Film •
The Wizard of Oz (1939): Glinda, Good Witch of the North is based on
Glinda the Good from
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and on
The Good Witch of the North from the same book. •
Lawrence of Arabia (1962):
Claude Rains as
diplomat Mr. Dryden. As with
Omar Sharif's
Sheriff Ali and
Anthony Quayle's
Colonel Harry Brighton, Dryden was an amalgam of several historical figures, primarily
Ronald Storrs, a member of the Arab Bureau but also
David Hogarth, an archaeologist friend of Lawrence,
Henry McMahon, the High Commissioner of Egypt who negotiated the
McMahon–Hussein Correspondence (which began the Arab Revolt), and
Mark Sykes, of the
Sykes–Picot Agreement, which partitioned the post-war Middle East.
Screenwriter Robert Bolt stated that the character was created to "represent the civilian and political wing of British interests, to balance Allenby's military objectives". •
The Great Escape (1963): The characters in this
John Sturges film are based on real men, and in some cases are composites of several men. The main character, Capt. Virgil Hilts (
Steve McQueen) a.k.a. the "Cooler King", was based on at least three pilots:
Bill Ash,
David M. Jones, and John Dortch Lewis. •
Bonnie and Clyde (1967): C.W. Moss (
Michael J. Pollard) in
Arthur Penn's film is a composite of two
Barrow Gang members:
W. D. Jones and
Henry Methvin. In the film, the Moss characterization relies predominantly on the basis of Jones, a juvenile devotee adept at carjacking, whom the couple take under their wing up until the climax. Then, traits of minor but catalytic member Methvin are interwoven near the end as his father, via Moss's dad, bargains with vengeful law enforcement for his son's immunity in exchange for luring the unsuspecting
Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker into the fatal, bullet-ridden ambush. •
Spaceballs (1987): The protagonist of
Mel Brooks's parody of
Star Wars is Lone Starr (
Bill Pullman), a mercenary who gains the powers of the Schwartz. Lone Starr combines the characters of both
Luke Skywalker and
Han Solo. • ''
Schindler's List'' (1993):
Steven Spielberg's film contains one blended composite character. Although
Ben Kingsley's character of
accountant Itzhak Stern is based upon a real person and he did interact with
Oskar Schindler (
Liam Neeson), in the film Stern also absorbed aspects of a few other historical figures:
Abraham Bankier, who planted the seed with Schindler to employ
Jews for cheaper labor, thereby keeping them safe; and
Mietek Pemper, who was at the
Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp and later worked for
Amon Göth (
Ralph Fiennes) as his
personal secretary. He was instrumental in persuading Schindler to utilize Jews in assembling war materials. A possible fourth person in the mix is Marcel Goldberg, a corrupt
Jewish cop who nonetheless aided Stern in the expansion of their lists, which kept thousands of Jews alive and safe. (In
Steven Zaillian's screenplay, Goldberg and Pemper have minor roles played by other actors, but nevertheless are still considered to be part of this composite.) •
Apollo 13 (1995): Henry Hurt (
Xander Berkeley) in director
Ron Howard's
docudrama is portrayed as a
NASA public relations employee assigned to assuaging Marilyn Lovell (
Kathleen Quinlan)—the wife of astronaut
Jim Lovell (
Tom Hanks)—while simultaneously tasked with answering reporters' questions. This character is a composite of the NASA protocol officer Bob McMurrey, assigned to act as a buffer between the Lovell family and the press; and several
Office of Public Liaison employees, whose job was to actually work with the press. •
Charlotte Gray (2001): Cate Blanchett's titled character of Charlotte Gray is based on such
SOE agents as
Pearl Witherington,
Nancy Wake,
Odette Hallowes and
Violette Szabo. •
Catch Me If You Can (2002): In yet another Spielberg film, based on the true story of
Frank Abagnale Jr. (
Leonardo DiCaprio) and his
counterfeit escapades, the main character is pursued by
FBI agent Carl Hanratty, played by
Tom Hanks. However, his character is a mixture of several agents, primarily
Joseph Shea, who didn't want his name used in any film adaptation—a request Abagnale and the film crew honored after he died. •
21 (2008): Director
Robert Luketic's characters were fictionalized; in some instances, with
whitewashed versions of their real-life counterparts, stirring controversy.
Jeff Ma, whose saga was the main focus, was accused of being a
race-traitor, in allowing
Jim Sturgess to be cast as his facsimile. But it's
Kevin Spacey's Micky Rosa who is a composite of John Chang, Bill Kaplan, and J.P. Masser. •
Dallas Buyers Club (2013): Screenwriters
Craig Borten and
Melisa Wallack told the true story of
Ron Woodroof (
Matthew McConaughey), who contracted
AIDS and
smuggled unapproved drugs to help alleviate symptoms of his and fellow sufferers, such as
trans woman Rayon (
Jared Leto). The latter character was actually a composite derived from a plethora of interviews with anonymous real-life
transgender AIDS patients. Further embellishments were made in creating Dr. Eve Saks (
Jennifer Garner), who was another composite comprised from several doctors—with one, Dr.
