Don Draper

Don Draper
Mad Men character
Jon Hamm as Don Draper
First appearance"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (2007)
Last appearance"Person to Person" (2015)
Unfrosted (2024; cameo)
Created byMatthew Weiner
Portrayed by
In-universe information
Full nameDonald Francis Draper
OccupationAdvertising executive
AffiliationSterling Cooper
NationalityAmerican

Donald Francis "Don" Draper, born Richard "Dick" Whitman, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the AMC television series Mad Men (2007–2015), portrayed by Jon Hamm. At the beginning of the series, Draper is the charismatic yet enigmatic creative director at the fictional Manhattan advertising firm Sterling Cooper. In spite of his success, he is plagued by several personal problems, including the issues of identity and social alienation, in part due to his difficult past. His personal and professional developments in the show are frequently situated against the larger social, political, and economic events of the 1960s. In 2024, Hamm reprised his role as Draper in a cameo role in the comedy film Unfrosted.[1]

The character of Don Draper is partially inspired by Draper Daniels, a creative director at Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago in the 1950s, who worked on the Marlboro Man campaign; and by Bill Backer, an advertising executive at McCann Erickson who created the "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" ad in 1971.[2][3] Don Draper is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most iconic characters in television history, and Jon Hamm received universal acclaim for his performance.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

  1. ^ Don Draper Pitches Breakfast Pastry Name | Unfrosted | Netflix Is A Joke. Netflix Is A Joke. May 3, 2024. Retrieved May 3, 2024 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ Daniels, Myra Janco (August 2009). "I Married a Mad Man". Chicago. Chicago, Illinois: Tribune Publishing. Archived from the original on August 1, 2010. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  3. ^ Reilly, Katie (May 17, 2016). "Man Who Inspired Mad Men and 'Taught the World to Sing' Dies". Time.
  4. ^ "25 Best TV Characters in the Past 25 Years". EW.com. 2015-10-12. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  5. ^ Nededog, Jethro; Acuna, Kirsten; Renfro, Kim; Shamsian, Jacob; Oswald, Anjelica; Singh, Olivia (2018-03-28). "The 50 most memorable TV characters of all time". Insider. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  6. ^ Riedel, David (2011-03-29). "50 greatest TV characters". CBS News. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  7. ^ Gruttadaro, Andrew (2020-03-30). "The Best TV Character of the Century Bracket". The Ringer. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  8. ^ Schultz, Cody (2015-02-23). "Ranking the 20 best TV characters of all-time". Hidden Remote. Archived from the original on 2023-08-16. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  9. ^ "The 99 Greatest TV Characters Since Tony Soprano: #9-1". Yahoo Entertainment. 2015-03-14. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  10. ^ Ben Travers, Hanh Nguyen; Travers, Ben; Nguyen, Hanh (2017-06-27). "The Best TV Characters of the 2000s, Ranked". IndieWire. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  11. ^ Sheffield, Rob (2015-05-11). "50 Best 'Mad Men' Characters". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-08-16.