The REAL Indiana Jones

[Turanil]

I just thought I should share this article with you. Apparently, the Indiana Jones fiction was inspired by a real figure...

By the way, I can't wait for the last Indy movie in a few days!

 

[trancejeremy]

Uh, no. While I'm not saying Mitchell-Hedges wasn't a colorful character, he was nothing like Indiana Jones.

 

[Mark Chance]

Allan Quartermain was a real person?

 

[Prince Atom]

Uh, no. While I'm not saying Mitchell-Hedges wasn't a colorful character, he was nothing like Indiana Jones.

I'm not sure anyone was anything like Indiana Jones.

The person I have always heard of as being "the real-life Indiana Jones" was Roy Chapman Andrews, who went dinosaur-hunting in Mongolia in the 20's. Although he was indubitably armed, being as he was a consummate showman heading into Outer Mongolia (its dangers no doubt inflated by his showmanship), I doubt there were bullwhips involved, and definitely no Nazis. He didn't find an ancient tomb of Chinese emperors, but he did find Indricotherium, a prehistoric ancestor of the rhinoceros.

But you can make just as good a case for Indy being based on Mitchell-Hedges.

Myself, I think Indy owes more in his creation to Doc Savage and Alan Quatermain, Zorro and The Phantom than any real-life source. George Lucas hit it out of the park with Star Wars, which was basically his own version of the Buck Rogers serials of his youth, so why not run with it and get some two-fisted action in there?

TWK