Steve Prefontaine, played by Billy Crudup in Without Limits (1998) and played by Jared Leto in Prefontaine (1997)

Bill Bowerman, played by Donald Sutherland in Without Limits (1998) and played by R. Lee Ermey in Prefontaine (1997)

Stephen Meek, played by Bruce Greenwood in Meek’s Cutoff (2010)

Art Honeyman, played by Michael Sheen in Music Within (2007)

Pennie Lane Trumbull, played by Kate Hudson in Almost Famous (2000)

James Fogle, played by Matt Dillon in Drugstore Cowboy (1989)

John Reed, played by Warren Beatty in Reds (1981)

Louise Bryant, played by Diane Keaton in Reds (1981)

Claire Phillips, played by Ann Dvorak in I Was An American Spy (1951)

Walt Curtis, played by Tim Streeter in Mala Noche (1985)

Special mention goes to:

Curtis Salgado, whose signature style inspired the attire and music of Jake and Elwood Blues, aka The Blues Brothers (1980)

Walt Curtis, who has inspired two documentaries, Salmon Poet (2009) and Peckerneck Poet (1997)

The rarest category of Oregon film is a non-documentary based on the life of actual Oregonian. In 1951, Claire Phillips joined a select crowd which would later include John Reed and Louise Bryant, (Reds), Steve Prefontaine (Prefontaine, Without Limits ) and James Fogle (Drugstore Cowboy).

A night club singer who worked under the code name High Pockets, Phillip won the Medal Of Freedom for her espionage in WWII. You can read about her accomplishments in Brian Libby’s wonderful profile in Portland Monthly. Yes, she was water boarded by the Japanese.

She herself chose Ann Dvorak to play Claire Phillips/High Pockets on the Big Screen.‘

I hereby claim I Was An American Spy as an Oregon film on the basis of the inspiration provided by Oregonian Claire Phillips.