# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/61 "2010-12-29T17:33:00Z")
It’s been said that Indiana Jones was inspired by the adventures of Roy Chapman Andrews. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/62 "2010-12-29T17:56:26Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > In the DVD commentary the Futurama creators report that Zap Brannigan is 10% Captain Kirk, 90% Shatner. …yet still somehow 68% Phil Hartman. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/63 "2010-12-29T18:24:52Z")
[The Marvel Family](http://www.marvelfamily.com/faq/mfinspiration.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/64 "2010-12-29T20:02:53Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > [The Marvel Family](http://www.marvelfamily.com/faq/mfinspiration.aspx) And Elvis was based on Captain Marvel Jr. ---
**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:** [December 29, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/65 "2010-12-29T20:43:09Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > And BD started out as a parody of [del]Harvard[/del] Yale quarterback Brian Dowling. And Lacey Davenport was based on Congresswoman Millicent Fenwick - my Congresswoman for a while. ---
**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:** [December 29, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/66 "2010-12-29T20:45:01Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > I was always under the impression that Strangelove was based on Wernher von Braun, for rather obvious reasons. The character is obviously an amalgam of several influences. I’ve heard Edward Teller, who was more involved with bomb research. I’ve often thought that the President was based on Adlai Stevenson. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/67 "2010-12-29T21:57:20Z")
Shakespeare based Falstaff on a real person, named Oldcastle (and called him Oldcastle in some early versions of Henry IV), until the Oldcastle family raised a ruckus, and Shakespeare changed the name to Falstaff. He was a Puritan, which Falstaff sometimes hypocritically pretends to be, and the family objected to his blatant licentiousness. Of course, all the history plays have characters based on real life figures, often with no more relation to history than his plays based on fiction. ---
**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 30, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/68 "2010-12-30T04:44:04Z")
In one Loony Tune, Henery Hawk has a father whose name is G. K. Chickenhawk, and who is based on G. K. Chesterton. Coincidentally, Chesterton based his famous priest detective Father Brown on the priest who took his first confession; the story is told in Chesterton’s autobiography. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/69 "2010-12-30T05:55:33Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > There’s also evidence that Scrooge was modelled after an Edinburgh businessman and that Dickens [misread his tombstone](http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Scroggie-Scrooge-was-not-so.6665447.jp) while on a visit to the city. There’s a tombstone in Liverpool that mentions [Eleanor Rigby](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/22/article-1088454-028E4388000005DC-925_468x616.jpg) (though her married name was actually Eleanor Woods). IIRC Paul McCartney denies any conscious connection between this and his song; he named it for the actress Eleanor Bron and for a store he frequented called Rigby’s. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/70 "2010-12-30T09:26:27Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > It has been suggested that Sherlock Holmes was based on one of Conan Doyle’s teachers. Moriarty was based on [Adam Worth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Worth), a great art thief and bank robber. Not quite the diabolical mastermind, more like the hardest working man in the heist business. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/71 "2010-12-30T12:16:19Z")
In a documentary on the DVD of the movie ‘Rocky’, Sly Stallone reveals that the Rocky Balboa character was inspired by Chuck Wepner, an otherwise unremarkable fighter who managed to floor Muhhamad Ali once. The character ‘The Whammer’ from ‘The Natural’ has been mentioned, but the main character Roy Hobbs was supposed to have been loosely based on Eddie Waitkus, a major league ballplayer who was shot by a crazed fan. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/72 "2010-12-30T12:46:46Z")
Vetinari in Discworld is almost certainly based on Cesare Borgia. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/73 "2010-12-30T15:10:59Z")
[Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice's_Adventures_in_Wonderland) hasn’t been mentioned yet? ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/74 "2010-12-30T15:19:24Z")
Neal Cassady was the inspiration for “Dean” in Kerouac’s _On The Road_ and “Cody” in various other novels like _Visions Of Cody_ and _Big Sur_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/75 "2010-12-30T15:36:50Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > [Dr Strangelove](http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/Drama/Drama/StrangeloveStrangelove2.jpg) had opinions like Herman Kahn and looked like [Henry Kissinger](http://americanhistoryquotes.com/images/Henry_Kissinger_small.JPG). > > Buck Turdgitson was a Curtis Bombs Away LeMay. And a professor who had lived through that time once told me President Merkin Muffley is clearly based on never-quite-POTUS Adlai Stevenson. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/76 "2010-12-30T16:10:41Z")
> [@Keith\_Berry](#): > > Neal Cassady was the inspiration for “Dean” in Kerouac’s _On The Road_ and “Cody” in various other novels like _Visions Of Cody_ and _Big Sur_. [This site](http://www.thebeatmuseum.org/ontheroad-movie/) about the upcoming _On The Road_ movie shows us the people behind the characters. And which actors are playing those characters. Viggo Mortensen as “Old Bull Lee” AKA William Burroughs, for one… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/77 "2010-12-30T17:02:38Z")
Foghorn Leghorn was based on Senator Claghorn, a recurring character on the Fred Allen radio show who in turn was partly based on a real person, Governor/Senator/Secretary of the Interior [Hoke Smith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Hoke_Smith) of Georgia, a big shot on the Chautauqua circuit who really hammed up the southron accent and folksy-ism for public speeches. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/78 "2010-12-30T18:39:09Z")
The Coen brothers claim in a documentary on the DVD of “The Big Lebowski” that the Dude was based on a guy the Coens knew in LA. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/79 "2010-12-30T18:48:53Z")
Seinfeld’s Kramer was based on creator Larry Davis’s neighbor [Kenny Kramer](http://www.kennykramer.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613/80 "2010-12-31T03:34:56Z")
J.K. Rowling has said that the character most closely based on a living person in her books is Gilderoy Lockhart. The inspiration was a self-aggrandizing pathological liar she knew who she said is probably out there now telling people he wrote the Harry Potter books but let her take credit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-fictional-characters-who-had-real-life-inspirations/565613.md?page=5)