Whom Do You Consider The Greatest And Most Memorable Characters In All Of Cinema ?

[Mon0Zer0]

Willy Wonka - Gene Wilder
Connery's Bond
Randall McMurphy / Nurse Ratchet - One flew over the cuckoo's nest
Luke / Han / Leia / Vader / Emperor / Obi Wan - Star Wars
Alex De Large - Clockwork Orange
Mick Travis - If...
Daniel Plainview - There Will be blood
The Dude - The Big Lebowski
Quint / Brody - Jaws
Joker - Full Metal Jacket
Jack Torrance - The Shining
Alex Murphy / Clarence Boddiker - Robocop
Indiana Jones
Seller's Clouseau
Alistair Sim's Scrooge
Nada - They Live
McCready - The Thing
Snake Plissken - Escape from New York
The Terminator
Lee / Roper / Jim Kelly -Enter the Dragon
The Crow
Batman
Ripley / Bishop
John Maclaine - Die Hard
Mad Max
Beetlejuice
Jason
Freddy Kreugar
Gizmo the Mogwai
Kaiser Soze
Tony Montana
Vito Corleone
Jules Winnfield - Pulp Fiction
Rocky
Scarlett O'hara / Rhett Butler
Dorothy / Toto / Lion / Witch / Scarecrow / Tin Man / wizard
Charles Foster Kane
Colonel Kurtz
Capt Yonoi / Sgt Hara / Mr Lawrence - Merry Xmas Mr Lawrence
Fiver - Watership down
The Elephant Man
Lawrence - Of Arabia
Landlady - Kung Fu hustle
Patrick Bateman - American Psycho
Shaft
Dracula - Christopher Lee
Scaramanga - Man with the golden gun
Jim - Empire of the Sun
Hector - Saturn 3
Maximillian - The Black Hole
Elf King - Labyrinth
The toxic avenger
Hal 9000

amongst many others...

 

[DrStrangelove]

Darth Vader would be my first shot in terms of broader influence. As of my personal list:

- Any Stanley Kubrick villain, especially those that had their own "Kubrick stare" shots
- Cpt. Picard of The Next Generation fame
- Snake Plissken from Escape from New York and Escape from LA
- Char Aznable from Mobile Suit Gundam (who, in Japan, basically eclipses Darth Vader in terms of popularity and influence)
- R.J. MacReady from The Thing
- Paul Atreides from Dune (the 1984 David Lynch version)
- Conan as played by Arnold Schwarzenegger

 

[BAYLOR]

Darth Vader would be my first shot in terms of broader influence. As of my personal list:

- Any Stanley Kubrick villain, especially those that had their own "Kubrick stare" shots
- Cpt. Picard of The Next Generation fame
- Snake Plissken from Escape from New York and Escape from LA
- Char Aznable from Mobile Suit Gundam (who, in Japan, basically eclipses Darth Vader in terms of popularity and influence)
- R.J. MacReady from The Thing
- Paul Atreides from Dune (the 1984 David Lynch version)
- Conan as played by Arnold Schwarzenegger

A great list. Welcome to Chrons Dr Strangelove .

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

Baby Jane Hudson, played by Bette Davis.
Because? She's just ott MENTAL

 

[PadreTX]

One name I haven't seen mentioned. Vito Corleone.

"I'll make him an offer he can't refuse."

 

[KGeo777]

In terms of greatest cinema characters-- famous and influential, these I consider the top ones.

Count Orlock

Lugosi Dracula

Karloff Frankenstein

King Kong

The Wicked Witch of the West

Godzilla

Darth Vader


If traditional performance (without makeup assistance) is the factor then
Bogart in the Maltese Falcon or Eastwood in the Leone films or Dirty Harry would be influential contenders. Or Brando in the Godfather (but he is also wearing a lot of makeup).

Christopher Lee's Dracula

Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes ("it's a madhouse! a madhouse!")


It's harder to nail down because they might be identified for their stardom and not a particular film performance.


Sebastian Medina in the Pit and the Pendulum--that's a great character but not world famous. I consider it Vincent Price's best character.

Gold Hat in the Treasure of the Sierra Madre is another--famous for a single line but it's a memorable performance and he does kill Bogie.

 

[CupofJoe]

Bruce the shark from Jaws.

 

[Swank]

Since Orlando and Roy Batty are taken:

Max Fischer of Rushmore
Tyler Durden of Fight Club
Mathilda, Stan or Leon of The Professional
Cher in Moonstruck
Rocky
Lebowski
Pee Wee Herman

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

I think one of the criteria for a character to be great is it has to move into the cultural subconscious (or some other such psycho drivel)

Apologies for any repeats but here's my nominees
Dracula
Sherlock Holmes
Tarzan
Robin Hood
Hannibal Lector - Antony Hopkins' version
Darth Vader
James Bond
Norman Bates

I could probably add more, but those were the ones that came to mind without really thinking too hard, and most have been mentioned anyway

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Jason Bourne from the Bourne trilogy, played by Matt Damon. The best scene being Waterloo Station in the Bourne Ultimatum.

 

[Justin Swanton]

Thomas More for me, from A Man for All Seasons. A genuine hero.

