John Talbot (fiction)

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Sir John Talbot is a fictional character who appears in the 1941 Universal film The Wolf Man. He was played by Claude Rains. For the historical Sir John Talbot portrayed by Shakespeare, see John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury.

Sir John was the father of Larry Talbot and John Talbot, Jr. He was also lord of Talbot Castle and patriarch of the town of Llanwelly. Sir John took his role as the town patriarch very seriously, and was extremely proud of the Talbot family heritage. Even though he was only in his late thirties (or perhaps his early forties), he began grooming his oldest son, John, Jr., fairly early to take over as the lord of Talbot Castle. When John, Jr., was killed in a freak accident while hunting, Sir John called the younger of his two sons, Larry, back from America, as he was next in line to inherit the family fortune and the manor.

A very stern but loving father, Sir John welcomed his estranged (and thoroughly Americanized) son back home with open arms, eager for the two of them to make up for lost time through their shared hobby of fiddling with telescopes. Unfortunately, after the death of local girl Jenny Williams, Sir John noticed that Larry was acting strangely. Jenny had been killed by a werewolf, formerly a gypsy named Bela, who had also bitten Larry. Larry eventually told this to his father and Dr. Lloyd, but Sir John, who was far from being supersitious, chose instead to go along with Lloyd's theory, that this werewolf nonsense was all in Larry's mind.

Regardless, on the night that he joined Dr. Lloyd, police captain Paul Montford, and gamekeeper Frank Andrews on the hunt for what they all believed to be an ordinary wolf, Sir John took Larry's advice and brought his son's silver-handled cane along for protection. This ended up saving his life, as he encountered the Wolf Man, stopping it before it could kill Gwen Conliffe.

Clubbing the snarling beast to the ground with the cane, Sir John was amazed when the silver of the handle did the trick and succeeded where ordinary bullets from the hunting party's guns had failed. He was even more surprised mere moments later, when the Wolf Man reverted to Larry in death. Shocked and grief-stricken at having killed his own son, Sir John died a year afterward, and it is implied he committed suicide.