Cult figure
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- See cult (disambiguation) for more meanings of the term "cult".
A cult figure or cult icon is a person who attracts the attention of a small band of aficionados. Some cult figures are well-known to the general public (Andy Warhol, Christopher Walken) while others are mostly obscure outside of a subculture (Ed Wood Jr., Vanessa Duriès).
In most of the cases, the work of a cult figure is unusual or exists outside current trends in his or her field. Thus, his or her appeal is limited to only a small group.
Although most cult figures are artists and entertainers who are genuinely recognized for their talent, others gain a following mostly for strange behavior (Wesley Willis, Ellen Feiss) or particularly memorable 15 minutes of fame (William Hung, Clara Peller)
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[edit] Who is a cult figure?
The term cult figure is difficult to define and different people may or may not qualify as cult figures by different standards.
The term usually refers to someone who is admired by a small group of fans and not by the general public or at least not for the same reasons he or she is admired by the general public. For example, Christopher Walken and Crispin Glover are both known for their acting abilities to the general public but to their cult followings, Walken is better known for his recognizable mannerisms and Glover for his strange behavior.
The term usually does not refer to a person who is both a widely celebrated figure in culture at large and the object of the acute interest of many dedicated fans, such as Johnny Cash, J.D. Salinger or George Lucas. The term also usually does not refer to a widely significant figure who is particularly important to a subculture, such as Madonna in gay culture or John Lennon in hippie and neo-hippie culture.
In some cases, a cult following is so large or so infamous that the figure becomes a household name. Examples include The Grateful Dead, Bruce Lee and Elvira. Still these people are usually considered cult figures because a relatively small group of fans are responsible for their fame.
[edit] Selected list of cult figures
[edit] Actors and actresses
- André the Giant - 7 foot, 3 inch actor and professional wrestler dubbed the "eighth wonder of the world," also the inspiration of the street art campaign André the Giant Has a Posse
- Bruce Campbell - self-proclaimed B-movie actor, known for dropping memorable one-liners as Ash in the comedy/horror film The Evil Dead and its sequels
- Mara Corday - Playboy magazine centerfold and Earl Carroll showgirl who became a "B-movie" actress in the 1950s
- Zbigniew Cybulski - actor known as the "Polish James Dean"
- Divine - drag queen who starred in many underground films of John Waters
- Crispin Glover - Actor, director and general renaissance man known for his eccentric behavior
- Bruce Lee - Slim, well-toned Chinese American actor and martial artist who has become the most recognizable icon of martial arts films
- Traci Lords - Infamous underage porn star who went on to act in several non-pornographic cult films
- Chuck Norris - martial artist and actor who starred in the television series Walker, Texas Ranger and is the subject of an Internet meme attributing fantastic, often superhuman, feats and characteristics to the actor (See Chuck Norris facts).
- William Shatner - actor best known for playing the over-emotional Captain Kirk on the original Star Trek series and its film sequels. He is also known for his often mismanaged and bizarre attempts to advance his profile beyond his best-known role, including his much-satirized singing career
- Mr. T - Mohawked, jewelry-studded 1980s icon best known from the television series The A-Team and the film Rocky III, in which he said the ubiquitous catch phrase "I pity the fool." He also appeared in several kitschy educational videos in which he strangely kept-up his "tough guy" tone.
- Dyanne Thorne - actress known for playing the icecold Ilsa the She-Wolf in a series of women in prison films, currently an ordained minister
- Christopher Walken - Widely respected film actor known for his slow intonation, intense gaze and droll sense of humor, winner of Mutant Viewers' 2005 Cult Lifetime Achievement Award [1]
- Adam West - actor known for playing Batman in the campy 1960s television series and for his willingness to make odd meta-references to his best-known role and inability to escape its shadow, including his portrayal of “Mayor Adam West” on the animated series Family Guy and his "Catman" persona on The Fairly Odd Parents.
- Judy Garland - a huge icon amongst gay people so much that the stereotypical gay man is a huge fan of hers.
[edit] Directors
- Roger Corman - Prolific producer and director of offbeat, low-budget horror films, whose resourcefulness and budgeting have been widely studied by amateur filmmakers.
- David Lynch - Director who balances Hollywood ethos with artistic surrealism, deemed "Jimmy Stewart from Mars" by Mel Brooks
- Lloyd Kaufman - co-founder of Troma Entertainment and director of low-budget films known for their plentiful nudity, gore, violence, and black humor
- John Waters - Filmmaker known for his campy style, outrageous subject matters and edgy sense of humor; his films have been both complimented and derided as in bad taste.
- Ed Wood, Jr. - Prolific director of movies that have been deemed "z-grade." Wood was named the "the worst filmmaker of all time" by The Golden Turkey Awards although some movie buffs appreciate his sheer passion for filmmaking.
[edit] Singers and musicians
- Syd Barrett - Original Pink Floyd front man and psych folk artist known for his gleeful, childlike songs; strange behavior and eventual mental breakdown
- The Grateful Dead - Long-running, psychedelic rock band known for their improvisational live shows. They have become symbols of the hippie lifestyle, especially to those who have embraced it long after it was fashionable.
