "2014-04-20T15:28:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/41 "2014-04-21T18:56:58Z")
I know most of the named characters from the film _SLC Punk_. In most cases, the filmmaker, James Merendino, just took names and nicknames of real people and slapped them onto largely fictionalized characters. (Examples: Heroin Bob is alive and well. Stevo went to school for music, not law, and is in a band many of you have probably heard of.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/42 "2014-04-21T19:08:39Z")
I went to high school (and hung out with) with a fellow who had a nationally syndicated newspaper comic strip that based (and still bases as it continues on Sundays only) all of its characters on people I knew, sometimes not even bothering to change the names and looks of the people. He still accuses me in his Sunday strip of playing dungeons and dragons with shaved dice. How would that work Bill? Oh, and he is not even close to the most famous fellow who hung out with us. A kid a couple of years younger hung out with us at school and never said much of anything to anyone. He is now an internet billionaire and famous philanthropist. Hi Marc. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/43 "2014-04-21T19:28:16Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Never met him, but I am descended from the original “Blutto” of _Popeye_ fame. (“Bluto”) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/44 "2014-04-21T20:45:43Z")
Well, me. I am a very minor character in a Lawrence Watt-Evans novel. I die within a few pages, though. Serves me right, too. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/45 "2014-04-21T20:49:48Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I went to high school (and hung out with) with a fellow who had a nationally syndicated newspaper comic strip that based (and still bases as it continues on Sundays only) all of its characters on people I knew, sometimes not even bothering to change the names and looks of the people. He still accuses me in his Sunday strip of playing dungeons and dragons with shaved dice. How would that work Bill? Foxtrot? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/46 "2014-04-21T20:52:37Z")
I knew an author who fictionalized himself and his son in several of his novels. I also knew the family whose Great Dane was the original inspiration for the dog in the comic strip _Marmaduke_. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/47 "2014-04-21T20:54:53Z")
I worked at Pacific Bell in San Ramon, CA – as did Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert. So I probably worked with Pointy-Haired Boss. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/48 "2014-04-21T22:53:49Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Foxtrot? That would be telling. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/49 "2014-04-21T23:12:45Z")
Not exactly - but I did get the opportunity to catalogue and go through a lot of the personal correspondence and artefacts from the estate of Sir William Stephenson (A Man Called Intrepid) who was supposedly one of the inspirations for James Bond. His daughter is extraordinarily nice AND private. My personal favourite item was a large binder if all of his letters - Churchill, Roosevelt, William Donovan. SO COOL! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/50 "2014-04-22T00:25:54Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I met Wilson “Bob” Tucker many years ago, and many years ago he was Tuckerized himself in the “Time Machine” stories in **Boy’s Life.** > > Bob was primarily a fan, though he did publish a few novels. His “The Year of the Quiet Sun” is one of the better time travel novels. I second that. Speaking of Tuckerization, I met the original “As a Shade of Purple Gray” from “The Flying Sorcerers” - and quite a few others. If you count the movie of “A Beautiful Mind” as fiction - which it pretty much is - I knew Alicia quite well and met Nash once before his recovery. ---
**Author:** ![Nom\_de\_Plume](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85f322/32.png) [@Nom\_de\_Plume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nom_de_Plume)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/51 "2014-04-27T01:33:32Z")
Almost for me. My wife went to school with Kevin Eastman and his, then girlfriend, April. When he drew Teenge Mutant Ninja Turtles, he made April a character. I understand the character changed a lot in the translation. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/52 "2014-04-27T01:53:47Z")
I knew spelling bee champ Rebecca Sealfon, who inspired _South Park_’s Rebecca Cotswalds. ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545/53 "2014-04-27T01:59:25Z")
Kind of. I met author Barbara Kingsolver, who bears a striking resemblance to her heroine in two of her novels, Taylor Greer. Kingsolver claims the character isn’t based on herself, but that’s a little difficult to believe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-met-a-fictional-characters-real-life-original/686545.md?page=2)