The writers of
Forbes Magazine recently released a list of the top
fifteen richest fictional characters. The listing appears in the September 13th
issue of the magazine and includes many of the financial heavyweights
of the fictional realm. The representatives cross all lines of mediums
including
film,
literature,
comic books and
cartoons,
television, and
legend.
Two entries comes from the medium of literature: Jay Gatsby of
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Willie Wonka from
Roald Dahl's Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as well as
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Gatsby is the central
character in Fitzgerald's novel which centers around Gatsby and his romance
with Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby's fortune was gained from bootlegging
and other shady practices. Wonka on the other hand made his huge
fortune off of his confectionary company. Wonka produced incredible marvels
in the area of sweets. Both of the characters were taken to the big
screen with Gatsby being played by Robert Redford and Wonka being
played by Gene Wilder.
Two of the richest charactes come from television. One of those who made
the list is Thurston Howell III, who along with his wife Lovey were
passangers on the ill-fated boat the S.S. Minnow. During a short
day cruise, the ship was caught in a storm and swept to deserted island
where Howell and his fellow passangers languished for years, unable
to escape. They appeared on the sit-com Gilligan's Island. The
other live action television character is an unscrupulous oil man from
Texas, whose family's exploits entranced audiences every Friday night
for years. J.R. Ewing of Dallas also appears in the list for the
money made from his oil ventures.
Three others on the list first made their appearances on the big screen
in live action movies:Auric Goldfinger, the title villain in the
James Bond film Goldfinger, Charles Foster Kane, title character
in Orson Wells' masterpiece Citizen Kane, and Gordon Gekko,
Wall Street financier from the 1980's movie Wall Street. Goldfinger
is known for his love of all things gold, while Kane made his fortune
in publishing. Gekko was a corporate raider and the poster child for
greed in the 1980's.
With the exception of one other member of the list, the rest of those that
made the list come from either comic books, comic strips or
animated films. The list includes Richie Rich from the comics of the
same name, Daddy Warbucks, guardian of Little Orphan Annie, and
Scrooge McDuck. Also on the list are Bruce Wayne (a.k.a. the Batman),
Superman's archnemesis Lex Luthor, owner of the Springfield nuclear
plant Charles Montgomery Burns, and Cruella De Vil from Disney's feature
101 Dalmatians. Thse characters make up the greatest part of listing.
The final member of the list and top entry is Santa Claus. Though
not initally thought of as a rich person, Kris Kringle obviously is
exceedingly wealthy considering his yearly, world-wide philanthropy and
that he employs nearly an army of elves in an inhospitable land north
of the Arctic Circle (and elves don't work cheap). Factor in shipping of raw materials, maintanence
on his North Pole facility, reindeer feed, and the computer systems
required to track the naughty vs. nice ratio of every person on the
planet and it is understandable that Santa Claus is at the top of the
list.