Westerns have always been a popular genre, both in literature and films. Since they're traditionally set in the Wild West and usually feature exciting gun battles, damsels in distress, train and bank robberies, outlaws, and bandits, they usually make for intriguing plots.
Moreover, it's often the characters from these stories that garner the most intrigue. The fact that most of them really existed and truly did have the fearsome reputations depicted only adds to their mystique. Whether your favorite be a lawman or outlaw, gunslinger, or a strong female protagonist, famous Western characters generally come in all shapes and forms. With that in mind, here's a look at some of the most iconic Western characters over the ages and the famous movies that depicted them best.
Updated on August 5, 2023, by Nikole Finger: This article has been updated with additional content to keep the discussion fresh and relevant with even more information and new entries.
25 Butch Cassidy
Butch Cassidy's real name was Robert LeRoy Parker. While he was well-known as a fearsome gunslinger, he was just as infamous for being an outlaw and bank robber. He gained his nickname from working as a butcher's apprentice and was known to hang out with another famous cowboy, Harry Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid. He was reputedly killed by soldiers after escaping to South America.
While he's featured in many Western films over the years, his most famous portrayal was in the 1969 movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidwhere he was played by Paul Newman. While the film wasn't that well received critically at the time, it was a massive commercial success and probably remains the most famous depiction of Cassidy to date.
24 Calamity Jane
Martha Jane Canary had a fearsome reputation as a frontierswoman, a gun-slinging female sharpshooter, a storyteller, and someone who could drink most men under the table. Better known in history as Calamity Jane, she was also reputed to be acquainted with another famous gunslinger — Wild Bill Hickok. As an early proponent of feminism, she was also well known for wearing men's clothes and being able to hold her own against the toughest of them.
She's also had multiple depictions in films, including movies that were specifically about her such as 2014's Calamity Jane: Wild West Jane. However, her most famous depiction was the part she played in Wild Bill,where Ellen Barkin played Calamity Jane alongside Jeff Bridges as Wild Bill Hickok.
23 Chris Adams
Although he may not be as real as some of the other entries on this list, Chris Adams (Yul Brynner) from The Magnificent Seven is a charming character. He is the heart and soul of the group of seven cowboys that come together to protect a small town from criminals. He exemplifies why the cowboy with a heart of gold is such a popular character archetype.
Adams comes to genuinely care for the people he protects, and his duty to protect them is no longer just a job. The character is so popular that the story has been told multiple times. In fact, The Magnificent Seven wasn't quite the first time he was seen. The film was based on another by the name Seven Samurai, proving these characters transcend across cultures.
22 Bass Reeves
Bass Reeves was born a slave but against formidable odds, rose to become a famous cowboy. Later, he also became the first Black Deputy in the Deep South. He held an impeccable record as a US Marshall and was reputed to have made over 3000 arrests, often surviving gun battles and killing many of his fugitives in self-defense.
Some stories state that he escaped during the Civil War and lived with Native Americans for a time. He's believed to be the original Lone Ranger, but the character was later whitewashed, so Reeves's synonymity with the character has since been lost. While he's appeared in some major films (such as Hell on the Border) and documentaries, his most prominent on-screen depiction may yet be in the works, since a spinoff of the popular Western show Yellowstone is set to focus on Reeves' story.
21 Belle Starr
Belle Starr was as feisty and strong a female character as there's likely ever been. She was reputed to be a tough-as-nails bandit who was part of an outlaw unit known as the Younger Gang - this, at a time when most women her age were usually working in brothels or performing in shows.
For her reputation, Starr was aptly known as The Bandit Queen. She was convicted of horse theft (the equivalent of Grand Theft Auto back then) and killed in a shootout. Her most famous depiction in film was in the 1941 movie, Belle Starr where she was played by the stunningly beautiful Gene Tierney.
