Who is Gordan Gekko?

Gordon Gekko refers to a fictional character appearing as the antagonist in the Oliver Stone films "Wall Street" (1987) and 2010's "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps".

The character, a vicious and obscenely wealthy investor and corporate raider, became a cultural symbol for greed, exemplified by the classic "Wall Street" statement "Greed is good."

Briefly Understanding the Gordan Gekko

The protagonist of "Wall Street," a young stockbroker named Bud Fox, is yearning to work with Gordon Gekko, a financial legend. Only when Fox is willing to sacrifice his ethics and offer Gekko inside knowledge about his father's company impresses the predatory, amoral Gekko. Gekko makes Fox wealthy, but Fox comes to regret his actions and uses state evidence against Gekko, who is imprisoned for securities fraud and Insider trading. Michael Douglas received an exclusive Academy Award for his performance as Gordon Gekko in the original film.

Influences for Gordan Gekko Character

Gordon Gekko was based on a group of real-life financiers rather than a single person. According to Stanley Weiser, Gekko was based on corporate raider Carl Icahn, disgraced stock trader Ivan Boesky, and investor Michael Ovitz, who co-wrote the screenplay with Oliver Stone.

Gekko's famous phrase "I think greed is beneficial," Boesky declared in 1985 at the University of California Berkeley School of Business Administration, echoing a lecture he gave in 1985. You can be a glutton for punishment while still feeling good about yourself."

Art collector Asher Edelman inspired Gekko's palatial office and sophisticated clothing. According to Weiser, some of Gekko's gruff, workaholic speech is based on phone talks and work sessions with the film's director and co-writer Oliver Stone.

According to the film's producer, Ed Pressman, Michael Milken was one of the inspirations for Gordon Gekko. Milken earned the moniker "Junk bond King" in the 1980s, but he was caught in 1989 and convicted of various counts of fraud and Racketeering. Because his father was a broker and constantly lamented the absence of decent business movies, Oliver Stone credits his father as the inspiration for the whole picture "Wall Street."

Gordan Gekko's Emulation

Even though Gordon Gekko was a monster in "Wall Street," many ambitious financiers viewed him as a mythological antihero. They took the figure as a role model for surviving in the ruthless investment finance culture. In 2012, Michael Douglas collaborated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to produce a documentary about insider trading to counter this picture. Gordon Gekko's actor was anxious that the character would be perceived as a criminal rather than a role model.