Tintin
The Character: The Belgian boy adventurer finally got the Hollywood treatment courtesy of Steven Spielberg and a mo-capped Jamie Bell in 2011.
The Inspiration: The comics' creator Herge modelled Tintin on Palle Huld, a Danish teenager who famously recreated Phineas Fogg's trip around the world in nearly half the time - a sprightly 44 days.
Artistic Licence: Huld didn't take a white Fox Terrier with him.
Viktor Navorski
The Character: Tom Hanks' hero in The Terminal is a native of the fictional country of Krakozhia, who gets stuck in JFK Airport when his homeland falls under the grip of a civil war.
The Inspiration: Much the same thing happened to Iranian refugee Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lost his paper in transit to Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris and lived there from 1988 to 2006.
Artistic Licence: Unlike Nasseri, who was a political refugee, all Navorski wants to do is get the autograph of a jazz musician.
Charles Foster Kane
The Character: Newspaper magnate, aspiring politician and little boy still pining for his Rosebud, Welles' Citizen Kane remains one of the most complex portrayals of a 'great' American that there is.
The Inspiration: Welles did little to hide the fact that Kane was a thinly-veiled hatchet job on controversial publisher William Randolph Hearst. Even Welles' opera-singing second wife, Susan Alexander, is based on Hearst's mistress, actress Marion Davies.
Artistic Licence: According to legend, Rosebud was Hearst's nickname for Davies' lady bits… a far cry from what it turns out to be in the film.
Raymond Babbitt
The Character: Autistic savant played by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man , whose powers of recall come in handy for crooked brother Charlie (Tom Cruise).
The Inspiration: Kim Peek, a 'mega savant' whose memory was so strong he could recall the contents of over 12,000 books.
Artistic Licence: Peek isn't actually autistic; he has a rare genetic condition called FG Syndrome.
James Bond
The Character: British superspy, licensed to kill and played by so many actors it's no wonder nobody can agree who his real-life model was.
The Inspiration: Various names have been suggested: Canadian spymaster William Stephenson, MI6 agent Biffy Dunderdale and Ian Fleming's brother Peter. However, mostly Bond is an idealised version of his creator.
Artistic Licence: It scarcely matters who the 'real-life Bond' was. Clearly, none of them did a Moonraker by flying into outer space to foil a madman's scheme.
Travis Bickle
The Character: Robert De Niro's iconic Taxi Driver stalked Manhattan at night, dreaming of washing the scum off the street and planning to assassinate a Senatorial candidate.
The Inspiration: Screenwriter Paul Schrader has long confirmed that Bickle's quest was based on the case of Arthur Bremer, who shot Presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972.
Artistic Licence: Bremer never drove a taxi. Ironically, Bickle would later inspire another real-life assassination attempt - John Hinckley Jr's shooting of Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Rocky Balboa
The Character: Sylvester Stallone's signature role as the Italian Stallion, an unfancied boxer who takes on heavyweight champ Apollo Creed.
The Inspiration: Stallone wrote the screenplay after seeing no-hope bruiser Chuck Wepner last until the 15th round in a fight with Muhammad Ali.
Artistic Licence: Wepner was knocked out in the final round; even though Rocky loses the fight on points, he lasts the distance.
Jeff Lebowski
The Character: Slacker. Bowler. Dude. The Big Lebowski 's namesake, played by Jeff Bridges, remains one of the Coen brothers' most abiding creations.
The Inspiration: Jeff Dowd, a one-time anti-Vietnam activist who had grown increasingly disreputable - and increasing fond of White Russians - into middle age.
Artistic Licence: Dowd never had a rug that tied the room together. That particular character trait was nabbed from another real-life source, the Coens' friend Peter Exline.
Norman Bates
The Character: Motel owner who wouldn't hurt a fly. Unfortunately, he also has a homicidal split personality that has a penchant for dressing as Norman's dead mother and murdering the guests in the shower.
The Inspiration: Serial killer Ed Gein, who killed several young women and exhumed the corpses of many more in the quest to make a skin suit resembling his dead mother.
Artistic Licence: If anything, Bates tones down Gein's insanity... paving the way for Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Buffalo Bill in The Silence Of The Lambs , both also based on Gein.
Indiana Jones
The Character: Professor during term time. Archaeologist and adventurer in the holidays. Hates snakes.
The Inspiration: Hiram Bingham III, the academic and adventurer who rediscovered Machu Piccu in 1911.
Artistic Licence: Bingham's book Lost City Of The Incas led to the Charlton Heston movie Secret Of The Incas , which led to Indy.
