18. Rick Blaine

Appearance: Casablanca (1942)

Creators: Murray Burnett and Joan Alison (play, Everybody Comes To Rick’s); Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch

Performer: Humphrey Bogart

Defining moment: His curt nod to the bandleader to strike up La Marseillaise and drown out the Nazis. A tiny but pivotal gesture – Rick has joined The Cause.

Fascinating fact: Brazzaville, a mercifully unrealised Casablanca sequel, revealed that Rick was an undercover US agent all along.

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