Hail to the Chiefs: 10 Great Fictional Presidents

Doctor Strangelove: Kobal Collection

Merkin Muffley

PLAYED BY Peter Sellers

As suggested by his emasculated name, President Muffley (right) is a meek and dovish fellow, precisely the wrong person to be in charge during a nuclear war. His bald pate and effete manner suggest egghead liberal presidential aspirant Adlai Stevenson, though Stanley Kubrick's satire is equally contemptuous of the hawkish faction represented by George C. Scott's General Turgidson (left). Sellers' brilliant performance in the 1964 film encompasses three roles, including the Kissingeresque title character and resolute British Captain Mandrake, but it's his Muffley who gets to be the hilariously irony-impaired straight man: ''Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the War Room.''