20 Tiburcio Vasquez
Like Native Americans, traditional Westerns often also depicted Mexicans in roles as robbers, murderers, or generally evil characters. Unfortunately, in the case of Tiburcio Vasquez, this true-life famous Mexican cowboy from the Wild West did fit that category.
He was known as a fierce Bandido who, together with his posse, was known to rob businesses and sack towns. He was eventually arrested and executed. Despite his infamous reputation, there have since been attempts to have his story retold from the point of view of him being a victim of injustice himself. He hasn't yet been featured in any major movies, but there was an entire episode dedicated to him in the show, Stories of the Century.
19 Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett was often known as "The King of the Wild Frontier," and is probably best known for his role in the iconic Battle of the Alamo. Crockett was a politician and frontiersman who pushed back against President Andrew Jackson's policies and was duly defeated in his last election as a result.
He famously quipped in The Louisville Journal, "I told the people of my district that I would serve them as faithfully as I had done; but if not, they might go to hell, and I would go to Texas." Crockett died at the Alamo, and his life and that battle are perhaps most famously depicted on screen by John Wayne in the 1960 film The Alamo (which Wayne also directed).
18 The Sundance Kid
Born Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, this famous train and bank robber was known for his famous association with Butch Cassidy. As a part of Cassidy's gang, the pair pulled off one of the longest reigns of successful robberies in history.
While The Sundance Kid also fled to South America, his death during a shootout isn't confirmed but is widely believed to have been his demise. There's been plenty of depictions of him in pop culture, but he was most famously played by Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid — leading to Redford naming the famous Sundance Film Festival after him.
17 Stagecoach Mary
When railroads became popular for transporting cattle and livestock, many people ended up as railroad workers of some sort. As the first black female mail carrier, Mary Fields (also known as Stagecoach Mary) built up a fearsome reputation.
Born into slavery, by the time of her death she was a beloved and respected member of her town and given one of the largest funerals the town had ever known. She was known to carry around a shotgun and was not a person to trifle with. Her most famous recent movie depiction was in Netflix's The Harder They Fall, where she was played by Zazie Beetz.
16 Billy the Kid
Henry McCarty was known as the outlaw and famous gunfighter, Billy the Kid. His exploits gained him a reputation for killing more than 20 men, but he was killed at the age of 21. He spent much time as an outlaw and fugitive before finally being recaptured and killed.
He's featured in too many movies, series, documentaries, and even comic books to mention. As a legendary figure, followers of mainstream pop culture may know him best as the character played by Emilio Estevez in the 1988 film, Young Guns, but the best performance of the character (in the best film which features him) is probably Sam Peckinpah's melancholy masterpiece, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
15 Annie Oakley
As a famous sharpshooter, Annie Oakley was a feature in Buffalo Bill's famous Wild West shows. She learned to hunt and forage from a young age to provide for her family. She was known to be able to shoot a cigar out of a man's mouth and performed for heads of state and royalty.
Played by the beautiful actress and model, Barbara Stanwyck, she featured in the 1935 film Annie Oakley, which was a depiction of her life. The film was a hit at the box office and with critics as it was a striking rendition of a truly remarkable woman.
14 Laura Bullion (The Thorny Rose)
Another member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch Gang, Laura Bullion (also known as The Thorny Rose) was an outlaw and one tough woman. Born in 1876, she went on to live until 1961 when she died at the age of 88. For a while, she was known to be romantically involved with Ben Kilpatrick, another infamous outlaw who was also known as The Tall Texan.
Her exploits included prostitution, forgery, and train robbery, for which she was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. She later moved away from Texas and assumed many identities and survived by working odd jobs. Due to the true details of her life with The Wild Bunch being sketchy, there are yet to be any mainstream movie representations of her, and she was omitted from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. There are, however, a few mentions of her in documentaries and amateur videos.
13 Bill Pickett
The son of a former slave, William Pickett was born to a part African American, part Cherokee family. He later became a famous cowboy, rodeo star, and performer. As a part of the 101 Wild West Show he performed alongside the likes of Buffalo Bill and was known (controversially now) as "The Dusky Demon."