Linda Laubenstein, being the main source of inspiration, for her
activism against the
social stigma of the disease. • ''
Molly's Game'' (2017):
Michael Cera's Player X is based on celebrity gamblers who attended Bloom's games, such as
Leonardo DiCaprio,
Ben Affleck, and
Tobey Maguire. •
Dunkirk (2017):
Kenneth Branagh's Commander Bolton, in
Christopher Nolan's
World War II film is a composite of several real-life people, including Commander
James Campbell Clouston and Captain
Bill Tennant. •
Bombshell (2019):
Margot Robbie's Kayla Pospisil was an amalgamation, based on a number of
conservative women who spoke to the filmmakers about harassment from
Roger Ailes (
John Lithgow). "We're not revealing the people we talk to. We're trying to protect them," director
Jay Roach said of the project's sources.
Television • Ulana Khomyuk in
Chernobyl was created to represent "the many scientists who worked fearlessly and put themselves in a lot of danger to help solve the situation." •
Game of Thrones made extensive use of composite characters due to the sheer number of characters from
A Song of Ice and Fire.
Sansa Stark in the show takes on elements from her friend Jenye Poole (who briefly appears in the first season) such as being married off to
Ramsay Bolton so Bolton can gain control of Winterfell. The character of Gendry is an amalgamation of
Robert Baratheon's numerous illegitimate children from the source material. He is given a storyline that is a combination of book Gendry's and his half-brother
Edric Storm, who was sent off to protect him from being ritualistically sacrificed by his uncle
Stannis Baratheon. Both the Seaworth and Tyrell families go from having multiple sons in the books (seven and three, respectively) to one who combines aspects of the others in the show. More controversially,
Ellaria Sand became a composite of many of the Dornish women introduced in
A Feast for Crows who were either entirely cut out or severely reduced in terms of importance to the story. She alone plays the roles that her four daughters, four stepdaughters, and niece
Arianne Martell (heir to Dorne) do in the books. Similarly in the prequel show
House of the Dragon, Rhaena Targaryen becomes a composite of herself and Nettles from the source novel
Fire & Blood. Nettles is allegedly a girl of illegitimate Targaryen ancestry and supporter of
Rhaenyra Targaryen who claims the dragon Sheep Stealer. •
Colin Hanks as Barry Lapidus in
The Offer was based on many executives at
Gulf & Western that Ruddy dealt with during the production of
The Godfather. •
The Tudors (2007):
Henry VIII's sisters
Margaret Tudor and
Mary Tudor, Queen of France were amalgamated into one character named Margaret. The character of Margaret's story more closely matches Mary's life. She is a known beauty who was married off by her brother to an older King to form an alliance (in real life the King of France, in the show it's Portugal), only to be quickly widowed and marry her brother's best friend
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk behind his back. However, the creators of the show decided to call the character Margaret instead of Mary to avoid confusion with their niece
Mary I of England. Margaret was played by
Gabrielle Anwar. •
Once Upon a Time (2011–2018):
Gabrielle Anwar portrayed
Rapunzel Tremaine, also known as Victoria Belfrey, who is a composite between
Rapunzel and the Wicked Stepmother from
Cinderella.
Literature • The three Herods in the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles (Herod the Great (Luke 1:5), Herod Antipas (Luke 3:1; 9:7-9; 13:31-33; 23:5-12), and Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1-23)) are three separate historical rulers, but are portrayed as a single character in
Herod as a Composite Character in Luke-Acts, described "as an actualization of Satan's desire to impede the spread of the good news though his ["Herod's"] rejection of the gospel message and through political persecution". •
The Senator: My Ten Years with Ted Kennedy, a memoir by Richard E. Burke allegedly exposing various activities of U.S. Senator
Ted Kennedy featured several composite characters associated with Kennedy's alleged drug use and sexual dalliances; the inclusion of such became a point of criticism for the book. •
Bring Up the Bodies (2012): In the afterwards of the book, author
Hilary Mantel acknowledges that
Jane Boleyn's role as the main instigator of the downfall of her sister-in-law
Anne Boleyn is a composite of the actions of several different people. In particular, Jane was given elements of a woman named Bridget Wingfield's participation in the scandal. Wingfield was an employee of Anne's and is believed to have been the individual who started the rumors that she was having an extramarital affair. Mantel decided to give Jane an outsized role both because Wingfield died mid-scandal and to keep the reader from having to keep yet another character straight.
Journalism • A series of 1944
The New Yorker articles by
Joseph Mitchell on
New York's
Fulton Fish Market which were presented as journalism. Once the stories were published in 1948 as the book
Old Mr. Flood Mitchell disclosed that "Mr. Flood is not one man; combined in him are aspects of several old men who work or hang out in Fulton Fish Market, or who did in the past." Mitchell assigned his composite character his own birthday and his own love for the
Bible and certain authors. In his introduction to
Mr. Flood, Mitchell wrote, "I wanted these stories to be truthful rather than factual, but they are solidly based on facts." •
John Hersey is said to have created a composite character in a
Life magazine story, as did
Alastair Reid for
The New Yorker. ==See also==