“Orphans always make the best recruits.”
M (Judi Dench), Skyfall
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the on-screen debut of Agent 007 (Sean Connery in Dr. No), and those six words above spoken by actress Judi Dench pack many layers of meaning. Back in ’09 I wrote the post Orphan Characters (Tip# 31) and looked at a long list of film characters who are orphans.
“When a hero starts his life as an orphan, it is to show he has nothing to lose. He is unattached and unencumbered by family ties and social obligations, so he is usually portrayed as an orphan to indicate that he is not saddled with the normal attachments the rest of us have. This sense of not belonging is a part of all of us.”
Michael Chase Walker
Power Screenwriting
Last night I found a list on Wikipedia of 380 orphan characters in film, theater, novels, and comic books. Here are some memorable names that jumped out at me:
Little Orphan Annie
Batman
Cinderella
Vito Corleone
Jane Eyre
Huckleberry Finn
Lone Ranger
Pollyanna
Tom Sawyer
Snow White
Spiderman
Tarzan
Who’s your favorite orphan character?
Always fond of Twain but Huck thought his Pap was still alive until the end, so he technically wasn’t an orphan until the very end of the novel. Also like Tarzan and the Lone Ranger (curious about the new version and why Johnny Depp wears a bird on his head as Tonto).