27 Well-Known Characters That Are Based On Real People
The real Dude abides, too.
It's easy to assume that famous characters are born in a flash of inspiration, somewhere deep (or shallow) in the cortexes of some creative genius. But as it turns out, a lot of the time creative people just pick a famous person as a starting point, and just add some embellishments until they're fiction. Green skin. A cancer diagnosis. Adam Sandler with a ukulele.
But the fact remains, at the core of a lot of great characters is a real person who deserves some credit for being interesting. Real people like: