# So...anyone else ever mistakenly think fictional characters were real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 23, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988 "2013-12-23T02:46:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/61 "2013-12-24T00:52:59Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I had heard of Monty Python long before I saw the first television shows; at the time (early '70s) I assumed he was a real person—Britain’s equivalent to Mel Brooks, producing zany comedies. Likewise. Specifically, I thought he was Graham Chapman. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/62 "2013-12-24T00:59:29Z")
For a very long time, I thought Rex Stout was the detective, in novels written by Nero Wolfe! (And I still don’t fully comprehend what’s going on with “Ellery Queen.” Real person? Character? Huh?) ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/63 "2013-12-24T02:30:42Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > The story sure plays out in a very fictional way. > > I thought the Scarlet Pimpernel was a real person. _You lied to me, Blackadder!_\* > > \*All the other significant encounters in the Black Adder series were with genuine historical figures. Well, sort of. [Baroness Orczy, not Blackadder.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Pimpernel) ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/64 "2013-12-24T02:56:58Z")
Rin Tin Tin was an amazing dog his owner found in the trenches of France during WWI that eventually gained stardom in films and television (his offspring taking over the mantle of each generation). He was not, as I first thought, a character that was created first and then cast. I highly recommend Susan Orlean’s biography of RTT and his owners. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/65 "2013-12-24T03:16:09Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I thought Betty Crocker was a real person. On the other hand, [Duncan Hines](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Hines) and [Chef Boyardee](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Boiardi) were. (I’d love to get my hands on some of Chef Boyardee’s original recipes to see what all the hubbub was about, back in the day. :p) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/66 "2013-12-24T03:16:18Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > \*All the other significant encounters in the Black Adder series were with genuine historical figures. Well, sort of. That’s…not really true. He’s met a lot of…highly fictionalized versions of real people, but the vast majority of significant figures were quite fictional. The Pimpernel is an interesting case, though, in that he’s neither a real historical figure, _nor_ created by the Blackadder writers. (The first, but not the only, case of that - the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future appeared in Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, and Robin Hood (ok, he’s debatable) in Back and Forth.) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/67 "2013-12-24T03:30:16Z")
My wife’s always confusing actors with their roles. A few minutes into the third Harry Potter movie: _“Didn’t he die?”_ “Who, Dumbledore?” _“Yeah, I thought I read…”_ “Oh, Richard Harris, the _actor_ who was _playing_ the _role_ of Dumbeldore died.” _“Are you sure?”_ ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/68 "2013-12-24T03:46:35Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > For an embarrassingly long time I thought Xena was “real”, in the same sense that Hercules was “real” (ie she was based off actual Greek myths). :o Nope, totally fictional. :smack: It’s too bad the [International Astronomical Union](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(dwarf_planet)#Xena) didn’t share your belief. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/69 "2013-12-24T15:00:00Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > While I knew the cartoon wasn’t real, I thought Springfield from the Simpsons was the same as Springfield, Illinois. I was really disappointed when we went there and there wasn’t a giant Springfield sign. I thought it was Springfield, Ohio. Remember that episode where Marge goes “…right here in Springfield, Oh…hi Maude!” > [@Biggirl](#): > > I thought Super Dave Osbourne was real. I mean, I knew he wasn’t really a stuntman. I thought he was a comedian named Dave Osbourne. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > I thought Betty Crocker was a real person. Wait, what? Me too. Well I know what I’m Googling today. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/70 "2013-12-24T17:25:43Z")
