Yes. It was based on Remo Williams.
Also, the Cleric was not really based on really clergy (although the edged weapon thing Wass added by Gygax due to inspiration from Bishop Odo), but Hammer Horror vampire hunters.
And so on. Here's the list-
So I wanted to do a short series on some of the history of D&D, and I thought I'd start with a fun and relatively easy one- the original class system, as codified in the AD&D (1e) Player's Handbook of 1978. For those of you unfamiliar with that 1e PHB, it was a...
www.enworld.org
@Mordhau
If I wasn't busy, I'd love to engage your post a little more (Mikhail Bakhtin FTW!). I would say that I agree that the "western" (broadly construed*) had a profound influence on early D&D, but I also think that early D&D had more influences for the adventure space- and that the orientalist/Said sense was, in fact, not one of the primary ones other than as a pale reflection as might be picked up from the gestalt of the western and/or pulp fiction that was read.
But maybe this isn't the thread to develop that thesis?**
*It's similar to someone noting that Star Wars is fantasy, not "science fiction." Many of the concepts of the "western" are hard-baked into the American ethos- even moreso for people who were adults in the 1970s.
**I'm unfortunately preoccupied though the New Year other than the occasional brief post. So ... Happy Holidays to All, and Happy New Year if I don't get to say it!!