Jurassic Park‘s Dr. Alan Grant (played by Sam Neill) was modeled after Jack Horner, who works as a paleontologist in real life.
The infamous Severus Snape from the Harry Potter franchise was based on J.K. Rowling’s real-life chemistry teacher, John Nettleship.
Buzz Aldrin is famous for being the second man to step foot on the moon, and he’s also the reason why space ranger Buzz Lightyear got his name.
The famed explorer, Indiana Jones, was based on actual archaeologists like Hiram Bingham, Roy Chapman Andrews, and Sir Leonard Woolley.
Seinfeld co-creator Larry David revealed he based Cosmo Kramer on his former neighbor and comedian Kenny Kramer, who was paid $1000 for his last name to be featured on the show.
Empire creators looked to hip-hop icon Jay-Z when developing the character of Lucious Lyon, noting hard-to-miss similarities between the two.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams honored his late English teacher Rose Gilbert by creating Maz Kanata (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o).
Advertising exec Draper Daniels (best-known for the Marlboro Man campaign) left his stamp with Mad Men‘s Don Draper. Inspiration was also drawn from advertising tycoon, Bill Backer, famous for his work with Coca-Cola.
From the books to the silver screen, author P.L. Travers celebrated his great-aunt Helen Morehead by basing the beloved Mary Poppins on her.
Entourage‘s Vincent Chase (played by Adrien Grenier) had true Hollywood ties with actor Mark Wahlberg serving as the main inspiration.
The inspiration for the fabulous Miss Piggy came from jazz singer Peggy Lee. Originally called Miss Piggy Lee, the name was shortened to avoid upsetting the vocalist.
When Ethan Hawke was prepping for his role as Arthur Harrow in Moon Knight he looked to the personas of real-life people to bring to the screen. “For me, it was like putting Jimmy Swaggart, Leo Tolstoy, (Fidel) Castro, the Dalai Lama, and Josef Mengele into a blender,” he said. “That was the fun of it: What if Steve Jobs was a bad guy?”
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood introduced us to stuntman Cliff Booth (played by Brad Pitt). Still, you might not have realized that Hal Needham, a real Hollywood stuntman during the ’50s and ’60s, was the one who inspired director, Quentin Tarantino.
Norman Bates, the man behind the infamous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, was based on serial killer Ed Gein.
Judy Smith made history as the first Black woman to deliver a White House press briefing, and served as the muse for Scandal‘s Olivia Pope.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may have ditched his work in medicine to pursue writing, but his most famous character actually came to be thanks to his former profession. Dr. Joseph Bell, one of the author’s medical school professors, was the basis for the witty detective, Sherlock Holmes.
Golfer Edith Baker is at the root of The Great Gatsby‘s Jordan Baker’s origin story as her character also plays the same sport.
Heavyweight boxer Rocky Marciano’s fighting style and name are to thank if you enjoyed Sylvester Stallone’s performance in the Rocky film series.
Famed broadcaster Mort Crim served as the inspiration for Anchorman‘s Ron Burgundy (played by Will Ferrell). And yes, he too has that well-groomed hair and voice made for TV if you were wondering.
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(And I use apple)
Thought the same
So was Thomas Edison.
Veda,
You sound like a bit of a hypocrite. Jobs s#cked, Apple s#cks and so do their products, end of. Everything about their practices and designs is atrocious.
Bzzzz! Wrong, but thanks for playing the game anyway. You're consolation prize is an iphone charger that doesn't fit.