Martinex1: Did you ever wonder how comic book artists are inspired to invent such lasting characters and situations? Sometimes the inspiration for character design comes from real life. Sometimes the "models" are famous Hollyood actors and actresses. Today, let's look at a few such cases in which movie celebrities may or may not have become comic book stars.
It has been said that John Romita saw Ann-Margaret in the 1963 film Bye Bye Birdie, and Mary Jane evolved from the image of the carefree fun-loving dancing red head. What do you think? Do you see the resemblance? And if you've seen Ann-Margaret movies do you see aspects of the party girl Mary Jane was initially portrayed as?
It has been said that John Romita saw Ann-Margaret in the 1963 film Bye Bye Birdie, and Mary Jane evolved from the image of the carefree fun-loving dancing red head. What do you think? Do you see the resemblance? And if you've seen Ann-Margaret movies do you see aspects of the party girl Mary Jane was initially portrayed as?
For maybe a resemblance a little less subtle, take a look at silent film star Conrad Veidt. He was a German actor in the early days of cinema and starred in classics like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The photos below come from his appearance in the 1928 romantic melodrama The Man Who Laughs. Supposedly Bob Kane and Bill Finger drew their inspiration from Veidt's appearance and performance. That seems pretty clear.
Reportedly when Stan Lee created Tony Stark the industrialist and tycoon, he had a very famous movie mogul, aviator, and billionaire in mind - the legendary and eccentric Howard Hughes. Silver Age depictions of the heroic inventor definitely resembled Hughes in his younger days.
John Byrne may be most recognized for using film and television stars to influence comic characters with his iconic take on the Hellfire Club. The entire concept was a blunt homage to an episode of the British television serial The Avengers. One episode had John Steed and Emma Peel investigating and infiltrating the famed Hellfire Club. Diana Rigg as Peel donned a sultry outfit much like the one worn by Jean Grey; in fact she was identified as the Queen of Sin in the show. The episode is titled "A Touch of Brimstone" and guest stars actor Peter Wyngarde as the charming leader of the group (keep that in mind).
This was an extremely popular episode of the series and must have left quite an impression on the X-Men handlers. Take a look.
This was an extremely popular episode of the series and must have left quite an impression on the X-Men handlers. Take a look.
Harry Leland had a definite Orson Welles vibe. Also note that two well known characters in Welles' films were Harry Lime (The Third Man) and Jed Leland (Citizen Kane). A coincidence - I think not.
Remember Peter Wyngarde from the above mentioned television show, well here is Peter Wyngarde the actor next to Jason Wyngarde the mutant villain. Note also that one of Peter Wyngarde's most famous roles was as Jason King in a couple of British programs from the early 1970s. Peter Wyngarde just passed away about a month ago at the age of 90.
And last but not least, cyborg Donald Pierce was based on Donald Sutherland, who portrayed Hawkeye Pierce in the movie version of M*A*S*H.
It is definitely fun to see how the artists draw from the culture around them to create the lasting images we so fondly remember. Do you know of any other significant character inspirations? Let's discuss them all today at BitBA. Cheers!
Remember Peter Wyngarde from the above mentioned television show, well here is Peter Wyngarde the actor next to Jason Wyngarde the mutant villain. Note also that one of Peter Wyngarde's most famous roles was as Jason King in a couple of British programs from the early 1970s. Peter Wyngarde just passed away about a month ago at the age of 90.
And last but not least, cyborg Donald Pierce was based on Donald Sutherland, who portrayed Hawkeye Pierce in the movie version of M*A*S*H.
15 comments:
The biggest one I know is Fred MacMurray as the inspiration for the look of Captain Marvel (Shazam).
