Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: 7 Real People Rick Dalton & Cliff Booth Were Based On

This entry is a fun one because as well as being a clear inspiration for the Rick Dalton character, Steve McQueen is also a character in the movie. The rival who pips Dalton to the coveted Hilts role in The Great Escape, the one that got away as far as the snubbed TV actor is concerned. The audience is treated to clips from an alternate universe, one in which Dalton plays Hilts and presumably goes from strength to strength after his star-making turn.

McQueen doesn't require a big introduction. He was one of the best actors of his generation, an icon of the era who was famous for being cool. Like Dalton, he started out on TV and showed his leading-man chops over 93 episodes as Josh Randall in Wanted Dead or Alive, a gleefully obvious inspiration for Bounty Law; Tarantino uses the same style of title cards to make the show's intro nearly identical.

The difference between actors like Dalton and McQueen is that the latter made the breakthrough that the others couldn't. McQueen is like a Dalton 2.0.