The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of the work might consist solely of the title character's name – such as Michael Collins or Othello – or be a longer phrase or sentence – such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . The title character is commonly – but not necessarily – the protagonist of the story. Narrative works routinely do not have a title character and there is some ambiguity in what qualifies as one.
15-502: Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film , television series , television film or play . The term most often refers to the Academy Award for Best Actor , which was first awarded on May 16, 1929 , by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) at
30-448: A dramatic piece, and the actors are said to play co-leads ; a large supporting role may be considered a secondary lead . Award nominations for acting often reflect such ambiguities. Therefore, sometimes two actors in the same performance piece are nominated Oscars for Best Actor or Best Actress —categories traditionally reserved for leads. For example, in 1935 Clark Gable , Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone were each nominated for
45-495: Is often but not necessarily the lead. A lead role must also be differentiated from a starring role , which means that an actor is credited as a part of the main cast but not that they necessarily play the main character. This drama-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to film or motion picture terminology is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Title role Examples in various media include Figaro in
60-832: The Academy Awards to Emil Jannings for his role of Grand Duke Sergius Alexander in The Last Command and August Schilling in The Way of All Flesh . In theatre, it was first awarded on April 6, 1947 , by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at the Tony Awards to José Ferrer for his role of Cyrano de Bergerac in Cyrano de Bergerac and to Fredric March for his role of Clinton Jones in Years Ago . In television, it
75-447: The Wizard of Oz is the title character, but is a minor supporting character. In the musical Bye Bye Birdie , Conrad Birdie is the title character, while Albert Peterson is the protagonist. In the video game The Legend of Zelda , the title character Princess Zelda is the damsel in distress and Link is her knight in shining armor . The title character need not be the subject of
90-465: The 1938 novel Rebecca , or Jason Bourne in the 2012 film The Bourne Legacy . Status as the title character has been attributed to named objects, such as the bus in the film and musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert , or the imaginary 6-foot rabbit Harvey in the play and film of the same name . The general noun phrase "title character" can be replaced with a descriptive noun or phrase which
105-838: The Best Actor Academy Award for Mutiny on the Bounty . There can even be controversy over whether a particular performance should be nominated in the Best Actor/Actress or Best Supporting Actor/Best Supporting Actress category; for instance, The Godfather 's Al Pacino boycotted the 45th Academy Awards ceremony since he was insulted at being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor award; he noted that he had more screen time than his co-star and Best Actor winner Marlon Brando and so he should have received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. A title role
120-572: The book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , Robinson Crusoe in the book of the same name or Jean-Luc Picard in the TV series Star Trek: Picard ; but can be a non-fictional dramatization, such as Annie Oakley in the musical Annie Get Your Gun , Erin Brockovich in the film of the same name , or Thomas More in the play A Man for All Seasons . Although it is common for the title character to be
135-513: The films Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster or Smokey and the Bandit . In the novel and TV series Shogun , the feudal lord Toranaga is the title character, but the protagonist is John Blackthorne . In the 2003 revival of August Wilson 's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom , Whoopi Goldberg had the title role of Ma Rainey, but the lead was Charles S. Dutton as Levee. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ,
150-550: The opera The Marriage of Figaro , Giselle in the ballet of the same name , the Doctor in the TV series Doctor Who , Dr. Gregory House of the TV series House , Harry Potter in the series of novels and films , and Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet in the play Romeo and Juliet . There is no formal, prescriptive definition of a title character or title role , but there are general standards accepted by tradition. The title character need not be literally named in
165-691: The protagonist, it is not unusual for the principal antagonist or a key secondary character to be named in the title instead. Examples of titular antagonists include Sauron in the book and film series The Lord of the Rings , Count Dracula in Bram Stoker 's Dracula , or Francisco Scaramanga and Julius No in the James Bond novels and films The Man with the Golden Gun and Dr. No ,. The protagonist and antagonist can arguably both be title characters, as in
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#1732851962883180-442: The role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word lead may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and leading actor may refer to a person who typically plays such parts or an actor with a respected body of work. Some actors are typecast as leads, but most play the lead in some performances and supporting or character roles in others. Sometimes there is more than one significant leading role in
195-559: The title in a strict grammatical sense: Uncle Tom is considered the title character of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Lee Marvin is often described as playing the title character in the film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance , as his character (Liberty Valance) is named in the title, even though the grammatical subject of the title is the person who shot him. The concept of title character may be interpreted to include unseen characters , such as Godot in Waiting for Godot , Rebecca de Winter in
210-641: The title, but may be referred to by some other identifying word or phrase, such as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit , Simba in The Lion King , Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender , Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland or more vaguely, as in the play An Ideal Husband , which ostensibly refers to the character Sir Robert Chiltern. A title character is typically fictional, such as Alice in
225-814: Was first awarded on January 23, 1951 by Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the Primetime Emmy Awards to Alan Young for his role of himself in The Alan Young Show . In a film festival , presented as the Volpi Cup , it was first awarded between August 1 and 20, 1934 , by the Venice Film Festival to Wallace Beery for his role of Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! Leading actor A leading actor , leading actress , or leading man or lady or simply lead ( / ˈ l iː d / ), plays
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