# Famous Fictional Characters who had Real Life Inspirations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613 "2010-12-28T16:34:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/21 "2010-12-28T19:13:32Z")
I think that Rainier Wolfcastle was inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger. I could be wrong, but I honestly believe there are some similarities there. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/22 "2010-12-28T19:18:46Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > I’d argue that Zap Brannigan was probably based on William Shatner. 🙂 In the DVD commentary the Futurama creators report that Zap Brannigan is 10% Captain Kirk, 90% Shatner. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/23 "2010-12-28T19:22:23Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > The entire cast of James Bond was based on the SOE. > [Special Operations Executive - Wikipedia](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive) > Bond, Vesper Lind, Q, M… they all show up there, more or less. James Bond’s name, however, was borrowed from [James Bond the ornithologist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_%28ornithologist%29). ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/24 "2010-12-28T19:41:10Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > I’d argue that Zap Brannigan was probably based on William Shatner. 🙂 I was going to mention the entire crew on _Galaxy Quest_, but I guess this pretty much covers the same ground. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/25 "2010-12-28T19:44:56Z")
[William “Deacon” Brodie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deacon_Brodie), the inspiration for Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/26 "2010-12-28T20:04:50Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > Sheridan Whiteside in the Kaufman and Hart play “The Man Who Came to Dinner” was based on Alexander Wolcott, who was originally meant to play the character on Broadway. Because of schedule conflicts he was unable to, but he did play the character in the west coast production. In the same play, the character of Banjo is loosely based on Harpo Marx, who also played “himself” in the west coast production According to a book I read on Kaufman, his & Hart’s other famous work, _You Can’t Take it With You_ was inspired in part (though very loosely) on some of Wolcott’s remiscences of his family. Wolcott grew up in a dilapidated rambling mansion with a large eccentric extended family who pretty much all went around doing what they pleased (ballet, painting, writing, etc.) and with little concern for money beyond food and basics. Like the family in YCTIWY the tax-man encroached but I think in the case of his family it ended less lightheartedly. (There were other bohemian families that informed the play as well, including Katharine Hepburn’s by some accounts [though unlike Wolcott’s they were wealthy] and of course a lot of imagination.) ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/27 "2010-12-28T21:21:52Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Inspired by the SD Classic [Dracula thread](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/431/did-dracula-really-exist). While most moderately informed people know that Dracula was loosely inspired by the real life Carpathian nobleman Vlad Tepes And Jack Harker from the same novel was named after Bram Stoker’s friend, the great-grandfather (or grandfather?) of actresses Susanna Harker, best known for playing Jane Bennett in the 1995 _Price & Prejudice_, and Caroline Harker. Speaking of Caroline Harker, who played Priscilla Tolland in the TV adaptation of Anthony Powell’s _A Dance To The Music of Time_, that whole series is rife with characters who vaguely resemble real people. [This page](http://www.anthonypowell.org.uk/home.php?page=M02) gives a general run-down of them. Please note what is said about Sillery, the Oxford don who collects promising students and gives them teas in his rooms, apparently just because he loves to name-drop. One of the people he’s based on is “Sligger” Urquhart. I have always assumed that Professor Slughorn from the Harry Potter books is based on the same guy. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/28 "2010-12-28T21:40:36Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Helen Lawson (Valley of the Dolls) probably based on Ethel Merman (and many more in JS’s novels) Neely O’Hara was most likely based on Judy Garland. Jennifer North was very closely modelled on Marylin Monroe. (although Jennifer’s breast cancer was an incident from Suzanne’s own life.) The main character Anne Welles is more debateable. Helen Gurley Brown assumed it was her, and often said so. I have a suspicion that Anne is really Jackie Suzanne’s own “Mary Sue” version of herself. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/29 "2010-12-28T21:44:14Z")
Romeo & Juliet really existed. (13th c. IIRC) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/30 "2010-12-28T21:53:39Z")
I wonder if Stoker ever based any characters on his acquaintance and his wife’s former lover Oscar Wilde. Oscar was a superstar in the 1890s until his fall (when he became a Fallen Superstar- still just as high a Q factor) so I’m sure it was a temptation. I’m not familiar with his works other than Dracula- anyone know if there’s an “aesthetic” character in them? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/31 "2010-12-28T22:23:55Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > In the DVD commentary the Futurama creators report that Zap Brannigan is 10% Captain Kirk, 90% Shatner. They also report that his spaceship, the _Nimbus_, is purposely shaped like a canned ham. Someone already mentioned Cyrano, bummer. Well, how about this one: Moby Dick was based on a whale that attacked and sank the whaling ship _[Essex](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_%28whaleship%29)_ in 1820. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/32 "2010-12-28T22:27:25Z")
