Famous people with autistic traits
Fictional, real, historical and contemporary celebrities
Only a person's close friends or relatives, or doctors, are
likely to be able to judge whether he or she can be diagnosed
with autism or Asperger's syndrome (AS). But it is illuminating
to learn of people with similar characteristics to ourselves,
especially when those people are successful or well-known. For
this reason, I have listed here some well-known people who have
shown some autistic or AS traits. Some may have autism or AS, in
their mild or severe forms. Others may be elsewhere on the
autistic continuum. And others listed may just be unusual
individuals.
I hope you appreciate this page. If you think other famous
people should be added, please e-mail
me at richardg_uk@yahoo.com including a
brief explanation of why you think they have autistic traits.
Please send any comments or suggested links to the same address.
Fictional characters
Television characters
- NEARLY NEW Alex
P Keaton, played by Michael J Fox in Family
Ties, USA 1982-1989
- Basil Fawlty, played by John Cleese in Fawlty
Towers, BBC 1975-1979
- Bert
(voiced by Frank Oz) in Sesame
Street, USA 1969-
- Cliff Clavin, played by John
Ratzenberger in Cheers,
USA 1982-1993
- Daria Morgendorffer (voiced by Tracy
Grandstaff) in Daria,
MTV cartoon USA 1997-
- Jim Dial, played by Charles Kimbrough in
Murphy
Brown, USA 1988-1998
- Lisa Simpson (voiced by Yeardley Smith)
and Moe (Moe Szyslak of Moe's Tavern,
voiced by Hank Azaria) in The
Simpsons cartoon, USA 1989-
- Martin
Miller ("Ben's little brother")
played by Matthew Buckley in Grange
Hill, Children's BBC UK 1978-
- Mr Bean, played by Rowan Atkinson in the
eponymous TV
series UK 1989- and film Bean
UK/USA 1997-
- Taz Tasmanian Devil (voiced by Jim
Cummings) in Taz-Mania,
USA cartoon 1991-1993
- Steven Quincy "Steve" Urkel /
Myrtle Urkel / Stephan Urquell, played by Jaleel White in
Family
Matters, USA 1989-1998
- Dr Victor Ehrlich and Dr Mark
Craig, played by Ed Begley Jr and William
Daniels, in Saint
Elsewhere, USA 1982-1988
TV Aliens/Extra-Terrestrials
- Mr Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek,
TV and films, USA 1966-
- Data and Reginald Barclay,
played by Brent Spiner and Dwight Schultz in Star Trek:
The Next Generation, USA 1987-1994
- Seven of Nine and The Doctor,
played by Jeri Ryan and Robert Picardo in Star Trek:
Voyager, USA 1995-
- The Doctor, The Daleks
and The Cybermen, from Dr Who,
BBC TV and films UK 1963-1989
- Mork, played by Robin Williams in Mork and
Mindy, USA 1978-1982
- Dick, Sally, Harry
and Tommy Solomon, played by John
Lithgow, Kristen Johnston, French Stewart and Joseph
Gordon-Levitt in 3rd Rock
from the Sun, USA 1996-
Film characters
- Andrew Martin the robot, played by Robin
Williams in Bicentennial
Man, USA 1999 from a story by Isaac Asimov (see below)
- Barry, played by Jack Black in High
Fidelity, USA 2000 (based on the book of the
same name by Nick Hornby, whose son
is autistic)
- Benjie, played by Oliver Conant in Summer of
'42, USA 1971
- Chance the Gardener ("Chauncy
Gardener"), played by Peter Sellers in Being
There, USA 1979
- Charly Gordon, played by Cliff Robertson
in Charly,
USA 1968; also known as Charlie Gordon,
played by Matthew Modine, in Flowers
for Algernon, USA 2000; based on the novel by Daniel Keyes
- Cody, played by Holliston Coleman in Bless the
Child, USA 2000
- Edward Scissorhands, played by Johnny
Depp in Edward
Scissorhands, USA 1990
- Herbie Stempel, played by John Turturro
in Quiz
Show, USA 1994
- "Joon" (Juniper Pearl), played
by Mary Stuart Masterson in Benny
& Joon, USA 1993
- Malcolm Hughes, played by Colin Friels
in Malcolm,
Australia 1986
- Melvin
Udall, obsessive-compulsive writer played by
Jack Nicholson in As Good
as it Gets, USA 1997
- Molly McKay, played by Elisabeth Shue in
Molly,
USA 1999
- "Noodles" (David Aaronson),
played by Robert De Niro in Once Upon
