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100 Greatest Movie Heroes

Movie images collage

Criteria: Hero - One who shows great courage, valor, bravery, self sacrifice, in the face of danger or injustice, and who is admired for their noble qualities and achievements. These Movie characters best demonstrate the 'heroic' nature.

Last Updated: 2017-10-01
Newly added names are in  Red 
Greatest Movie Heroes
 Character (Actor) - Movie Title (Year)
  1. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) - To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
  2. James Bond (Sean Connery) - Dr. No (1962)
  3. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) - Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
  4. Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) - Casablanca (1942)
  5. Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) - Schindler's List (1993)
  6. T. E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) - Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
  7. Will Kane (Gary Cooper) - High Noon (1952)
  8. George Bailey (James Stewart) - It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
  9. Moses (Charlton Heston) - The Ten Commandments (1956)
10. Mahatma Gandhi (Ben Kingsley) - Gandhi (1982)
11. Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) - Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
12. Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) - On The Waterfront (1954)
13. Shane (Alan Ladd) - Shane (1953)
14. Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) - Rocky (1976)
15. Juror #8/Mr. Davis) (Henry Fonda) - 12 Angry Men (1957)
16. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) - Aliens (1986)
17. Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) - The Grapes Of Wrath (1940)
18. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) - Star Wars (1977)
19. Norma Rae Webster (Sally Field) - Norma Rae (1979)
20. Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) - Spartacus (1960)
21. Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) - The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938)
22. Alvin C. York (Gary Cooper) - Sergeant York (1941)
23. Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) - In The Heat Of The Night (1967)
24. Joan of Arc (Ingrid Bergman) - Joan of Arc (1948)
25. Detective Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) - Dirty Harry (1971)
26. Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) - The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
27. William Wallace (Mel Gibson) - Braveheart (1995)
28. Superman/Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) - Superman (1978)
29. Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) - Erin Brockovich (2000)
30. Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) - Die Hard (1988)
31. Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft) - The Miracle Worker (1962)
32. Henry "Lou" Gehrig (Gary Cooper) - The Pride Of The Yankees (1942)
33. Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein (Robert Redford/Dustin Hoffman) - All The President's Men (1976)
34. Lucas "Luke" Jackson (Paul Newman) - Cool Hand Luke (1967)
35. Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) - The Big Sleep (1946)
36. Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn (John Wayne) - True Grit (1969)
37. Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi (Alec Guinness) - Star Wars (1977)
38. Father Edward J. Flanagan (Spencer Tracy) - Boys Town (1938)
39. The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) - City Lights (1931)
40. Lassie (Pal) - Lassie Come Home (1943)
41. General George Patton (George C. Scott) - Patton (1970)
42. Mr. Chips (Arthur Chipping) (Robert Donat) - Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
43. Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep) - Silkwood (1983)
44. Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) - Serpico (1973)
45. Zorro (Don Diego De Vega) (Tyrone Power) - The Mark Of Zorro (1940)
46. Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) - Ben-Hur (1959)
47. Batman/Bruce Wayne) (Michael Keaton) - Batman (1989)
48. Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) - Tarzan The Ape Man (1932)
49. Emiliano Zapata (Marlon Brando) - Viva Zapata! (1952)
50. T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) - Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
51. Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) - The French Connection (1971)
52. Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) - Fargo (1996)
53. Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) - The Departed (2006)
54. Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) - The Natural (1984)
55. Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) - Saving Private Ryan (1998)
56. Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) - Dead Man Walking (1995)
57. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) - Star Wars (1977)
58. Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) - Forrest Gump (1994)
59. Stanley Kowalsky (Marlon Brando) - A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
60. Abraham Lincoln (Henry Fonda) - Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
61. Lt. John W. Dunbar (Kevin Costner) - Dances With Wolves (1990)
62. Private Witt (James Caviezel) - The Thin Red Line (1998)
63. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) - Hotel Rwanda (2004)
64. Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) - Philadelphia (1993)
65. Wilm Hosenfeld (Thomas Kretschmann) - The Pianist (2002)
66. Malcom X/Malcom Little) (Denzel Washington) - Malcolm X (1992)
67. Steve Biko (Denzel Washington) - Cry Freedom (1987)
68. Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis) - The Last Of The Mohicans (1992)
69. John Book (Harrison Ford) - Witness (1985)
70. Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) - The Untouchables (1987)
71. General Maximus Decimus Meridus (Russell Crowe) - Gladiator (2000)
72. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) - Mission: Impossible (1996)
73. Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
74. Daniel Lai Iijsso (Ralph Macchio) - The Karate Kid (1984)
75. Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) - Apollo 13 (1995)
76. Col. Davy Crockett (John Wayne) - The Alamo (1960)
77. Coach Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) - Glory Road (2006)
78. Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) - Born On The Fourth Of July (1989)
79. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
80. Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) - Speed (1994)
81. Dr. Richard Kimbel (Harrison Ford) - The Fugitive (1993)
82. Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) - The Insider (1999)
83. Sanjuro Kuwabatake (Toshiro Mifune) - Yojimbo (1961)
84. Trip (Denzel Washington) - Glory (1989)
85. Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) - JFK (1991)
86. Neo (Keanu Reeves) - The Matrix (1999)
87. Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) - Iron Man (2008) / Iron Man 2 (2010)
88. Rudy Ruettiger (Sean Astin) - Rudy (1993)
89. Captain Davenport (Howard E. Rollins, Jr.) - A Soldiers's Story (1984)
90. Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) - The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
91. Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) - Philadelphia (1993)
92. John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) - Shaft (1971)
93. Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) - Sully (2016)
94. William Munny (Clint Eastwood) - Unforgiven (1992)
95. Liu Jian (Jet Li) - Kiss of the Dragon (2001)
96. Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) - The Color Purple (1985)
97. Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
98. Rebecca Morgan (Cicely Tyson) - Sounder (1972)
99. Spider-Man (Toby Maguire) - Spider-Man 2 (2004)
100. John J. Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) - Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

