3. Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver)
Robert De Niro is well-known for his full immersion into many roles. He is able to get into the body and mind of his characters, a desirable acting talent that can only be accentuated even further if said character is based on actual person. This is something De Niro has done throughout his career
Raging Bull,
Goodfellas,
Casino all celebrated performances based on real people. But what most people do not know is that one of De Niros most celebrated roles, Travis Bickle in
Taxi Driver, is also based on a real person. According to writer Paul Schrader and De Niro himself, Bickle was based in large part on Arthur Bremer. Like Bickle, Bremer was a loner who attempted to assassinate a U.S. Presidential candidate (Bickle missed his chance with the fictional Palantine, while Bremer shot and paralyzed former Alabama Governor Richard Wallace). Other similarities of note: Bremer also kept a long-winded diary of his delusional ramblings (which was later published as
An Assassins Diary in 1973), plus he also had brief failed relationship with a pretty young woman just before the assassination attempt during which he embarrassed himself numerous times with his anti-social/aggressive/stalking behavior. Bremer, however, did not befriend an underage prostitute, kill her pimp, or end up a hero. He served 35 years of a 63 year sentence and was paroled in 2007. In a weird twist, the film itself, served as inspiration for John Hinckley Jr., who became obsessed with the films other star, a young Jodie Foster, and later attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan (and with a Bickle-inpsired Mohawk no less).