I used to believe that the actors were all still alive and doing the shows on TV live. I think it was because my parents and grandparents had once discussed live tv, and explained to this little 5 year old that the tv shows used to be done live, so when I made some comment about Errol Flynn in Robin Hood it was baffling until my parents figured out that I thought he was alive and performing the 1930s movie live right then. I honestly don’t remember the comments or discussion, but my parents would bring it up every now and again. I can actually see that as a fairly valid belief given the mid 1960s and my parents/grandparents generations and the TV practice of live shows even in the mid-late 60s. [typically holiday specials. I remember the Bong Crosby live Holiday Specials with some fondness. Sitting in the dining room with the fire going, doing personal fondues - we had enough fondue pots for everybody to have their own pot. We did the[chinese steamship](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_pot) style with broth instead of cheese or oil. Dad would roll the TV over to the door between the library and the dining room and we would watch the specials and eat very casually. It was fun having Dad home on leave for almost the whole month of December so meals tended to be funner to celebrate his being home.] ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/71 "2013-12-24T17:49:05Z")
I didn’t understand [Karl May](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_May)’s use of first-person narration. Mainly I didn’t understand the use of his real name as the narrator’s name, even though my parents patiently tried to explain the issue. Apparently, though, the author himself had some trouble differentiating fact from fiction in this case :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/72 "2013-12-24T17:51:02Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I used to believe that the actors were all still alive and doing the shows on TV live. . . .] Same thing happened to me, but with radio. I was 5 or so and was disappointed when my dad told me orchestras were only records. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/73 "2013-12-25T00:49:49Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > . . . Bong Crosby . . . Who would that be? David Crosby? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/74 "2013-12-25T01:33:23Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I thought **That Thing You Do!** was based off a real band, and that’s where the phrase “One-hit Wonders” came from. When “This Is Spinal Tap” came out, there were movie critics who chastised Rob Reiner for making a documentary movie about a band nobody had ever heard of. And I couldn’t get over some of the people who thought Forrest Gump was a real person. :smack: I thought the “Land of Make Believe” on the Mr. Rogers Show was a real place. I first read Stephen King’s “The Stand” around 1980, and even though I KNEW it was fiction, I got a bit nervous at the beginning of the summer of 1985. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/75 "2013-12-25T01:38:48Z")
I bet there are some kids these days who wonder where Panem is. Conversely, lots of people thought “Midnight In The Garden of Good And Evil” was fiction. I knew it couldn’t be, because you just can’t make people like that up. The James Frey book “A Million Little Pieces”, however? I read it after it was revealed to be fiction, and would have figured THAT out on the very first page. Kunta Kinte wasn’t a real person, either. He was more of an archetype. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/76 "2013-12-25T02:39:26Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Santa Claus. At the risk of being whooshed, St. Nicholas was real. > [@terentii](#): > > Nitpick: Saltzman withdrew from the Bond franchise after _ **The Man with the Golden Gun** _. > > I had heard of Monty Python long before I saw the first television shows; at the time (early '70s) I assumed he was a real person—Britain’s equivalent to Mel Brooks, producing zany comedies. By the way, which one’s Pink? That’s just one band whom I was sure was named after a member-same thing with Jethro Tull. Judas Priest. Pere Ubu. Lynyrd Skynard. ---
**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:** [December 25, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/77 "2013-12-25T03:18:49Z")
I always thought Lou Reed had just made up a bunch of characters for “Walk on the Wild Side” or at most based them on real people. But I later found out that Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling, Joe Dallesandro, and Jackie Curtis were all real people. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/78 "2013-12-25T03:41:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I always thought Lou Reed had just made up a bunch of characters for “Walk on the Wild Side” or at most based them on real people. But I later found out that Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling, Joe Dallesandro, and Jackie Curtis were all real people. That’s wild – reading their biographies on Wikipedia, they were pretty much as Lou described them, too. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/79 "2013-12-25T03:44:23Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > He was pronounced dead in the hospital. But he was gone well before then, according to my sources. I wasn’t there at the time so I don’t know for sure, but my sources were. Um, as in your sources . . . _made_ sure? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/80 "2013-12-25T04:17:51Z")
On the Simpsons episode “Burn’s Heir” when he has a flashback to being on a GreenPeace ship, takes off his costume and says, “The man you trusted wasn’t Wavy Gravy at all.” I thought he was just making up some hippie name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988.md?page=5)