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The Greatest Movie Characters of All Time

Writer: goldenstateservicesj
goldenstateservicesj
Sep 16, 2023
4 min read

The following lists are based on these criteria:

  • Characters must have become famous from the movie(s) they were in. Any that were already famous before the movie iteration–like in literature, folklore, TV, etc.–are not counted. So no Joker, Hermione Granger, Snow White, or Gandalf. They can still be from adapted movies, but the level of fame they had before determines whether or not they make the lists.

  • I also tried to stick with characters that were performed by actual actors, or at least voice actors. So, though King Kong would easily be one of the top 10 greatest movie characters, the lack of human performance counts him out. Some others are tricky, like The Predator or Hal 9000.

  • I have divided these into several sub categories: primary, secondary, real life-based, and animated characters.

  • My favourites have definitely influenced these lists, but I tried hard to think critically and come up with with an accurate list based on iconicity, recognizability, popularity, etc.

The Top 25 Greatest Primary Movie CharactersHonourable Mentions:Home Alone Mad MaxThe Hunger Games Annie Hall (Annie Hall), Inspector Clouseau (The Pink Panther series)

  • E.T., E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

  • The Man with No Name, aka “Blondie”, The Dollars Trilogy (Most notably The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, 1966)

  • The Bride, Kill Bill series (2003-2004)

  • Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver (1976)

  • The Dude, The Big Lebowski (1998)

  • Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator (2000)

  • Bullitt, Bullitt (1968)

  • Rose DeWitt-Bukater and Jack Dawson, Titanic (1997)

  • Daniel Plainview, There Will Be Blood (2007)

  • The Sound of Music (1965

  • George Bailey, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

  • Jack Torrence, The Shining (1980)

  • Dorothy Gale, The Wizard of Oz (1939)

  • Marty McFly, Back to the Future series (1985-1990)

  • Dirty Harry, Dirty Harry series (1971-1988)

  • Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean series)

  • John McClane, Die Hard series (1988-2013)

  • Scarlett O’Hara, Gone With the Wind (1939)

  • Charles Foster Kane, Citizen Kane (1941)

  • The Tramp, a variety of Charlie Chaplin movies (1920’s–1940’s)

  • Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump (1994)

  • Luke Skywalker, Star Wars franchise (1977-2019)

  • Ellen Ripley, Alien series (1979-1997)

  • Rocky, The Rocky series (1976-2015)


The Top 25 Greatest Secondary Movie CharactersHonourable Mentions:The Princess BrideThe Hunger Games Annie Hall (Annie Hall), The Bride (Kill Bill series), Gertie (E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial), Doc Brown (Back to the Future series), Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

  • The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz (1939)

  • Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore, Apocalypse Now (1979)

  • Bill “The Butcher” Cutting, Gangs of New York (2002)

  • Anton Chigurh, No Country for Old Men (2007)

  • Col. Nathan Jessup, A Few Good Men (1992)

  • Annie Wilkes, Misery (1990)

  • Raymond Babbitt, Rain Man (1988)

  • Michael Myers, Halloween series (1979-2022)

  • Yoda, Star Wars series (1980-2017)

  • John Keating, Dead Poets Society (1989)

  • Hans Landa, Inglourious Basterds (2009)

  • Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

  • Jason, Friday the 13th series (1980-2019)

  • Freddie Kruegger, ANightmare on Elm Street series (1984-2010)

  • Nurse Ratched, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

  • Tyler Durden, Fight Club (1999)

  • George McFly, Back to the Future series (1985-1990)

  • Dr. Evil, Austin Powers series (1997-2002)

  • The Wicked Witch of the West, The Wizard of Oz (1939)

  • Princess Leia, Star Wars franchise (1977-2019)

  • Han Solo, Star Wars franchise (1977-2015)

  • Hannibal Lecter, The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

  • Vito Corleone, The Godfather (1972)

  • The Terminator, The Terminator series (1984-2019)

  • Darth Vader, Star Wars franchise (1977-2016)

The Top 10 Greatest Movie Characters Based on Real Life PeopleHonourable Mentions: Nelson Mandela (Invictus), Idi Amin (The Last King of Scotland), Elliot Ness (The Untouchables), Christopher Gardner (The Pursuit of Happyness)

  • Mozart, Amadeus (1984)

  • King Leonidas, 300, 2006)


  • Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street (2010)

  • Captain John H. Miller, Saving Private Ryan (1998)

  • Tommy DeVito, Goodfellas (1990)

  • Jake LaMotta, Raging Bull (1980)

  • William Wallace, Braveheart (1995)

  • Erin Brockovitch, Erin Brockovitch, (2000)

  • T.E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

  • Schindler’s List

The Top 10 Greatest Animated CharactersHonojurable Mentions: Stitch (Lilo & Stitch), Sid the Sloth (Ice Age series)

  • Timon and Pumba, The Lion King (1994)

  • The Iron Giant, The Iron Giant (1999)

  • The Minions, Dispicable Me series (2010-2022)


  • Elsa, Frozen series (2013-2019)

  • Wall-E, Wall-E (2008)

  • Dumbo, Dumbo (1941)

  • Dory, Finding Nemo series (2003-2016)

  • Donkey, Shrek series (2001-2010)

  • Cruella DeVil, 101 Dalmatians (1961, 1996, 2021)

  • Buzz and Woody, Toy Story series (1995-2019)

Congratulations A Few Good Men. This is your week.

And the Oscar goes too…

Best Actress:

Demi Moore as Lt. Cdr. JoAnn Galloway in A Few Good Men

Best Actor: Other than Kevin Bacon, a mighty fine actor I must say, this goes to Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell in Apollo 13

Best Quote: “Did you ever get busted for bopping?” – Kevin Bacon as Ren in Footloose

Ok, so here’s a no holds barred top 10 greatest movie characters:

  • John McClane

  • Ellen Ripley

  • The Wicked Witch of the West

  • Rocky

  • Vito Corleone

  • The Joker

  • King Kong

  • Darth Vader


  • Indiana Jones

 
 
 

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