11 People Who Were The Actual Inspirations Behind Popular Cartoons

Cartoons have been an integral part of our lives. There is hardly anyone who does not love good cartoons. While most of our cartoons are fictional characters yet there are some who have real life inspirations.

Here is a list of popular cartoons and the people who inspired them.
 

1. Tintin and Palle Huld

Herge got the inspiration for Tintin from Palle Huld, a truly remarkable boy of only 15.

For generations, Tintin has remained one of our favorite sleuths. Even today his comics are popular throughout the world.

Huld was the winner of a competition run by a Danish newspaper in 1928, where applicants were challenged to reenact Phileas Fogg’s journey from the 1873 novel “Around the World in 80 Days” by train and passenger liner.

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2. Popeye and Frank Feigel

Famous cartoon Popeye was based on a real-life sailor called Frank Feigel. He was a one-eyed sailor with incredible strength and a sturdy build.

Elzie Crisler Segar, the creator of Popeye, got his influence for the pipe-smoking spinach-chomping sailor man in the form of Frank “Rocky” Fiegel when he was just a boy. Even the iconic pipe was inspired by him.

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3. Joker and Conrad Veidt

Joker was inspired by Veidt’s portrayal of the character of Gwynplaine in the 1928 film, The Man Who Laughs.

Joker is arguably the most iconic character in the comic book universe. Though there seems to be some ambiguity over who is the actual creator of the character but one aspect seems to be relatively free from dispute, that is the character was inspired by a German actor Conrad Veidt.

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4. Shrek and Maurice Tillet

Shrek’s character was inspired by a Russian-born French American professional wrestler Maurice Tillet’s look.

Although Dreamworks has never officially admitted this fact, the resemblance between them is uncanny.

When Tillet was in his late teens, he noticed swelling in his feet, hands, and head, and after visiting a doctor was diagnosed with acromegaly. Soon his whole body was disfigured as a result.

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5. The Simpsons and the Groening’s family

The Simpsons are actually based on creator Matt Groening’s own family.

You might be quite surprised to know that his dad’s name is actually Homer. Groening has said that the character of Brat is loosely based on himself and his brother Mark.

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6. The Vultures in Jungle Book and the Beatles

The hilarious vultures in Disney’s 1967 flick, “The Jungle Book,” were based on The Beatles.

Apparently, Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein had asked Disney to use the stars in something, but John Lennon never liked the idea, which required Disney to scrap the vultures’ initial songs in favor of something the Beatles didn’t write. A close look at the vultures and you would realize that the resemblance is uncanny.

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7. Ursula and Divine

The famous Disney character Ursula is based on popular drag queen Divine.

Divine herself, unfortunately, did not live long enough to see the character come to life onscreen as she passed away during the production of the movie. Disney had decided to voice her for the character too.

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8. Aladdin and Tom Cruise

Well, this might sound a little unbelievable but, it’s true that Disney’s Aladdin was actually based on Tom Cruise.

Though the original character of Aladin is quite old but when Disney animated the character, they initially took inspiration from Michael J. Fox and his role in “Back to the Future,” but then the Disney animators decided that they needed someone new.

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9. Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Sherry Stoner

Some of Belle’s little idiosyncrasies were directly inspired by things Stoner did, like brushing her hair from her face.

She used to work at Disney as an illustrator. Not only Belle, Stoner served as a reference model for even characters like Ariel.

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10. Snow White and Marge Champion

Snow White was modeled after a real person called Marge Champion, who was a well-known actress in the ’30s and ’40s.

It is said that the illustrators even asked her to wear a helmet as they wanted Snow White’s head to be a little broad.

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11. Captain Hook and John Maher

Captain Hook was apparently based on a hook-handed parson called Rev. John Maher.

There is hardly anyone who is not aware of Captain Hook. Captain Hook is famous for his iconic hook on his one hand. Well, interestingly, the parson was actually a former pirate.

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Who knows? Maybe, if these people were not born, we would have missed out on some great cartoons.