Sticking with Byrne, he modeled Wolverine's appearance on an actor named Paul D'Amato, specifically on the sort of psycho hockey player he portrayed in the movie Slap Shot. Interestingly, for the longest time I thought Wolverine was based on Fred Ward, who not only resembles the way Byrne drew Wolverine without his mask, but is also kind of short like Wolverine is supposed to be (that's why I never really warmed up to Hugh Jackman in the role: he's too conventionally handsome, and he's too tall).
Another example that comes to mind is that Jack Kirby loosely based Barda's appearance on actress Lainie Kazan, but more on the whole physique rather than facial similarity.
Pretty neat post. I remember Paul Gulacy did a lot of that while drawing MOKF. Reston was a dead ringer for Brando, from what I remember.
Diana Rigg as Emma Peel may have also influenced the Bronze Age look for Natasha/Black Widow.
Lauren Bacall was a definite influence on P'Gell in The Spirit, and maybe also on some of Will Eisner's other heroines and villainesses, including Sand Saref.
Similarly, actress Ilona Massey was the inspiration for Madame Lynx, a seductive spy in Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon.
I suspect that Silver Age portrayals of Hercules, both in Marvel and Charlton comics, may have based the character's appearance on Steve Reeves, and/or Reg Park or some of the other stars of Italian sword-and-sandal movies.
Marvel's Silvermane (head of the Maggia) noticeably resembled Boris Karloff. As did the the Batman villain Basil Karlo (the original Clayface), although the latter may have been a composite of Karloff, Chaney, and horror movie stars in general.
Well, the first one that came to mind for me (because I just read an issue with him for my blog) was Vartox in Superman/Action; he was modeled on Sean Connery, specifically Connery in the movie Zardoz which I haven't seen but looks rather cheesy.
Graham is right about Master of Kung Fu, although Reston was usually drawn to resemble either Sean Connery or Basil Rathbone (since Reston was supposedly Sherlock Holmes's grandson and James Bond's nephew). It was James Larner who looked like Brando in MOKF, and Gulacy obviously enjoyed basing characters on celebrities, because he did quite a few: Juliette was Marlene Dietrich, Sarsfield was David Niven, Larner was Brando, Rufus T. Hackstabber was Groucho Marx, and Quigley J. Warmflash was W.C. Fields. I think Gulacy put James Coburn in there too somewhere, but I can't remember what character he was.
Another famous one is John Constantine being inspired by Sting. They even had him paddle away from Swamp Thing in a little boat with the name "G.Sumner" (that was about a year after his debut, as I recall, by which time most people were in on the joke).
-david p.
I know that the over the top character Funky Flashman from DC's "Secret Society of Super Villains" was definitely based on Stan Lee.
Didn't John Romita model his version of Peter Parker on Montgomery Clift?
Gene Colan based his portrayal of Dracula on Jack Palance.
Professor X was reportedly inspired by Yul Brynner.
Furthering the Diana Rigg discussion, the early 1970s version of Wonder Woman was based on her as well.
In creating the Kingpin, John Romita was inspired by Kasper Gutman, the character played by Sydney Greenstreet in the Maltese Falcon.
You can definitely see Sydney Poitier in Kirby's first renderings of T'Challa.
Thanks, Mike, for the correction. I was doing it from memory, which is always a risky venture.
Graham: Yeah, I knew there were a bunch of famous faces in MOKF but I had to look them up since I couldn't recall specifics (except the taxi driver who looked like Groucho ... he's impossible to forget!)
William, Funky Flashman - definitely a poke at Stan Lee - was created by Kirby and actually first appeared in Mr. Miracle.
Mike W., having seen Zardoz, I can tell you that the movie was many things, but cheesy was not one of them...
Justin Hammer from the Romita Jr. and Layton was based on Peter Cushing.
Travis Morgan
Charlton's E-Man was originally based on Robert Redford but as time went by Roger Moore (Live or Let Die era) became more of an influence. His girlfriend, the fetching Nova Kane was inspired by Kim Novak. Their little buddy Mike Mauser was inspired visually by Dustin Hoffman's character in Midnight Cowboy.
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