# Most portrayed character
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 19, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012 "2006-03-19T17:23:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/1 "2006-03-19T17:23:22Z")
Who has been portrayed in the movies the most? Scrooge? Dracula? Sherlock Holmes?
I am guessing one of the three, but maybe Satan, if we can count him.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/2 "2006-03-19T18:08:11Z")
That Chinese Wong Fei Hung guy?
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/3 "2006-03-19T18:12:19Z")
According to a quick googling, it’s Holmes 211, Dracula 162.
(I’ll leave it as an exercise to find the cites. :D)
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### Author:  [@Tevildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tevildo)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/4 "2006-03-19T18:16:04Z")
From iMDB:
[Dracula](http://www.imdb.com/Character?dracula) - 160
[Satan](http://www.imdb.com/Character?satan) - 151 (Excludes characters called “Mr Satan”, “Dr Satan”, etc)
[Sherlock Holmes](http://www.imdb.com/Character?sherlock+holmes) - 87
[Scrooge](http://www.imdb.com/Character?scrooge) - 85
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### Author:  [@Tevildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tevildo)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/5 "2006-03-19T18:17:20Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#):
>
> According to a quick googling, it’s Holmes 211, Dracula 162.
> (I’ll leave it as an exercise to find the cites. :D)
Note that a large number of that 211 are duplicates of Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, and Eille Norwood.
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### Author:  [@Tevildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tevildo)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/6 "2006-03-19T18:24:29Z")
Oh, is the question is “which character appears in the largest number of films” rather than “which character has been portrayed by the most actors”? If so, Bugs Bunny (221) beats Holmes, and someone else may be at the top of the list…
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### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/7 "2006-03-19T18:26:22Z")
I would have guessed Tarzan. Guess I’m just not “with it”. (Isn’t that what the kids say? “With it”? Can’t keep up with this stuff.)
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### Author:  [@Dusty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/8 "2006-03-19T18:37:02Z")
Where do you draw the line between “character” and “archetype”? Does any Dracula-like vampire count as Dracula, or just one called “Dracula”?
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/9 "2006-03-19T18:48:22Z")
Hitler scores quite highly: [http://us.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=hitler](http://us.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=hitler)
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/10 "2006-03-19T19:14:27Z")
Abraham Lincoln, with **172** (a total of 185 characters with Abraham Lincoln in their names, minus 13 who were not the 15th President, like “Abraham Lincoln Jones”). Sorry, I don’t know how to link to the IMDB search results.
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### Author:  [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/11 "2006-03-19T20:01:12Z")
How about Shakespearean characters?
[Hamlet](http://www.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=hamlet) brings up 176 male characters.
[Romeo](http://www.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=romeo) has 320 (200 on the first page, and then another batch of 120).
[Macbeth](http://us.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=macbeth) only has 97.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/12 "2006-03-19T21:24:54Z")
Romeo - good one. I hadn’t even thought Shakespear.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/13 "2006-03-19T21:48:48Z")
The official Guinness records are:
Fictional character: [Sherlock Holmes](http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=50722), 75
Fictional monster character: [Dracula](http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=50723), 162
Actual person: [Napoleon](http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=50725), 189
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### Author:  [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2006, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/14 "2006-03-20T00:09:52Z")
[Jesus](http://us.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=jesus) shows up 672 times, but many of them are not the famous one. Limiting it to Jesus Christ brings many fewer, but that’s eliminating those movies who didn’t use the Christ title in the character listing.
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### Author:  [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/15 "2006-03-20T00:30:07Z")
Hamlet?
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### Author:  [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/16 "2006-03-20T00:31:11Z")
> [@Waenara](#):
>
> How about Shakespearean characters?
>
> [Hamlet](http://www.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=hamlet) brings up 176 male characters.
>
> [Romeo](http://www.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=romeo) has 320 (200 on the first page, and then another batch of 120).
>
> [Macbeth](http://us.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=macbeth) only has 97.
Oops, **Waenara** beat me to it.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-portrayed-character/349012/17 "2006-03-20T02:16:31Z")
> [@Waenara](#):
>
> [Romeo](http://www.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=romeo) has 320 (200 on the first page, and then another batch of 120).
Many of which have nothing to do with the character who loved Juliet.