# Fictional characters who met actual famous people **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408 "2019-01-08T16:31:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/21 "2019-01-08T18:30:55Z")
Harry Flashman. For the win. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/22 "2019-01-08T18:37:58Z")
Then there was the fine documentary film, **Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure**. I still catch myself mentally pronouncing Socrates as “so crates” ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/23 "2019-01-08T18:41:33Z")
In _The Seven Percent Solution_ by Nicholas Meyers, Sherlock & Watson meet Sigmund Freud. In the sequel _The West End Horrors_ they meet George Bernard Shaw (who is amazed that Holmes can tell where someone is from just by talking to them), Bram Stoker & Oscar Wilde. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/24 "2019-01-08T18:44:29Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > In “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans,” Sherlock Holmes was given an emerald tie pin by “a certain gracious lady,” strongly implied to be Queen Victoria, for services rendered to the Royal Family. Holmes also mentions, in _The Hound of the Baskervilles_, “the little affair of the Vatican cameos,” and refers to his “anxiety to oblige the Pope.” The Pope at that time would have been Leo XIII. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/25 "2019-01-08T18:58:46Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > There was an episode of Bonanza featuring [Mark Twain](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0529553/fullcredits). Twain also was a guest on the Enterprise D. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/26 "2019-01-08T19:01:20Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Harry Flashman. For the win. I think Dumas could give Fraser a run for his money. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/27 "2019-01-08T19:02:58Z")
A significant proportion of historical novels would fit the bill, if I understand the criteria right. Thinking just about the works of Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe met the future Duke of Wellington, Napoleon, and various other historical personages. In the Saxon Chronicles, Uhtred met Alfred the Great and other English kings. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2019, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/28 "2019-01-08T19:09:45Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Then there was the fine documentary film, **Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure**. > I still catch myself mentally pronouncing Socrates as “so crates” Sounds good, Mr. The Kid. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/29 "2019-01-08T19:12:03Z")
Phil Farmer’s _Riverworld_ series of books-Everybody is a character in those stories. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/30 "2019-01-08T19:19:36Z")
You can add a couple hundred muppets to your list, as the entire roster regularly met celebrities on _The Muppet Show_, _Sesame Street_, and their various spin-off TV shows and movies. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/31 "2019-01-08T19:37:32Z")
The characters of M_A_S\*H once had a drive-through encounter with General Douglas McArthur. And Charles Winchester in particular had a date with Audrey Hepburn, his family was neighbors with the Kennedy family on Martha’s Vineyard (which cause the old-money Winchesters to flee those unsophisticated nouveau riche) and his father knew Harry Truman (he didn’t _like_ him, but he _knew_ him). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/32 "2019-01-08T19:37:51Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > _Doctor Who_-The Doctor has met scores of historical people but my favorite episode of that type is “Vincent and the Doctor”, in which Matt Smith’s Doctor has an encounter with Vincent Van Gogh. > [@Icarus](#): > > There was an episode of Bonanza featuring [Mark Twain](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0529553/fullcredits). See the first sentence of the OP. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Forrest Gump, everywhere he went. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Harry Flashman. For the win. Both mentioned in the OP. > [@Ashtura](#): > > Wait a minute, famous people played by an actor doesn’t count?? Just some oblique reference in like a newspaper (invariably photoshopped) or a character name dropping that he met soandso? Is that right? Yes, that’s the kind of thing I’m going for. Thanks, all. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/33 "2019-01-08T19:38:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Phil Farmer’s _Riverworld_ series of books-Everybody is a character in those stories. There are also two collections of Riverworld stories written by other writers, not to mentio lots of Riverworld fan fiction, some on Farmer’s site. One of the more interesting characters meeting historical characters is _Cyrus Spitama_ in Gore Vidal’s novel **Creation**. He gets to meet Zoroaster, Socrates, Anaxagoras, Gautama Siddhartha, Mahavira, Lao Tze, and Confucius. Vidal takes some liberties (like the fact that a lot of people don’t think Lao Tze even existed), but it is remarkable that so many of these influential philosophers lived at bout the same time. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/34 "2019-01-08T19:41:56Z")
In a weird reversal of this, you have series where real life people are characters in the show; _Baa Baa Black Sheep_ (Pappy Boyington), _Curb Your Enthusiasm_ (Larry David), _Dave’s World_ (Dave Barry), _Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23_ (James Van Der Beek), _Mike Tyson Mysteries_ (Mike Tyson), _Scorpion_ (Walter O’Brien), _Seinfeld_ (Jerry Seinfeld), _The Untouchables_ (Eliot Ness), and others. On these shows, all of the fictional characters in the series have met a famous real life person. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/35 "2019-01-08T19:59:14Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Harry Flashman. For the win. > [@mbh](#): > > I think Dumas could give Fraser a run for his money. How about the Simpsons? How many real life people have they met in the last thirty years? ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/36 "2019-01-08T20:08:24Z")
Going really really obscure, in [The Great Brain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Brain) series, the character Tom brags a few times that he took boxing lessons from [John L Sullivan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Sullivan) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/37 "2019-01-08T20:08:29Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > A significant proportion of historical novels would fit the bill, if I understand the criteria right. Thinking just about the works of Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe met the future Duke of Wellington, Napoleon, and various other historical personages. In the Saxon Chronicles, Uhtred met Alfred the Great and other English kings. First thing I thought of- Uhtred has met pretty much every notable in England during the latter half of the 9th century. I had to admit that Cornwell’s device for explaining Uhtred’s lack of historicity was clever- he made enemies with Bishop Asser, the guy whose chronicle of the time period around Alfred the Great’s reign is the main source. So Asser basically wrote Uhtred out of history. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/38 "2019-01-08T20:14:20Z")
[Parks and rec](https://ew.com/gallery/parks-and-recreation-guest-stars/)has had a huge number of Cameo, including a number of prominent politicians such a Newt Gingrich, Madeleine Albright, Michelle Obama, and John McCaine. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/39 "2019-01-08T20:19:17Z")
Daisy Moses (“Granny”) meets John Wayne on the Beverly Hillbillies, Season 5, Episode 20, The Indians are Coming. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408/40 "2019-01-08T20:35:52Z")
Many episodes of\* I Love Lucy\*. _Silent Movie_ (1976) _Being John Malkovich_ (1999) _Zombieland_ (2009) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-who-met-actual-famous-people/827408.md?page=3)