Gotta second Vlad Tepes.
Hercule-Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac
On a much smaller scale, I’m guessing the few people who are aware of the careers of U.S. Senators Owen Brewster and Homer Ferguson are indebted to their supremely unflattering portrayals in the films The Aviator (Alan Alda) and Tucker: The Man and His Dream (Lloyd Bridges), where they are depicted as horribly corrupt and hypocritical political figures standing in the way of progress and innovation.
My original source of them was some famous journalist named Anderson, whose first name I forget. He wrote a syndicated muckracker style column called the Washington Merry Go Round. Before he did that he worked for Drew Pearson, who did the same thing. His portrayal of Brewster and Ferguson was not even as glamorized as The Aviator. He thought they were thoroughly corrupt.
Don’t swear!
Jesse James, Billy The Kid. Murdering, 2-Bit punk-asses turned into folk heroes.
Bonnie and Clyde.
The Jamaican 1988 Winter Olympics bobsledding team.
I’m having a hard time thinking of any historical figures who haven’t been surpassed by their fictionalized versions. Martin van Buren, maybe?
Anyone who had a truly great influence on the course of history could never be surprassed. Hitler, for example. Not to godwinize the thread or anything >_<
That being said, a lot of people are just throwing names out without any justification or works of fiction that they think are particularly notable or influential, so I’m a little underwhelmed by the responses so far.
Dr. Joseph Bell, said to be the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.
Casanova’s fame rests upon his own autobiography (which at least claims not to be fiction).
de Sade’s fame rests on fiction that he wrote himself. AFAIK, these fictions are not about himself, although they certainly reveal a lot about his sexual fantasies.
I think the idea is that the people themselves might just be a footnote in history if someone had not fictionalized them.
Plus it is being taken as an easy opportunity to take a shot at putting down notable *legendary *figures, especially from the world of religion.
Which brings up that I would say there is a difference between a specifically authored fictional retelling of a historic figure’s life and a popular legend having grown around the person. Sometimes of course the actual fiction and the popular legend work hand in hand (e.g. Parson Weems and George Washington’s cherry tree; any number of Wild West figures), but sometimes they are in conflict (e.g. Eva Perón vs. Evita).
One “fact” that many people think they know about Rasputin is the story of his death and how it took several attempts to kill him.
But that’s almost certainly not true. The official report says that Rasputin was shot and died and his body was then thrown in the river - a very straightforward murder that went according to plan.
But Prince Felix Yusupov was one of the conspirators who was present. He was lucky and was able to escape Russia when the communists took over. He spent the rest of his life in exile (he lived until 1967) essentially living as a guest with other people. Yusupov must have felt he needed to be entertaining and the story of Rasputin’s murder was the most exciting story he had to tell. And as the decades passed the story kept growing more exciting.
I dunno, she’s not really a major figure even in popular imagination.
Well, Jesus was probably a real historical figure. I know there are contrary theories, but it’s hard to imagine how Christianity could have gotten started if the first generation of Christians did not at least remember him.
Eva Peron was a jumped up whore who ripped off her ignorant followers to a horrific extent, right up there in the history books. Don’t ask me for ‘cites’.
Ebeneezer Cooke. He’s an obscure 18th century poet who is know for a single poem. John Barth took it as the basis for his novel The Sot-Weed Factor; most people who read the novel don’t realize that Cooke was a real person. The book is often cited as one of the best American novels of the 20th century.
It’s possible that people know the most about the Prince Regent of England in the early 19th century from Blackadder.
Jake LaMotta is known from Raging Bull
Susan Alexander Kane in Citizen Kane is what most people know Marion Davies as being the model for. Davies’s films are not often available, so the character is considered to be far more a representation that it really is; in fact, the character was written to be the opposite of Davies.
Possibly in the United States that might be true.