23 More Worth Mentioning
101. Captain America / Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) - Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
102. "Crazy" Joe Clark (Morgan Freeman) - Lean On Me (1989)
103. Stephen 'Bull' McCaffrey (Kurt Russell) - Backdraft (1991)
104. D'Artagnan (Douglas Fairbanks) - The Three Musketeers (1921)
105. Dian Fossey (Sigourney Weaver) - Gorillas In The Mist (1988)
106. Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) - Mad Max (1979)
107. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) - The Bourne Identity (2002)
108. Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) - The Terminator (1984)
109. Todd Beamer (David Alan Basche) - United 93 (2006)
110. Buford Pusser (Joe Don Baker) - Walking Tall (1973)
111. Bernard 'Bernie' Laplante (Dustin Hoffman) - Hero (1992)
112. Michael (Robert De Niro) - The Deer Hunter (1978)
113. Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) - Death Wish (1974)
114. Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) - Predator (1987)
115. Sir Percy Blakeney (Leslie Howard) - The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)
116. Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) - Top Gun (1986)
117. Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow) - The Exorcist (1973)
118. Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin) - Billy Jack (1971)
119. Sydney Carton (Ronald Colman) - A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
120. Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) - Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2003)
121. Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) - The NeverEnding Story (1984)
122. Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) - Independence Day (1996)
123. Casey Ryback (Steven Seagal) - Under Siege (1992)

Honorable Mentions
The Dirty Dozen (Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes,
       Trini Lopez, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Clint Walker, Ben Carruthers,
       Tom Busby, Stuart Cooper, Colin Maitland) - The Dirty Dozen (1967)
The Fellowship (Eiljah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd)
        - Lord Of The Rings: Two Towers (2002)
The Three Musketeers (Van Heflin, Gig Young, Robert Coote) - The Three Musketeers (1948)

Scene from the movie To Kill A Mockingbird with Gregory Peck
Dr. No movie poster
Raiders Of The Lost Ark poster
Scene from the movie Casablanca
Scene from the movie Schindler's List
Peter O'Toole as Lawrence Of Arabia
Gary Cooper in High Noon
Charlton Heston as Moses from the movie The Ten Commandments
Sylvester Stallone as Rocky



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