a Time in America, Italy/USA 1984
- "Powder" (Jeremy Reeves),
played by Sean Patrick Flanery in Powder,
USA 1995
- Raymond Babbitt, played by Dustin
Hoffman in Rain
Man, USA 1988
- Ricky Fitts, played by Wes Bentley in American
Beauty, USA 1999
- Simon Lynch, "nine-year-old
autistic boy", played by Miko Hughes in Mercury
Rising, USA 1998
- Thomas Newton, played by David Bowie in The Man
Who Fell to Earth, UK 1976
- Victor, played by Jean-Pierre Cargol in L'Enfant
Sauvage, directed by François Truffaut,
France 1969 (based on the true
story of "the wild boy of Aveyron"; see
also Genie, below)
- William Forrester, played by Sean
Connery in Finding
Forrester, UK/USA 2000
Cartoon characters
- Calvin
of Calvin and Hobbes, created by Bill
Watterson, US
- Dilbert,
engineer, created by Scott Adams, US
- Mr
Logic, literalist character from the
adult British comic Viz,
inspired by Steve
Donald (brother of the comic's creators)
- Gerald McBoing-Boing, created by "Dr Seuss"
(Theodore Seuss Geisel), US books, films and TV
Literary and stage characters
- Alexandre Luzhin of The Luzhin
Defence by Vladimir
Nabokov, Russia/USA/Europe 1899-1977; played by John
Turturro in the 2000 film
- Bartleby of Bartleby,
the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street, a short
story by Herman Melville, USA 1819-1891
- Billy Bibbit of One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest by Ken
Kesey, USA 1935-; played by Brad Dourif in the 1975 film
- Frankenstein's Monster from Frankenstein,
much-filmed book by Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley, England 1797-1851
- Geoffrey Firmin of Under the
Volcano by Malcolm
Lowry, played by Albert Finney in the subsequent film
- Professor Henry Higgins, the linguist in
Pygmalion,
a play by George Bernard Shaw (see below), staged and filmed
as the musical My Fair
Lady
- Monsieur Hercule Poirot, Belgian private
detective, from the books of Agatha
Christie, England 1890-1976
- Ignatius Reilly of A
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
- Jeremy Clockson of Thief
of Time by Terry
Pratchett
- Mary Bennet, Mr Bennet
and Mr Collins from Pride
and Prejudice by Jane Austen (see below)
- Phileas Fogg from Around the
World in Eighty Days by Jules
Verne, France 1828-1905
- Sherlock
Holmes of the detective stories by English-Scottish
author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930, who himself may
have had some autistic traits
Characters from children's literature
- Catweazle
the wizard, from children's stories by Richard Carpenter,
played by Geoffrey Bayldon in the UK TV series
- UPDATED Pippi
Longstocking or Pippi
Langstrump, from the children's stories written
by Astrid
Lindgren, Sweden 1907-2002
Musical characters
Fabled characters
Historical famous people
- Jane
Austen, 1775-1817, English novelist,
author of Pride and Prejudice (see above)
- Béla Bartók,
1881-1945, Hungarian composer
- Ludwig
van Beethoven, 1770-1827, German/Viennese
composer
- AMENDED Alexander Graham Bell,
1847-1922, Scottish/Canadian/American inventor of the
telephone
- Anton Bruckner,
1824-1896, Austrian composer
- Henry
Cavendish, 1731-1810, English/French
scientist, discovered the composition of air and water
- Emily
Dickinson, 1830-1886, US poet
- Thomas
Edison, 1847-1931, US inventor
- Albert
Einstein, 1879-1955, German/American
theoretical physicist
- Henry
Ford, 1863-1947, US industrialist
- Kaspar
Hauser, c1812-1833, German
foundling, portrayed in a film by
Werner Herzog
- Oliver
Heaviside, 1850-1925, English physicist
- Thomas Jefferson,
1743-1826, US politician
- NEW Carl
Jung, 1875-1961, Swiss psychoanalyst
- Franz
Kafka, 1883-1924, Czech writer
- Wasily
Kandinsky, 1866-1944, Russian/French
painter
- H P Lovecraft,
1890-1937, US writer
- Ludwig
II, 1845-1886, King of Bavaria
- Charles
Rennie Mackintosh, 1868-1928,
Scottish architect and designer
- NEW Gustav
