# Fictional Character - Subject of largest number of films. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2003, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464 "2003-03-06T11:42:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464/21 "2003-03-07T01:29:48Z")
So, we need a movie with Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, in London assisting Sherlock Holmes to rescue the kidnapped Santa Claus from Count Dracula. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464/22 "2003-03-07T02:11:47Z")
Last I counted, there were about four dozen TV and theatrical film versions of Dickens’ story “A Christmas Carol”, so Scrooge is way,way behind Sherlock Holmes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464/23 "2003-03-07T06:10:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Wong Fei Hung, as protrayed in numerous films, is legendary/heroic but brings up the tantalizing debate as to when (both in terms of the attributed deeds and of distance into the past) does someone acquire “mythical” status. You can make an argument that the fictional characterizations of Santa Claus and Dracula have become independant of their historical persons. But Wong died in 1924. There are people now living who knew the man. He’s hardly been lost in the mists of legend. ---
**Author:** ![RawkStah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@RawkStah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RawkStah)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464/24 "2003-03-07T07:49:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Papermache Prince \* > \*\*So, we need a movie with Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, in London assisting Sherlock Holmes to rescue the kidnapped Santa Claus from Count Dracula. \*\* But, when they rescue him, they take him to Wong Fei Hung for treatment, and then there’s a big ol’ kung-fu battle. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Alex\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_B)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464/25 "2003-03-07T11:54:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Papermache Prince \* > \*\*So, we need a movie with Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, in London assisting Sherlock Holmes to rescue the kidnapped Santa Claus from Count Dracula. \*\* Sounds suspiciously like the forthcoming [_League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheLeagueofExtraordinaryGentlemen-10001439/preview.php). Alex. ---
**Author:** ![FairyDust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@FairyDust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyDust)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464/26 "2003-03-07T13:24:49Z")
[QUOTE}\*Originallyposted by Papermache Prince \* \*\*So, we need a movie with Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, in London assisting Sherlock Holmes to rescue the kidnapped Santa Claus from Count Dracula. \*\*[QUOTE] > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RawkStah \* > \*\*But, when they rescue him, they take him to Wong Fei Hung for treatment, and then there’s a big ol’ kung-fu battle. \*\* If you can figure out a way to also work in Frankenstein’s monster AND Zorro into this movie, I’d pay money to see it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464/27 "2003-03-07T14:53:54Z")
The Guinness/Robertson list is obviously incomplete, since it doesn’t include the over 100 theatrical shorts about Bugs Bunny. I suspect it doesn’t include cartoons. Then there’s Laurel and Hardy. They played exactly the same characters in almost all their movies, but they don’t make these lists just because the names of those characters changed from movie to movie. (In one movie Ollie’s character might be named Mr. Smith, in another it might be Mr. Jones.) Same deal with the Three Stooges. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464/28 "2003-03-07T15:25:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RawkStah \* > \*\*But, when they rescue him, they take him to Wong Fei Hung for treatment, and then there’s a big ol’ kung-fu battle. \*\* _ooooo…_ Kung-Fu vs. Baritsu vs. Jungle savagery vs. …_elves?_… wow, somebody call the producers of “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” we’re writing the sequel! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464/29 "2003-03-07T16:42:41Z")
> [@](#): > > So, we need a movie with Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, in London assisting Sherlock Holmes to rescue the kidnapped Santa Claus from Count Dracula. > [@](#): > > But, when they rescue him, they take him to Wong Fei Hung for treatment, and then there’s a big ol’ kung-fu battle. Then, in a surprise twist ending, the heroes and villains are forced to band together when they are attacked by GODZILLA!!! ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464/30 "2003-03-07T16:47:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wumpus \* > **The Guinness/Robertson list is obviously incomplete, since it doesn’t include the over 100 theatrical shorts about Bugs Bunny. I suspect it doesn’t include cartoons.** Patrick Robertson’s list does include cartoons. However, Bugs Bunny is obviously playing himself, not another character. Likewise, in Laurel and Hardy movies their characters were almost always called [Stan](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Laurel,+Stan) and [Ollie](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Hardy,%20Oliver). When they did have last names, they were almost always Laurel and Hardy. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464/31 "2003-03-09T23:50:15Z")
Yeah, “playing yourself” under a thin guise, playing a stock-character, or BEING a stock-character (Bugs) would be pushing it. Otherwise “the cocky young guy, played by Tom Cruise all through the 1980s” would have to be counted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-character-subject-of-largest-number-of-films/159464.md?page=1)