Roy Chapman Andrews: "The Real Indiana Jones?"

Posted by Marhala Bartender from dix1-23.essex1.com on January 18, 2001 at 17:15:55:

Hey all,

I was just wondering if anyone else has heard of Roy Chapman Andrews. If you read McCoy's Indiana Jones and the Dinosaur Eggs (Bad title, but good story), then you may have read about Andrews in the back. The book itself was loosely based on some of his exploits. And the character Granger was on many of his Central Asiatic Expeditions during the 20s and 30s where he found dinosaur eggs, discovered traces of a culture near the Flaming Cliffs, and many other things. He did carry a revolver with him, wore a hat not totally unlike Indy's fedora, and had an aversion to snakes. His life was really interesting and he even pulled off a few little stunts in his life that could be considered similar to Indy material (like dressing up once to sneak into a temple during a secret ritual in Mongolia, and having to shoot wild dogs that tried to eat him). I learned a great deal about this extraordinary man while in college since he was an alumn. Since I was an archaeology major and worked in the museums, I had access to many of his old records and materials.

The college has always claimed he was the real life Indiana Jones (as nearly all colleges will claim at least one member of their faculty at one time is), but Roy Chapman Andrews would have to be one of the closest to a world class explorer/adventurer. I even found a letter direct from the Lucasfilm office stating that Roy was never used as an example in creating characteristics of Indiana Jones.

While Indy I am sure is purely fictional on some level, the coincidences I found between the two are amazing.

Follow Ups:

Another eerie similarity.... Austin Powers 17:52:47 1/18/2001 (1)
- Re: Another eerie similarity.... bellosh 17:58:28 1/18/2001 (0)

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: Hey all,

: I was just wondering if anyone else has heard of Roy Chapman Andrews.  If you read McCoy's Indiana Jones and the Dinosaur Eggs (Bad title, but good story), then you may have read about Andrews in the back.  The book itself was loosely based on some of his exploits.  And the character Granger was on many of his Central Asiatic Expeditions during the 20s and 30s where he found dinosaur eggs, discovered traces of a culture near the Flaming Cliffs, and many other things.  He did carry a revolver with him, wore a hat not totally unlike Indy's fedora, and had an aversion to snakes.  His life was really interesting and he even pulled off a few little stunts in his life that could be considered similar to Indy material (like dressing up once to sneak into a temple during a secret ritual in Mongolia, and having to shoot wild dogs that tried to eat him).  I learned a great deal about this extraordinary man while in college since he was an alumn.  Since I was an archaeology major and worked in the museums, I had access to many of his old records and materials.

: The college has always claimed he was the real life Indiana Jones (as nearly all colleges will claim at least one member of their faculty at one time is), but Roy Chapman Andrews would have to be one of the closest to a world class explorer/adventurer.  I even found a letter direct from the Lucasfilm office stating that Roy was never used as an example in creating characteristics of Indiana Jones.

: While Indy I am sure is purely fictional on some level, the coincidences I found between the two are amazing.

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