I think that Rainier Wolfcastle was inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger. I could be wrong, but I honestly believe there are some similarities there.
In the DVD commentary the Futurama creators report that Zap Brannigan is 10% Captain Kirk, 90% Shatner.
James Bond’s name, however, was borrowed from James Bond the ornithologist.
I was going to mention the entire crew on Galaxy Quest, but I guess this pretty much covers the same ground.
William “Deacon” Brodie, the inspiration for Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
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.)
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 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.
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.
Romeo & Juliet really existed. (13th c. IIRC)
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?
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 in 1820.
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).
You might be thinking of this. The authors of some of the Italian source material said the play really happened, but at different times.
More interestingly, Susanna Harker also played vampire-hunter Angela Marsh in the British series Ultraviolet.
I think Stoker would have liked that.
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.
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).
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?
Actually, he was Conway Twitty.
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.)
Ah, misunderstood. My bad.