http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/200 ... list_x.htm

According to a new book, the 101 most influential people who never lived: How characters of myth, legends, television, and movies have shaped our society, changed our behavior, and set the course of history.
:

1. The Marlboro Man
2. Big Brother
3. King Arthur
4. Santa Claus (St. Nick)
5. Hamlet
6. Dr. Frankenstein's Monster
7. Siegfried
8. Sherlock Holmes
9. Romeo and Juliet
10. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
11. Uncle Tom
12. Robin Hood
13. Jim Crow
14. Oedipus
15. Lady Chatterly
16. Ebenezer Scrooge
17. Don Quixote
18. Mickey Mouse
19. The American Cowboy
20. Prince Charming
21. Smokey Bear
22. Robinson Crusoe
23. Apollo and Dionysus
24. Odysseus
25. Nora Helmer
26. Cinderella
27. Shylock
28. Rosie the Riveter
29. Midas
30. Hester Prynne
31. The Little Engine That Could
32. Archie Bunker
33. Dracula
34. Alice in Wonderland
35. Citizen Kane
36. Faust
37. Figaro
38. Godzilla
39. Mary Richards
40. Don Juan
41. Bambi
42. William Tell
43. Barbie
44. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
45. Venus and Cupid
46. Prometheus
47. Pandora
48. G.I. Joe
49. Tarzan
50. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock
51. James Bond
52. Hansel and Gretel
53. Captain Ahab
54. Richard Blaine
55. The Ugly Duckling
56. Loch Ness Monster (Nessie)
57. Atticus Finch
58. Saint Valentine
59. Helen of Troy
60. Batman
61. Uncle Sam
62. Nancy Drew
63. J.R. Ewing
64. Superman
65. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
66. HAL 9000
67. Kermit the Frog
68. Sam Spade
69. The Pied Piper
70. Peter Pan
71. Hiawatha
72. Othello
73. The Little Tramp
74. King Kong
75. Norman Bates
76. Hercules (Herakles)
77. Dick Tracy
78. Joe Camel
79. The Cat in the Hat
80. Icarus
81. Mammy
82. Sindbad
83. Amos 'n' Andy
84. Buck Rogers
85. Luke Skywalker
86. Perry Mason
87. Dr. Strangelove
88. Pygmalion
89. Madame Butterfly
90. Hans Beckert
91. Dorothy Gale
92. The Wandering Jew
93. The Great Gatsby
94. Buck (Jack London, The Call of the Wild)
95. Willy Loman
96. Betty Boop
97. Ivanhoe
98. Elmer Gantry
99. Lilith
100. John Doe
101. Paul Bunyan

...so, really, it was 105 (106 if you think Mr Hyde was actually a different person than Doc Jekyll).

Yeah, but do we get to subtract things that aren't people-like the Little Engine that Could or things like John Doe?

Some reasons:

Atticus Finch from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (No. 57). "He is held up as a role model," Karlan says. "People admire his integrity, honesty and open way of dealing with his children."
The Ugly Duckling (No. 55). "By presenting beauty as the highest attribute, Hans Christian Andersen insults 99% of the population," Lazar says. And he thinks no better of Cinderella (No. 26). "The story degrades stepmothers and encourages people to rely on magic, not themselves."

• Bond, James Bond (No. 51). The spy 007 lives into the new century (as Daniel Craig) because he combines intrigue, sex and British suavity with "the highest technologies of our modern age," they note.
Topping the list at No. 1: "The most famous killer of the last two hundred years," The Marlboro Man. The cowboy of death is followed by "Big Brother" of George Orwell's 1984,a symbol of totalitarianism, intrusive government control and surveillance. "That's as close to politics as we get," says computer program/technical writer Karlan, 55.

# 28: Rosie the Riveter, the buff, blue-collar factory worker who helped jump-start the Women's Liberation movement

# 7: Siegfried, the legendary warrior-hero of Teutonic nationalism responsible for propelling Germany into two world wars

# 80: Icarus, the headstrong high-flyer who inspired the Wright brothers and humankind's dreams of defying gravity . . . while demonstrating the pressing need for flight insurance

# 58: Saint Valentine, the hapless, de-canonized loser who lost his heart and head at about the same time

# 43: BarbiE, the bodacious plastic babe who became a role model for millions of little girls, setting an impossible standard for beauty and style

I haven't read this list yet, but you can be damn sure that if I ain't on it, it's B.freakin'S.

No Pillsbury Doughboy?

I refuse to support any list that doesn't include Eric 'Fan' Juan.

Or MODOK.

This list is completely invalid. You expect me to believe Buffy the Vampire Slayer is more influential than Tarzan, James Bond, Kirk & Spock, Superman, and Batman?! Ridiculous.

And who the heck is "Hans Beckert?"

Hans appears on quick search to be a character in Fritz Lang's M apparently played by Peter Lorre.

Exactly.

Bad list.

Thanks. That's another choice that I don't get at all, especially since Lorre's character in "M" was based on Peter Kurten, a very real murderer.

I vaguely remember an episode of Northern Exposure, where -- I hope I have this right -- Graham Greene's character Leonard Quinhagak is trying to come to terms with how important stories, legends and shared narratives are to his Native American culture. He's talking with Westerner Holling Vincoeur about any legends he, Holling, may have grown up with -- whether any characters or stories shaped or informed his North American youth in any way.

Holling: "Well, there was Paul Bunyan..."

Leonard: "Mmm hmm. And what was he about?"

Holling: "Well, he was big. And he had this axe. Oh, and a giant blue ox!"

Leonard: "Okay. And how has he affected your life?"

Holling: (long pause) ..."I can go entire years without thinking about him."

Me.

I just *knew* you were fictional!!

Luke Skywalker? He wasn't even the most influential character in his own movies!

Fanboy insanity here:
What, no Wolverine? I thought he was the "best there is at what he does".

Never mind Eric "Fan" Juan, WHAT ABOUT WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT???

Oh wait...he was a real person.

Apparently "what he does" has nothing at all to do with having never lived. How's that for a healing factor!

I like the way you think, Bill.