Editing Dr. Strangelove (section)

==== Dr. Strangelove ====
Dr. Strangelove is a scientist and former Nazi, suggesting [[Operation Paperclip]], the US effort to recruit top German technical talent at the end of World War II.<ref>Dan Geddes, "[http://www.thesatirist.com/films/DoctorStrangelove.html Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101045615/http://www.thesatirist.com/films/DoctorStrangelove.html |date=November 1, 2013 }}"; ''The Satirist'', December 2011.</ref><ref>Beverly Merrill Kelley, ''Reelpolitik II: Political Ideologies in '50s and '60s Films''; Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004; p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DgfTlr4ScSIC&pg=PA26 263] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819090725/https://books.google.com/books?id=DgfTlr4ScSIC&pg=PA26 |date=August 19, 2016 }}.</ref> He serves as President Muffley's scientific adviser in the War Room. When General Turgidson wonders aloud to Mr. Staines ([[Jack Creley]]), what kind of name "Strangelove" is, possibly a "[[Kraut]] name", Staines responds that Strangelove's original German surname was ''Merkwürdigliebe'' ("strange love" in German) and that "he changed it when he became a citizen". Strangelove accidentally addresses the president as ''Mein Führer'' twice in the film. Dr. Strangelove did not appear in the book ''Red Alert''.<ref>Jeffrey Townsend, et al., "Red Alert" in John Tibbetts & James Welsh (eds.), ''The Encyclopedia of Novels into Films'', New York, 1999, pp. 183–186</ref>

The character is an amalgamation of [[RAND Corporation]] strategist [[Herman Kahn]], rocket scientist [[Wernher von Braun]] (a central figure in Nazi Germany's rocket development program recruited to the US after the war), and [[Edward Teller]], the "father of the hydrogen bomb".<ref>Paul Boyer, "Dr. Strangelove" in Mark C. Carnes (ed.), ''Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies'', New York, 1996.</ref> Rumors claimed the character was based on [[Henry Kissinger]], but Kubrick and Sellers denied this;<ref name="moviediva">{{cite web|url=http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDDrStrangelove.htm|title=Dr Strangelove|publisher=moviediva.com|access-date=June 24, 2011|archive-date=September 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927003059/http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDDrStrangelove.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Sellers said: "Strangelove was never modeled after Kissinger—that's a popular misconception. It was always Wernher von Braun."<ref>{{cite book |last=Starr |first=Michael Seth |title=Peter Sellers: A Film History |page=100 |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-89950-512-1}}</ref> Furthermore, Henry Kissinger points out in his memoirs that at the time of the writing of ''Dr. Strangelove'', he was a little-known academic.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newscientist.com/letter/mg18224505-100-the-real-dr-strangelove/ |title=The real Dr Strangelove |work=New Scientist |access-date=July 26, 2018 |archive-date=July 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726170219/https://www.newscientist.com/letter/mg18224505-100-the-real-dr-strangelove/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The wheelchair-using Strangelove furthers a Kubrick [[Trope (literature)|trope]] of the menacing, seated antagonist, first depicted in ''Lolita'' through the character Dr. Zaempf.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/836-lolita|title=Lolita|work=The Criterion Collection|access-date=June 25, 2010|archive-date=May 25, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525042243/http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/836-lolita|url-status=live}}</ref> Strangelove's accent was influenced by that of Austrian-American photographer [[Weegee]], who worked for Kubrick as a special photographic effects consultant.<ref name=Inside/> Strangelove's appearance echoes the [[mad scientist]] archetype as seen in the character [[Rotwang]] in [[Fritz Lang]]'s film ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'' (1927). Sellers's Strangelove takes from Rotwang the single black gloved hand (which, in Rotwang's case, is mechanical because of a lab accident), the wild hair, and, most importantly, his ability to avoid being controlled by political power.<ref>Frayling, Christopher. ''Mad, Bad, and Dangerous?: The Scientist and the Cinema''. London: Reaktion, 2006. p.26</ref> According to Alexander Walker, Sellers improvised Dr. Strangelove's lapse into the [[Nazi salute]], borrowing one of Kubrick's black leather gloves for the uncontrollable hand that makes the gesture. Dr. Strangelove apparently has [[alien hand syndrome]]. Kubrick wore the gloves on the set to avoid being burned when handling hot lights, and Sellers, recognizing the potential connection to Lang's work, found them to be menacing.<ref name=Inside/>