Mahler, 1860-1911, Czech/Austrian
composer
- Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791, Austrian
composer
- Isaac Newton,
1642-1727, English mathematician and physicist
- Friedrich
Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German
philosopher
- Bertrand
Russell, 1872-1970, British logician
- George
Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish
playwright, writer of Pygmalion (see above), critic
and Socialist
- Richard Strauss,
1864-1949, German composer
- Nikola Tesla,
1856-1943, Serbian/American scientist, engineer, inventor
of electric motors
- Henry Thoreau,
1817-1862, US writer
- Alan Turing,
1912-1954, English mathematician, computer scientist and
cryptographer
- Mark Twain,
1835-1910, US humorist
- Vincent Van
Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch painter
- Ludwig
Wittgenstein, 1889-1951, Viennese/English
logician and philosopher
Historical people prominent in the late twentieth century (died
after 1975)
- Isaac
Asimov, 1920-1992, Russian/US writer
on science and of science fiction, author of Bicentennial
Man (see above)
- Hans
Asperger, 1906-1980, Austrian
paediatric doctor after whom Asperger's Syndrom is named
- John
Denver, 1943-1997, US musician
- Glenn Gould,
1932-1982, Canadian pianist
- Jim Henson,
1936-1990, creator of the Muppets, US puppeteer, writer,
producer, director, composer
- Alfred Hitchcock,
1899-1980, English/American film director
- NEARLY NEW Howard
Hughes, 1905-1976, US billionaire
- Andy Kaufman,
1949-1984, US comedian, subject of the film Man on
the Moon
- L
S Lowry, 1887-1976, English painter
of "matchstick men"
- Charles
Schulz, 1922-2000, US cartoonist and
creator of Peanuts and Charlie Brown
- Andy Warhol,
1928-1987, US artist
Contemporary famous people
- Woody Allen,
1935-, US comedian, actor, writer, director, producer,
jazz clarinettist
- Tony
Benn, 1925-, English Labour
politician
- Bob Dylan,
1941-, US singer-songwriter
- Joseph Erber,
1985-, young English composer/musician who has Asperger's
Syndrome, subject of a BBC TV documentary
- Bobby Fischer,
1943-, US chess champion
- Bill Gates,
1955-, US global monopolist
- Genie,
1957-?, US "wild
child" (see also L'Enfant Sauvage,
Victor, above)
- Crispin
Glover, 1964-, US actor
- Al
Gore, 1948-, former US Vice
President and presidential candidate
- Jeff
Greenfield, 1943-, US political
analyst/speechwriter, a political wonk
- David
Helfgott, 1947-, Australian pianist,
subject of the film Shine
- Michael
Jackson, 1958-, US singer
- Garrison
Keillor, 1942-, US writer, humorist
and host of Prairie Home Companion
- Kevin
Mitnick, 1963-, US "hacker"
- John
Motson, 1945-, English sports
commentator
- NEW John
Nash, 1928-, US mathematician (portrayed
by Russell Crowe in A
Beautiful Mind, USA 2001)
- Keith
Olbermann, 1959-, US sportscaster
- Michael Palin,
1943-, English comedian and presenter
- Keanu
Reeves, 1964-, Lebanese/Canadian/US
actor
- Oliver Sacks,
1933-, UK/US neurologist, author of The Man
Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Awakenings
- James
Taylor, 1948-, US singer/songwriter
Writers on autism
- Gunilla
Gerland, 1963-, Swedish
- Temple
Grandin, 1947-, US
- Wendy Lawson,
1952-, English/Australian
- Edgar
Schneider, 1932-, US
- Donna Williams,
1963-, Australian/English
Remember, if you think other famous people should be added to
this page, e-mail
me at richardg_uk@yahoo.com including a
brief explanation of why you think they have autistic traits. You
can send comments or suggested links to the same address.
The information on this page was provided by visitors to this
site and by visitors to #asperger, the internet
relay chat channel for people with autism or asperger's. For
information about the channel, please see my #asperger web page.
Many thanks to all those who have contributed to this page.
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Updated 2002-01-29