It often feels like fiction and real life have nothing in common, but that isn’t always the case. You’d be surprised to know how many beloved fictional characters were actually inspired by real-life people. More often than not, real life can be so much more interesting and creative than anything we can conjure in our imagination. If you want to see what we mean, here are 20 iconic pop culture characters who were based on real-life people.
#1: Mary Poppins
Known for her catchphrase, Mary Poppins is the fun-loving, super-cool nanny we all wished we had when we were kids. She can fly with her umbrella, after all! The movie version of Mary Poppins that most of us know and love is based on a series of books by P.L. Travers. Travers was an Australian-British writer, and her Mary Poppins stories are more than just fairy tales.
Travers based her iconic Poppins character on her childhood memories of her feisty great-aunt, Aunt Sass. Travers remembered her Aunt Sass as being very strict but loveable. She was a “bulldog with a ferocious exterior” but was actually sweet and kind behind the tough facade. Disney definitely made their Mary Poppins character much sweeter and sugarier, but that has created its own kind of magic in our hearts.