# Characters who are almost absent from a work named after them **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 23, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806 "2021-11-23T13:31:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/21 "2021-11-23T15:59:02Z")
_The Thin Man_, who doesn’t appear at all. In the first movie, “the thin man” is a missing person who it turns out had been murdered before the events depicted in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/22 "2021-11-23T16:00:04Z")
The thin man is barely present in the first _The Thin Man_ film, and completely absent in the sequels. And the Pink Panther was originally a diamond whose theft was investigated by bumbling Inspector Clouseau. They kept the title in future sequels that didn’t feature the diamond at all. When the series was revived with Steve Martin, I don’t know if the diamond was included at all. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/23 "2021-11-23T16:02:54Z")
I’ll wager that 20% of the box office for any given Pink Panther film came from very disappointed fans of Saturday morning cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/24 "2021-11-23T16:04:14Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > When the series was revived with Steve Martin, I don’t know if the diamond was included at all. Yes, in the first one. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/25 "2021-11-23T16:06:26Z")
Amy never shows up in **Chasing Amy**. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/26 "2021-11-23T16:07:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’m more than halfway through Melville’s **Moby Dick** , and quipped to my wife that “…and he hasn’t even shown up yet!” This is a suspense tactic in fiction that for some reason Spielberg gets credit for rather than Melville. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/27 "2021-11-23T16:21:09Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > The action never makes it to Fargo in _Fargo_ . I just read some Facebook clickbait article of “Best movie set in each state”. They listed Fargo as the best movie set in North Dakota and commented on how it captured the essence of North Dakota so well 😳 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/28 "2021-11-23T16:21:30Z")
In the movie **Curucu, Beast of the Amazon** , the titular Curucu only shows up at the very end. And – no jury will convict me for spoiling this one – it turns out that there really is no Curucu. It’s all a sham As in many books and films, the bulk of the film is about the long journey to whatever or whoever is named in the title, and a lot of these cases come close to qualifying for this thread. But I think that **Dr. No** and **She** and **Ayesha-the Return of She** actually have too much of the title character, once you finally get there, to really qualify. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/29 "2021-11-23T16:30:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The classic case is probably Samuel Beckett’s play **Waiting for Godot** , where – damn the spoilers, full speed ahead! – Godot never appears. A friend dragged me to an evening of multiple Beckett plays, ending with _Waiting for Godot._ So on the way out I commented to him (loud enough for another half-dozen existentialists to hear): > Huh, wonder why they cut out the last line… “And, what of this note pinned to the tree? ‘Cold as hell out here, I’m down the hill at the pub! - - Godot’”. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/30 "2021-11-23T16:35:45Z")
Hawthorne Abendsen doesn’t show up until the final chapter of Philip K. Dick’s _The Man in the High Castle_ (and it turns out he lives in an ordinary suburban house, not a “high castle”). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/31 "2021-11-23T16:52:58Z")
> [@digs](#): > > A friend dragged me to an evening of multiple Beckett plays, ending with _Waiting for Godot._ > > So on the way out I commented to him (loud enough for another half-dozen existentialists to hear): There are doctors who really are named Godot (There’s a David Godot in Long Beach, CA, for instance). I’ve often wondered about their waiting rooms. Surely their friends must have made the relevant jokes ages ago. Do any of them have signs reading “Waiting for Dr. Godot”, or “The Waiting Room of Dr. Godot”, something similar? A quick search shows that there are plenty of physicians named Moreau. Did anyone ever sell them a kitchen island? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/32 "2021-11-23T17:04:45Z")
Bébé never appears in _Bébé’s Kids_. _Gunga Din_ has only a small supporting role for the title character. _The Third Man_ – Harry Lime – only has a few scenes in the movie. Sheila is dead a year before the beginning of _The last of Sheila_ Roger Ayckroyd ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/33 "2021-11-23T17:15:50Z")
**Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael** If memory serves, Roxy Carmichael only appears in the movie in photos. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/34 "2021-11-23T17:17:16Z")
**I Love You, Alice B. Toklas** **To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar** - Newmar appears, but not Wong Foo. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/35 "2021-11-23T17:21:05Z")
**It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown** …the pumpkin; not Chuck. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/36 "2021-11-23T17:27:06Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Sheila is dead a year before the beginning of _The last of Sheila_ But is she there? After all, the title character of _Weekend At Bernie’s_ is not absent. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/37 "2021-11-23T17:30:42Z")
She has a cameo appearance. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2021, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/38 "2021-11-23T17:54:17Z")
_Come Back Little Sheba_ - she didn’t Do we count _Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf_? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/39 "2021-11-23T18:04:25Z")
**Searching for Bobby Fischer** They never find him. **Pig** The actual pig is only on screen for a minute, maybe two. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/40 "2021-11-23T18:14:32Z")
**Bend it Like Beckham** David Beckham is credited from archival footage, so I assume that’s on TV in the movie, but otherwise he isn’t represented. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806.md?page=3)