15 Characters Inspired by Real People Whose Story Almost Nobody Knows

Many characters from books and movies end up being great role models for children and teenagers, but what almost nobody knows is that some of these characters were inspired by real people. The Joker’s terrifying smile, for example, was inspired by German actor Conrad Veidt. Irene Bedard gave Pocahontas her Native American traits, and John Nettleship was the inspiration for Harry Potter’s Severus Snape.

These are just a few examples of famous characters who were inspired by people in the real world. Today the awesome.club brings a list of 15 characters that show how reality is more surprising than fiction.

Arleen Sorkin is an American actress, screenwriter, and comedian. She is known for inspiring and being the voice of the villainous Harley Quinn, DC Comics.

Paul Dini, creator of the character, said: “Arleen and I are friends. When I thought of Harley Quinn, all I could think of was Arleen. When she appeared like a madwoman on the soap opera Days of Our Lives I said to myself that she should hang out with the Joker dressed like that.”

The origin of the Joker is in the circus. The visual inspiration was German actor Conrad Veidt in the role of Gwynplaine in the film. The man who laughs.
The character’s features have changed slightly over the years, but the smile resulting from a scar and the white skin remained and were brought to the big screen in 1928 by Veidt.

Irene Bedard is known for playing Native American characters in many films. For Disney she was the model for Pocahontas.

Milhouse Van Houten is a caricature of Paul Pfeiffer (character from the series Amazing years, played by Josh Saviano). Both are best friends with the main characters, have the same hairstyle, big nose and glasses. They have the same purpose: to stand by their best friend, regardless of the difficulties.

Mark Mothersbaugh is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and visual artist. Not only did he create the show’s memorable soundtrack, he was also the inspiration for the character of Chuckie, one of the show’s main characters.

Kyle was created based on the show’s co-creator Matt Stone, who also voices the character. Many of Kyle’s traits were modeled after Matt. His hair is just like Matte’s old hairstyle and they are both Jewish.

John Nettleship was a professor of chemistry. One of his students was J.K. Rowling. He was exactly the inspiration for the character of Professor Snape. First there was the physical resemblance and the ghostly whiteness of the skin, the greasy black hair, the uneven teeth and the large nose. Second is his intelligence and passion for the subject he taught.

Everyone who met him quickly recognized the teacher in the character. John Nettleship commented in an interview that many alumni recognized him in the film and went up to him saying that they had seen him in the cinema.

Rocko has the personality of a young Woody Allen. Joe Murray, creator of modern life from Rockodescribed the character as a wallaby 20 years old. He assessed the character as spacious and knowledgeable about modern life pursuits.

Before Krusty there was a Rusty. His real name is James Allen and he hosted shows for children in Portland, USA. Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, grew up in Portland and used Rusty’s childhood memories as inspiration for The Simpsons🇧🇷 Unlike Krusty, Rusty was loved not only by the community, but by the audience.

Matt wrote in his book Planet Simpson: “Rusty Nails was very nice… a nice clown with a name that bothered him when he was a kid”.

This is one of the most influential books in history. Lewis Carroll’s inspiration for the book was Alicia Liddell, a friend of 10 years. Lewis found inspiration on a boat in Oxford, England, in 1858. He was there with the 3 young daughters of his friends, Alicia, Edith and Lorina Liddell. To amuse the children, he created a short story about a little girl. Alicia found the story so interesting that she asked Lewis to turn it into a book.

Zorro’s story is based on the life of Mexican Joaquín Murrieta. The name was used in films with Antonio Banderas, whose last name was Murrieta.

Joaquín Murrieta was born in 1829 in Hermosillo, Mexico. He faced a lot of racism from white Americans, which made him angry with society. Murrieta became a popular hero, a romantic figure who fought against the atrocities committed against his family and against injustices.

Winnie-the-Pooh (or Winnie Pff) was inspired by a real bear that lived in London Zoo whose name was Winnipeg. The bear entered the zoo thanks to a Canadian soldier and veterinarian named Harry Colebourn and was one of the most popular animals at the zoo. Christopher Robin, a zoo-goer, named his teddy bear Winnie. His father used the name of the toy to create the book. A. A. Milne wrote the story and published it. Winnie the Pooh in October 1926.

1967 was the band’s heyday. The Beatles and it was also the year that Disney released the movie called The Jungle Book🇧🇷 It is said that it was the band’s manager who suggested that the vultures were inspired by the singers. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were about to lend their voices to the characters and sing the song That’s What Friends Are For 🇧🇷friends are for that), but John said ‘no’. The song had to be rewritten by another quartet.

The appearance of Captain James Hook, also known as Captain Hook, in Disney’s version of Peter Pan was inspired by American actor and comedian Hans Conried. At first, the actor’s task was just to voice the captain, but the actor was so authentic in the way he dressed that the producers decided to use his image for the role.

Did you know these stories? Do you know other examples of characters that were inspired by real stories?