- Roky Erickson - Singer/songwriter known for his fervent, growling vocals and abrasive musical techniques as leader of The 13th Floor Elevators and as a solo artist, also known for his reclusive lifestyle and erratic behavior
- Kool Keith - Prolific rapper and hip-hop producer, known for his complex, stream-of-consciousness verbal flow, raunchy lyrics, multiple onstage personas, and eccentric behavior
- Lemmy Kilmister - bassist and singer of Motörhead
- William Hung - Chinese American college student who developed a cult following after he performed an off-key rendition of Ricky Martin’s "She Bangs" while auditioning for the television series American Idol.
- Jandek - Downbeat Texas-based singer-songwriter known for, until recently, his carefully kept autonomy and extreme mysteriousness
- Morrissey - Activist, poet and former lead singer of The Smiths, known for droll, sardonically humorous lyrics
- The Residents - Costumed, avant-garde quartet that has maintained complete anonymity for over two decades.
- John Stewart - genre-defying American songwriter, known for his work in folk, rock, alternative and country music
- Swans - Industrial rock band known for their bleak lyrics, diverse styles and for concerts so loud they caused audience members to vomit and the police to break stop their performances. Their style has been described as a "wall of noise" and "the most aggressive music on earth".
- Tiny Tim - Six-foot tall, red-haired, falsetto-voiced singer and ukulele-player, called “master of the disturbing.”
- Wesley Willis - 350 lb., six-foot-tall schizophrenic who recorded thousands of simplistic, repetitive and often obscene songs using the prerecorded backing music of his keyboards [2]
- Thom Yorke - Lead Singer of Radiohead
- Frank Zappa - Sardonic and offbeat guitarist, songwriter and composer. Although his music was often unconventional, Zappa is considered an extremely ambitious and versatile musician.
[edit] Writers
- Kathy Acker - Feminist punk writer known for her ambitious mixing of literary techniques and frank portrayals of sex, violence and American subcultures.
- Douglas Adams - author of the satirical science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Charles Bukowski - novelist and poet known for his tales of drinking, womanizing and loafing.
- William S. Burroughs - beatnik author known for the novel Naked Lunch and other hallucinary fiction that draws on his experiences as an opiate addict.
- Jack T. Chick - Christian Comic book author responsible for Chick Publications, which attacks evolution, the Roman Catholic Church, Paganism, Atheism, and others. Ironically, his cult following is often largest among these groups.
- Philip K. Dick - prolific science fiction author known for his reality-bending work. He has posthumously been called a genius.
- Vanessa Duriès - short-lived writer who recounted her experiences as a BDSM slave [3].
- Chuck Palahniuk - Transgressional author of Fight Club, Choke and other novels known for their protagonists’ anti-social behavior and dark sense of humor.
- Hunter S. Thompson - Journalist known for his edgy, hyperbolic "gonzo" style of writing in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and other books.
[edit] Television and radio personalities
- Art Bell, founder and host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM
- Dr. Demento - radio DJ known for his showcase of novelty songs and pop music parodies
- Elvira - Self-proclaimed "Mistress of the Dark" and host of a syndicated horror film television presentation
- Pee-wee Herman - Host of the children's television series Pee-wee's Playhouse, which appealed to adults for its campy undertones, double entendres, surreal atmosphere, and lavish production values.
[edit] Comedians
- Bill Hicks - Stand-up comedian known for his candid stories of substance abuse and harsh criticism of the American right
- Mitch Hedberg - Stand-up comedian known for his one-to-two sentence non sequiturs ("I’m against picketing but I don’t know how to show it")
- Andy Kaufman - Stand-up comedian and actor known for his seemingly innocuous persona, his unpredictable pranks on his audience and collaborators and his unconventional anti-humor, also appeared on the television series Taxi
[edit] Advertising people
- Ellen Feiss - teenage girl featured in a 2002 Apple Computer commercial, whose slurred speech and disoriented eyes provoked speculation that she was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol [4]
- Fred the Baker - sleepy-eyed Dunkin' Donuts mascot, known for the catch phrase "Time to make the donuts"
- Miss Cleo - Self-proclaimed psychic known for her late night infomercials, her aggressive spam mailing and doubts about her Jamaican heritage. [5]
- Clara Peller - Senior citizen known for uttering the catch phrase "Where's the beef?" in 1980s commercials for Wendy's fast-food restaurant. This lead to a popular novelty record.
[edit] Others
- Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf aka "Baghdad Bob" or "Comical Ali"- Iraqi Information Minister during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq known for his ridiculously false statements about the "defeat" of coalition forces. He became the subject of several satirical Web sites [6] [7] [8] and merchandizing in the United States and England
- Robert Crumb - Cartoonist who helped found the American underground comics movement
- Bobby Fischer - Chess champion, known for his extreme political views and erratic behavior
- Timothy Leary - Writer, psychologist and campaigner for the spiritual and therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs, coined 1960s-era catch phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out."
- Bettie Page - 1950s-era Model and pin-up girl known for her dark allure and bondage-themed pictorials
- Christer Pettersson - Swedish "outlaw", suspected for the killing of Prime Minister Olof Palme.
- Mark Roberts - British streaker who has successfully interrupted many high-profile sporting events [9].
- Andy Warhol - Pop artist known for his images of commercial products and celebrities, also a filmmaker and operator of the New York City underground culture center The Factory
- Steve Wozniak - Computer engineer famous for the co-founding of Apple Computer, creation of both the Apple I and Apple II and his numerous acts of philantropy and pranks.