From the world of theater… Conrad Birdie (as in "Bye Bye Birdie) was obviously Elvis Presley. Henry Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady (of “Inherit the Wind”) were Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. If we stick to novels: Willie Stark (of “All the King’s Men”) was Huey Long. A whole bunch of Mario Puzo’s characters in “The Godfather” were based on real people (Hyman Roth = Meyer Lansky, Moe GReene = Bugsy Siegel, Johnny Fontaine = Frank Sinatra…) Buck Mulligan (in “Ulysses”) was based on poet Oliver St. John Gogarty, a friend and former roommate of James Joyce. Professor Elwin Ransom, the hero of C.S. Lewis’ “Space Trilogy,” was based on J.R.R. Tolkien (though Ransom has some of Lewis’ own qualities, too). In “the Natural,” Bernard Malamud based “The Whammer” on Babe Ruth. In “The Fixer,” he based protagonist Yakov Bok on Menahem Mendel Beilis. In the world of comic books: Tony (Iron Man) Stark was clearly based on Howard Hughes (a brilliant aerospace engineerAND a playboy who slept with movie stars). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/33 "2010-12-28T22:33:25Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Romeo & Juliet really existed. (13th c. IIRC) [You might be thinking of this.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet#Sources) The authors of some of the Italian source material said the play really happened, but at different times. > [@](#): > > The earliest known version of the Romeo and Juliet tale akin to Shakespeare’s play is the story of Mariotto and Gianozza by Masuccio Salernitano, in the 33rd novel of his Il Novellino published in 1476. Salernitano sets the story in Siena and insists its events took place in his own lifetime. His version of the story includes the secret marriage, the colluding friar, the fray where a prominent citizen is killed, Mariotto’s exile, Gianozza’s forced marriage, the potion plot, and the crucial message that goes astray. In this version, Mariotto is caught and beheaded and Gianozza dies of grief. > > Luigi da Porto adapted the story as Giulietta e Romeo and included it in his Historia novellamente ritrovata di due Nobili Amanti published in 1530. Da Porto drew on Pyramus and Thisbe and Boccacio’s Decameron. He gave it much of its modern form, including the names of the lovers, the rival families of Montecchi and Capuleti, and the location in Verona. He also introduces characters corresponding to Shakespeare’s Mercutio, Tybalt, and Paris. Da Porto presents his tale as historically true and claims it took place in the days of Bartolomeo II della Scala (a century earlier than Salernitano). In da Porto’s version Romeo takes poison and Giulietta stabs herself with his dagger. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/34 "2010-12-29T00:54:58Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > And Jack Harker from the same novel was named after Bram Stoker’s friend, the great-grandfather (or grandfather?) of actresses Susanna Harker, best known for playing Jane Bennett in the 1995 _Price & Prejudice_, and Caroline Harker. More interestingly, Susanna Harker also played vampire-hunter Angela Marsh in the British series [Ultraviolet](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169501/). I think Stoker would have liked that. ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/35 "2010-12-29T01:23:44Z")
Originally posted by **h.sapiens** : > [@](#): > > Sheridan Whiteside in the Kaufman and Hart play “The Man Who Came to Dinner” was based on Alexander Wolcott, who was originally meant to play the character on Broadway. Because of schedule conflicts he was unable to, but he did play the character in the west coast production. In the same play, the character of Banjo is loosely based on Harpo Marx, who also played “himself” in the west coast production It’s been a long time since I saw TMWCTD, but Banjo has lines, doesn’t he? I thought Harpo never spoke on stage or on camera. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/36 "2010-12-29T01:31:07Z")
> [@Just1Lurk](#): > > Originally posted by **h.sapiens** : > > It’s been a long time since I saw TMWCTD, but Banjo has lines, doesn’t he? I thought Harpo never spoke on stage or on camera. But he did in private conversation. In the play the character based on Harpo is visiting an injured friend. (IRL Harpo named two of his children after Alexander Woollcott.) An aside: I’d always assumed Woollcott was gay due to his mannerisms and voice and the fact he never married. According to the bios online he wasn’t, but he probably lost his testicles due to mumps which affected his voice. ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/37 "2010-12-29T01:54:36Z")
Originally posted by **Sampiro** : > [@](#): > > But he did in private conversation. In the play the character based on Harpo is visiting an injured friend. (IRL Harpo named two of his children after Alexander Woollcott.) If Harpo played Banjo, and Banjo speaks, then Harpo must have performed a speaking role. I’ve read in several places that Harpo’s speaking performances only occurred \*very \*early in his career. (And some voice-over work towards the end). I’ll have to find my copy of Harpo Speaks and see if he says anything about it. Maybe they re-wrote if for him to do it without lines? ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/38 "2010-12-29T01:56:10Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > From the world of theater… > > Conrad Birdie (as in "Bye Bye Birdie) was obviously Elvis Presley. Actually, he was Conway Twitty.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/39 "2010-12-29T01:57:31Z")
Rurouni Kenshin - The titular ex-manslayer is based on Kawakami Gensai, and quite a few of the supporting cast have looks or personalities based on the Shinsengumi. (Of course, Shinsengumi veteran Saitou Hajime plays a significant supporting role and, in my opinion, steals the show whenever he makes an appearance.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/40 "2010-12-29T02:51:30Z")
> [@Just1Lurk](#): > > Originally posted by **Sampiro** : > > If Harpo played Banjo, and Banjo speaks, then Harpo must have performed a speaking role. I’ve read in several places that Harpo’s speaking performances only occurred \*very \*early in his career. (And some voice-over work towards the end). Ah, misunderstood. My bad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613.md?page=3)