27 Well-Known Characters That Are Based On Real People
The real Dude abides, too.
![27 Well-Known Characters That Are Based On Real People](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/4/9/6/745496_320x180.jpg?v=2)
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:
![SCANDAL'SOLIVIA POPEIS BASED on CRISIS management GuRu JUDY smItH.. MOSTLY. Smith, who worked as deputy press secretary to President George H W. Bush,](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/2/4/745524.jpg?v=2)
![JOHN NETTLESHIP described himself as a hort-tempered chemistry teacher with long hair... gloomy, malodorous laboratory' who enjoyed picking](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/1/8/745518.jpg?v=2)
![THERE WASA REAL SHREK Maurice Tillet was a French wrestler known as the freak ogre of the ring in the '40s. Tillet suffered from acromegaly, a thick](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/2/0/745520.jpg?v=2)
![TWISTY WAS BASED on A REAL SERIAL KILLER One of the most terrifying characters in American Horror Story: Freak Show was based on a terrifying real per](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/2/1/745521.jpg?v=2)
![URSULAIS LITERALLY DIVInE The Little Mermaid sea witch is based on drag queen Divine, who made a splash in the '70s with Pink Flamingoes and Mondo Tra](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/1/9/745519.jpg?v=2)
![This is Louis Red Deutsch, a New Jersey bartender and ex-boxer. In the '70s, prank callers Jim Davidson and John Elmo would constantly call him aski](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/0/8/745508.jpg?v=2)
![THE DUDE IS A REAL DUde. This is Jeff Dowd, friend of the Coen brothers. The Big Lebowsky Dude's personality, drink of choice, nickname, AND even biog](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/2/3/745523.jpg?v=2)
![POPEYE WAS BASED on A REAL GUY. SE His name was Frank Rocky Fiegel, and he was a tough guy from Popeye creator E.C. Segar's hometown. IMPeR He was k](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/1/5/745515.jpg?v=2)
![Sergio Gutierrez Benitez was a Mexican priest who fought as mysterious masked wrestler Fray Tormenta, then used his winnings to buy food for orphans.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/1/7/745517.jpg?v=2)
![Norman Bates, the knife-wielding OEVD momma's boy in olunu was actually much tamer than the real-life inspiration for the movie, Ed Gein. Gein liked t](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/1/4/745514.jpg?v=2)
![HA-HAW! YOU DiDn't know THAT neLson IS JOHN BenDeR! Not only is the Simpsons tough guy based on the Breakfast Club tough guy, but he shares a name wit](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/1/6/745516.jpg?v=2)
![Sydney Greenstreet was famous for playing greedy gangsters in movies like Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. He WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR JABBA THE HUTT](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/1/2/745512.jpg?v=2)
![THE JOKER IS BASED on A '20s FILm STAR. That star was Conrad Veidt, who played Gwynplaine, a character who has his face deliberately cut into a perman](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/1/3/745513.jpg?v=2)
![MEET Kenny KRAmeR. He gives reality tours of his life for $37.50 a pop-just like his Seinfeld counterpart Cosmo Kramer. He also enjoys cigars, golf, a](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/1/1/745511.jpg?v=2)
![THE oBSESSIVE COP in LAKEVIEW TERRACE WAS A REAL GUY. In 2002, Officer Irsie Henry terrorized his Altadena, CA neighbors for being a mixed-race couple](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/1/0/745510.jpg?v=2)
![THE REAL SOUP NAZI HATED seinFeld. His name is Al Yeganeh, and he claimed the show ruined his business. Not that the character was inaccurate. When](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/2/2/745522.jpg?v=2)
![KRATOS IS EDWARD NORTON. Specifically, Norton's character in American History X. According to God of War director David Jaffe, his design team based K](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/0/9/745509.jpg?v=2)
![BETTY BOOP STOLE HER EVERYTHING FRom HELEN KAne. Kane was a popular actress and singer from the '20s who pretty much invented the whole I'm a sexy ba](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/0/7/745507.jpg?v=2)
![THE REAL DIRTY HARRY WAS named DAVE. Dave Toschi was a San Francisco cop who focused on hunting down the Zodiac killer. He was also the inspiration fo](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/0/2/745502.jpg?v=2)
![Archie Bunker was the main character in a '70s sitcom called All in the Family. He was bigoted, childish, spiteful, and chubby. He was an objectively](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/0/5/745505.jpg?v=2)
![INCREDIBLES coSTumE DeSIGnER EDnA MODE IS BASED on HOLLYWOOD COSTUME DesIGneR EDITH HEAD. Head, who was a petite brunette in bangs and round glasses,](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/4/9/9/745499.jpg?v=2)
![50 FIRST DATES IS BASED on A ReAL person. In the movie, Lucy suffers from anterograde amnesia, where she can't remember anything that happens after th](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/0/6/745506.jpg?v=2)
![Eric Stough is one of the producers on South Park. The other producers like to tease him for his nice-guy attitude about the show's often brutal, targ](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/0/3/745503.jpg?v=2)
![When Wes Craven was 11, he looked out the window of his apartment building to see a disfigured homeless man staring at him. Kid Craven ducked into the](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/0/4/745504.jpg?v=2)
![JACK NICHOLSON'S DILDO-WAVING DEPARTED VILLAIN IS BASED on A REAL MOBSTER. Nicholson played Frank Costello, a character directly based on James White](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/0/0/745500.jpg?v=2)
![MeeT THE REAL DON DRAPER. This is Draper Dan Daniels, head of the Leo Burnett Agency in the '60s. He was the creator of the Marlboro Man, and a mino](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/0/1/745501.jpg?v=2)
![Empire's Lucious Lyon is a musician with a checkered past, now sitting atop a hip hop empire and dealing with his legacy. Show creator Lee Daniels bas](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/4/9/8/745498.jpg?v=2)
![And just because a movie or character is based on real-life, doesn't mean it's accurate. Check out these 'True Story' Oscar movies that are full of cr](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/9/6/745596.jpg?v=2)