There are fewer items of men’s fashion that embody the ‘adapt or die’ principle of survival as well as the hat, and in the modern age, it is Screen Actors who have helped seal its appeal.

Almost all men wore a hat in public until the mid-20th century, for all manner of reasons, including protection against the elements, ceremonial and religious reasons. In the Western world, they are now limited to work uniform, safety protection, and, occasionally, as a particularly potent fashion statement. Worn socially, the hat may be mocked, but it also distinguishes the wearer as a true style guru, transforming their entire image, and also amping up the retro feel with their hints of bygone eras.

Nowhere is this more evident than in cinema history. Popular perceptions of movie characters is often defined by headwear. Official hat brands such as fedora and trilby have become altered by popular culture into the ‘Indiana Jones hat’ or the ‘Blues Brothers hat’. Here are 10 Hollywood Screen actors, from various phases of cinema history, who have helped guarantee the timeless appeal of the hat, regardless of its utility.

1. Humphrey Bogart – Casablanca

Produced in 1942, Casablanca is a wartime romance that needs no introduction due to its status as one of cinema history’s unanimously acclaimed classic films. Humphrey Bogart’s performance as Rick Blaine is legendary, with a suave wardrobe that wordlessly conveys volumes about about the character’s financial success and restrained taste. The simple dark fedora he sports in the final airport scene is no exception, with a perfectly pinched crown, centre dent and snapped down brim.

2. Harrison Ford – Raiders of the Lost Ark

As the childhood icon for anyone who grew up in the 1980s, Indiana Jones can be blamed for many menswear trends of the past few decades, including the cargo vest and the man bag. Perhaps his most famous clothing item worn by screen actor Harrison Ford is his hat, which accompanies him on all his adventures, even narrowly avoiding being left behind in an ancient underground temple. Like Rick Blaine’s hat, it is technically a fedora, although it features a wider brim, higher crown and a less pristine appearance.

3. Charlie Chaplin – The Little Tramp

His toothbrush moustache and universally beloved brand of physical comedy have ensured legendary screen actor Charlie Chaplin a place in the Hollywood Hall of Fame, and his iconic role as The Little Tramp in a number of his classic silent movies is the perfect encapsulation of Chaplin’s legendarily balletic slapstick-humour performance. The hat he wears is a badly fitted bowler which sits on top of his head precariously, adding to his mismatched, slightly ridiculous appearance.

4. Malcolm McDowell – A Clockwork Orange

Another iconic bowler hat from film history is worn by Alex, the troubled protagonist of Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 classic A Clockwork Orange. Alex is a charismatic, brutally violent delinquent living in a hellishly dystopian future London. His clothes reflect the mix of cockney, Russian and gangster elements in the film’s stylised dialogue, and visually reference gang culture and also such early 20th century archetypes as the Cockney Pearly King. Alex’s black bowler hat is the perfect accessory for his monochrome uniform, giving him a deceivingly jovial appearance.

5. Marlon Brando – The Wild One

The eight-panel biker cap that Marlon Brando wears in 1953 motorcycle movie The Wild One has influenced the American biker aesthetic up to the present day. The leather and canvas cap completes Johnny Strabler’s leather and denim outfit, portraying the character’s rebellious, brooding personality. This look inspired the style of such icons and screen actors as James Dean and Elvis Presley, who later sported similar caps, as well as Strabler’s long sideburns.

6. Leonardo DiCaprio – Shutter Island

The most recent film on our list, crime thriller Shutter Island is set in 1954, but the fedora worn by lead character Teddy Daniels perfectly illustrates how to add some retro flair to your look. The fedora, custom made for the film by costume designer Sandy Powell, references the one worn by Rick Blaine in Casablanca, as a visual sign-post to the similarities between the two characters as dignified yet troubled Americans living on their wits far from the comfort zone of home.

7. Johnny Depp – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Writer Hunter S Thompson is infamous for his larger than life personality, and Johnny Depp borrowed much of his costume for the film from Thompson’s own wardrobe for the portrayal of ‘Raoul Duke’ (Thompson’s fictionalised alter-ego) in the 1998 cinematic adaptation of  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It’s uncertain whether the white bucket hat worn by Depp is from Thompson’s closet, but it makes for a great summer accessory. These hats were hugely popular in the 1990s, and the recent wave of millennial nostalgia in fashion has brought them into popularity once more.

8. Clark Gable – The Misfits

Clark Gable’s performance as Gaylord Langland in The Misfits was his final film appearance, a grand finale for the actor’s remarkable career. The ageing cowboy Gable plays dresses in authentic cattle rancher garb of cowboy boots, jeans, snap-buttoned shirt and, of course, a custom-made velour Stetson. Since its invention in 1865, the Stetson has been the semi-official hat of the Wild West. It remains popular to this day, for cowboys and wannabes alike.

9. Gregory Peck – The Guns of Navarone

The hat Gregory Peck wears in the 1961 classic WW2 war film The Guns of Navarone is not only an accessory, but also an important element of the plot. Peck’s character Captain Keith Mallory must go undercover as a Greek fisherman to investigate Axis forces on the Greek island Leros. His newsboy-style cap is one customarily worn by Aegean fishermen, and it was later picked up not just by other screen actors, but also by John Lennon early in the Beatles career, propelling this accessory onward to iconic status.

10. John Belushi – The Blues Brothers

John Belushi’s character Jake is not unique in sporting a black trilby in iconic 1980 musical comedy The Blues Brothers. His brother Elwood (Dan Akroyd) wears one that’s almost identical. But we’re giving Belushi credit, considering the tragically untimely death of this comedy genius. Whoever was responsible for devising the brothers’ image of black suits, ties and hats, it’s a perfect complement to the movie’s deadpan satire, and the hats are a reference to the rawest of bluesmen such as John Lee Hooker, and the slickest of crooners such as Frank Sinatra. Since the film (and its 2000 sequel) the trilby has seen a huge increase in popularity, adopted by musicians and screen actors as diverse as Alicia Keys, Pete Doherty and P Diddy.

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