There have been several great silver screen characters that have come and gone over the years, but a select few have left their mark and are as recognizable now as they were 50 years ago or more. To celebrate some of the longest-lasting fictional names in cinema, here are some of our favorite picks.
The Mummy
You could choose from a wide array of classic horror monsters for this list, but The Mummy has carved out for itself a most impressive legacy. The character began in the way that many horror greats did, in the hands of Boris Karloff all the way back in the 1930s.
The biggest tribute to the franchise has to be the remakes from the late 90s and early 2000s with Brendan Fraser as the lead. These movies reimagined Karloff’s original plot with a grittier tone and have since become widely celebrated. They’ve not only spawned sequels but also spinoffs like the casino game Books of Amun Ra; in today’s day and age, players looking for the latest casino offers have as much chance of seeing a mummy as any movie fan. It’s no coincidence that the industry has so many games based on Ancient Egypt.
Hercule Poirot
Sherlock Holmes may have the monopoly on big-budget movies featuring classic detectives, but no one can deny the iconic status of the small Belgian with the neat mustache. Agatha Christie’s Poirot has a signature image and unique style that has kept his fandom thriving for many different adaptations of Christie’s original stories, with the most revisited likely being The Murder On The Orient Express, a twist on the sealed-room concept with all parties trapped aboard a stranded train.
This particular story has proven popular enough to get its very own modern remake with the likes of Johnny Depp, Judy Dench, and Willem Dafoe starring and directorial legend Ridley Scott running the show. The success led to the production of two more stories, Death On The Nile and A Haunting In Venice, each of which has gone down so well that we’ll probably be seeing Poirot for a while to come.
James Bond
While the present identity of the actor due to portray the beloved spy is unknown, the consensus is that pretty much nothing can kill off the James Bond character for good. As far as British cinema goes, Bond is a certified institution with the original novels recently hitting their 70th anniversary. The films themselves have just rung in the 60th anniversary of the original Dr. No and we’ve now seen the end of the last of the six actors to play the role in Daniel Craig.
The franchise, between the books, movies, and spin-off TV shows, is one of the largest media exports from the United Kingdom. The overall feel of the movies has shifted back and forth from smooth spy capers to Mission Impossible action pieces but the central character has retained his slick, suave persona.
Conclusion
There are plenty more characters that could feature on this list but that would mean that the list would go on for decades. The beloved characters we’ve mentioned have cemented their roles as crowd favorites and will likely continue to grace the silver screen for ages to come.