 

[Dave]

If you are seriously wanting "Most Memorable Characters In All Of Cinema" then these are good,

Frankenstein['s monster]

Lugosi Dracula

King Kong

Tarzan

Sherlock Holmes

But really you cannot beat The Tramp (1915) for the sheer number of people who would have seen him on the cinema screen (and on TV) and remember him.

It's difficult to believe for members of a Science Fiction and Fantasy website, but quite large numbers of people will still be unaware who Darth Vader, Captain James T Kirk and Ellen Ripley are. I believe that most people would instantly recognise The Tramp. Most would probably recognise the others quoted above.

 

[dask]

I was wondering if there were anyone, regardless of age, who wouldn’t recognize Perry Mason as the embodiment of the American lawyer or The Three Stooges as the epitome of handymen.

 

[KGeo777]

I almost said Tarzan but visually his image isn't distinct. The yell is.
The Tramp was world famous but then Oliver Hardy and Hitler came along which diluted the image--there's a melding of the image with other famous people.

Many people might not know Darth Vader but know his image. And merchandising plays a role in that--they keep the image constantly exposed.
That's another consideration--they may not identify any cinema connection to the character, just product tie-ins.

 

[Draven Vertigo]

Gary Oldman Characters: The Professional, Dracula. ZORG.

Naturally Ellen Ripley. Spock for sure, Will Shattner Kirk. Arnie as Terminator.

 

[Parson]

I believe that most people would instantly recognise The Tramp.

I seriously doubt this. I'd bet that people would recognize Darth Vader at about a 2-1 ratio over The Tramp. I don't know any way to test this, especially not on this site. But I am dead sure my children and most of my grandchildren would recognize Vader (might not know the story) but none of them would know The Tramp. Remember it was most famous a century ago, or put another way, four generations ago.

 

[KGeo777]

One could make the case that the Tramp, as a cinema character, was more famous than Darth Vader is now--in that the Tramp was famous mainly due to cinema, as the focus of the story, at a time when film was the number one mass consumer entertainment medium, while Darth Vader is famous as an image in merchandising etc. As a purely cinematic character, the Tramp was more memorable (he was the star of the show) and had greater audience identification.
As a character Darth Vader is not really memorable, sort of a black knight kind of person, but the visual image of him, was unique. If we are talking modern times, for better or worse, deservedly or not, he's one of the most recognizable cinema images.

 

[Parson]

One could make the case that the Tramp, as a cinema character, was more famous than Darth Vader is now

In that very limited sense, I might agree with you. But if was more famous is meant in the more general sense of people knowing the name/role than I don't believe it. Second, we have the question of most famous now. If you look at percentages of people in the 1910's-20's, perhaps there would be a greater percentage of people who knew The Tramp than who now know of Vader now. But remember going to movies was not a majority activity. Most people could not and fair number would not, enter the cinema for financial or moral reasons. So I also find the percentage argument difficult to believe.

 

[Robert Zwilling]

In my area, Perry Mason and The Three Stooges have stood the test of time. Perhaps the Stooges have done better as they always seem to be on outdoor aerial TV as well as streaming.

 

[KGeo777]

In that very limited sense, I might agree with you. But if was more famous is meant in the more general sense of people knowing the name/role than I don't believe it. Second, we have the question of most famous now. If you look at percentages of people in the 1910's-20's, perhaps there would be a greater percentage of people who knew The Tramp than who now know of Vader now. But remember going to movies was not a majority activity. Most people could not and fair number would not, enter the cinema for financial or moral reasons. So I also find the percentage argument difficult to believe.

I guess the intensity of interest would have been greater back then for those who were seeing them.

I have heard that the fame of 1920s-30s movie stars was greater than now because film was a new technology and impressed people.
When Laurel and Hardy went somewhere in Ireland on a trip--all the churches were set to ring the bells to their theme song. That's quite a show of affection.
Orson Welles said in 1980 that there were no movie stars anymore. They weren't regarded as larger than life as they had been.
You could say that's "get off my lawn" syndrome but he did say it was possible to re-create that sensation, but it would require an effort to capture audience interest in a way that was no longer sought.
That's why I say, I am convinced, that the superstars of the late 60s-to the 80s in terms of who generated the most excitement for a movie audience--it was the SPFX people, the stunt performers, those who were pushing the envelope in technology of visuals and sound.
Because from Bonnie and Clyde to the Godfather to the Exorcist to the Terminator--they all have some innovation in spfx that was a major component of the film's impact. Bonnie and Clyde--it was the shootout scene. That had never been done before-that kind of bullet effect.
The violence in the Godfather was unique for the time.
This is a reason why movie enthusiasm seemed to peak around 2000 or so--Avatar was the last movie which really pushed the boundaries of new cinema experience--but only the FX and 3d technology. Not the story, not the characters, just the technology.
In short, just because Darth Vader is more famous, doesn't mean the impact of the Tramp character is less. His impact on a captive audience was probably much stronger than Darth Vader is-he was the star.
I doubt a movie starring Darth Vader going around and inspecting Death Star hallways would do well despite his fame.