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100 Most Memorable Film Characters Of All Time: Nominations 81 thru 100

© Jason O'Brien

About a week ago, the American Film Institute came out with their latest summer 100 Years listing of film history. This time, they profiled and selected the 50 greatest heroes and the 50 greatest villains of all time. Inspired by this list, (and because I can't pass by the opportunity to always provide my own summertime categorization of film through another list), I've decided to simply concentrate on memorable characters, regardless of whether they were heroes or villains, and over the next six articles, present my list of the 100 Most Memorable Film Characters Of All Time. This one took quite a bit of work, not to come up with 100 memorable characters (that was easy) ... but to rank them in order as the most memorable of all time.

My criteria for selecting what makes a memorable film character for this list is typically a character who is remembered long after the film is over, or is a character so unique that they exist beyond the machinations of the story. I also selected characters who usually had some incredible depth to them, were written and performed with such skill ... characters who became perfect embodiments of the type of people they were portraying. Or they could have been characters who were simply larger than life, clear icons of cinema history. Memorable characters don't always have to be likable ... sometimes the most evil of people can make for memorable film characters. So there will be characters of all types in my top 100 ... heroes, villains, anti-heroes, and just plain regular people.

So with that being said, it's time to begin this special summer series profiling my own choices for the 100 Most Memorable Film Characters Of All Time. This week, in Part 1, we begin with numbers 101 through 81.

101) Dory The Fish in FINDING NEMO (Voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) Since every top 100 list needs a 101, the one who just didn't make the complete list, the delightful character of Dory, the blue fish with short term memory loss. As voiced and written for Ellen DeGeneres, it's a beautifully developed character, with some absolutely hilarious moments.

100) Gilda in GILDA (Rita Hayworth) Never has a woman been more sexy and alluring in the golden days of Hollywood than Rita Hayworth did as her signature character, Gilda.

99) Ricky Fitts in AMERICAN BEAUTY (Wes Bentley) One of many characters from this landmark film that made my list ... Ricky is a character of intense emotion and deep conflict. Just watch the scene where he breaks down describing the beauty of a paper bag flying in the breeze, or as he talks to girlfriend Thora Birch about being placed in a mental hospital by his Dad.