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Monday, February 15, 2010

101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived

“I had no idea that such individuals exist outside of stories.”—Dr. Watson about Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet (1887)

This video features critically-acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates who discusses how a writer develops realistic characters. Is it possible for fictional characters to impact the world more than real people? Apparently so.

In the book The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived, the authors rank the “characters of myth, legends, television, and movies [who] shaped our society, changed our behavior, and set the course of history.”

  1. The Marlboro Man
  2. Big Brother
  3. King Arthur
  4. Santa Claus (St. Nick)
  5. Hamlet
  6. Dr. Frankenstein's Monster
  7. Siegfried
  8. Sherlock Holmes
  9. Romeo and Juliet
  10. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
  11. Uncle Tom
  12. Robin Hood
  13. Jim Crow
  14. Oedipus
  15. Lady Chatterly
  16. Ebenezer Scrooge
  17. Don Quixote
  18. Mickey Mouse
  19. The American Cowboy
  20. Prince Charming
  21. Smokey Bear
  22. Robinson Crusoe
  23. Apollo and Dionysus
  24. Odysseus
  25. Nora Helmer
  26. Cinderella
  27. Shylock
  28. Rosie the Riveter
  29. Midas
  30. Hester Prynne
  31. The Little Engine That Could
  32. Archie Bunker
  33. Dracula
  34. Alice in Wonderland
  35. Citizen Kane
  36. Faust
  37. Figaro
  38. Godzilla
  39. Mary Richards
  40. Don Juan
  41. Bambi
  42. William Tell
  43. Barbie
  44. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  45. Venus and Cupid
  46. Prometheus
  47. Pandora
  48. G.I. Joe
  49. Tarzan
  50. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock
  51. James Bond
  52. Hansel and Gretel
  53. Captain Ahab
  54. Richard Blaine
  55. The Ugly Duckling
  56. Loch Ness Monster (Nessie)
  57. Atticus Finch
  58. Saint Valentine
  59. Helen of Troy
  60. Batman
  61. Uncle Sam
  62. Nancy Drew
  63. J.R. Ewing
  64. Superman
  65. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
  66. HAL 9000
  67. Kermit the Frog
  68. Sam Spade
  69. The Pied Piper
  70. Peter Pan
  71. Hiawatha
  72. Othello
  73. The Little Tramp
  74. King Kong
  75. Norman Bates
  76. Hercules (Herakles)
  77. Dick Tracy
  78. Joe Camel
  79. The Cat in the Hat
  80. Icarus
  81. Mammy
  82. Sindbad
  83. Amos 'n' Andy
  84. Buck Rogers
  85. Luke Skywalker
  86. Perry Mason
  87. Dr. Strangelove
  88. Pygmalion
  89. Madame Butterfly
  90. Hans Beckert
  91. Dorothy Gale
  92. The Wandering Jew
  93. The Great Gatsby
  94. Buck (Jack London, The Call of the Wild)
  95. Willy Loman
  96. Betty Boop
  97. Ivanhoe
  98. Elmer Gantry
  99. Lilith
  100. John Doe
  101. Paul Bunyan

2 comments:

Roxanne Sherwood said...

Scoti,

Fascinating post. Thanks so much!

Roxanne

Debbie Maxwell Allen said...

This was great, Scoti!