He now has a statue of himself in Texas, performing his famous "bulldogging" maneuver. He was featured in the Netflix film The Harder They Fall alongside other famous non-white figures from the Wild West and was played by Edi Gathegi.
12 Ben Kilpatrick (The Tall Texan)
A known lover of Laura Bullion and a member of The Wild Bunch, Ben Kilpatrick was an outlaw with a harsh reputation for violence. With Bullion, he also became acquainted with the gang through a man named Bill Carver. He was eventually arrested for robbery and served a decade in prison.
Upon his release, he returned to a life of crime and was killed by a hostage during a train robbery. In the American TV series Tales of Wells Fargo, Kilpatrick had an entire episode dedicated to him that was aptly titled, "The Tall Texan."
11 The Man with No Name
Clint Eastwood played the Man with No Name in the film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. While his character is another fictional one, he does represent an iconic type of character: the mysterious gunslinger.
Even in science fiction films like Star Wars, this gunslinger character type appears, like with Cad Bane and similar bounty hunters. It is hard to talk about Western movies without mentioning The Man with No Name.
10 Tom Ketchum
Tom Ketchum was a famous cowboy who later became an outlaw. He was caught and executed in 1901, although the entire thing was a huge fiasco. After trying to hang him, the rope was too long, and he had to later be decapitated to complete his execution.
He was implicated in some famous robberies and murders and was a known associate of famous outlaw gangs, including Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch Gang. He was featured in an episode of the show, Stories of the Century, and was later played by Howard Duff in a 1957 film called Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado.
9 Doc Holliday
John Henry Holliday was a famous gunfighter, dentist, and gambler better known as Doc Holliday. He was a close friend and associate of the famous Wyatt Earp and earned a reputation as a survivor of the famous Gunfight at the O.K Corral where he and Earp killed three cowboys who had been causing trouble for a while.
As an occasional deputy, his penchant for helping lawmen such as Earp gained him a respected reputation as a gunfighter. He's appeared in multiple movies, the best of which may be John Ford's filmMy Darling Clementine, but was perhaps most famously played by Val Kilmer in Tombstone.
8 The Outlaw Josey Wales
Another Clint Eastwood character, Josey Wales represents yet another archetype from Western movies, but he is nothing like the Man with No Name. In The Outlaw Losey Wales, Wales starts out as a farmer whose family gets caught in the cross-hairs of the Civil War, and they unfortunately are killed by the Union. Full of sorrow and despair, he joins the Confederates and becomes a fierce fighter. Of course, they lost the war, and Wales is left on the run, trying to make a life of what little he has left.
Wales is an imperfect character, which makes his journey all the more intriguing. He is a gunslinger hunting down justice, but unlike many other characters that fit this troupe, he doesn't always keep up the morals of Western heroes.
7 The Lone Ranger
He's probably one of the most famous and popular characters from Westerns. However, as intriguing as The Lone Ranger is, he's also entirely fictional. Known as a former Texas Ranger who wears a mask and is always accompanied by his faithful Native American sidekick Tonto, the Ranger usually fights for justice and takes on outlaws.
There have been many depictions of him in films over the years, and Clayton Moore played him in the 1950s TV series, The Lone Ranger. Most recently, and now probably most famously, the 2013 film The Lone Rangersaw him played by Armie Hammer. Hammer was, however, somewhat overshadowed by Johnny Depp in the film, who played Tonto.
6 Tonto
As mentioned previously, Tonto is one half of an iconic duo. While he often gets overshadowed by the Lone Ranger, the most recent film about them gave Tonto the credit and screen time he deserves.
Not only was he played by a skilled actor, but great care went into portraying the culture of his Native American tribe well. It is unfortunate that the "Indians" part of "cowboys and Indians" often gets the short end of the stick, but this is a great example of a positive and respectable representation within the Western genre.