Characters from the 1968 movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
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Potts Family and friends:
Caractacus Potts
Played by: Dick Van Dyke
A down on his luck inventor and loving father who builds the titular car.- Bungling Inventor: Most of his inventions don't function properly.
- Living Toys: Poses as a sentient rag doll to get into Baron Bomburst's birthday party.
- Parental Love Song: He sings "You Two" to Jeremy and Jemima to tell them how much he loves them.
Truly Scrumptious
Played by: Sally Ann Howes
Caractacus' love interest who accompanies the family on their adventure.- Defrosting Ice Queen: At first she acts coldly towards Caractacus, because of the careless way he's raising his children, but soon sees that he really cares about them and warms up to him.
- Punny Name: Quite fitting for the daughter of a confectionary maker. The musical adaptation expands on this with having two sisters and a brother. Her sister's names are Madly and Deeply and her brother is named Seriously.
- Spoiled Sweet: She's the daughter of a rich candy factory owner and lives in an aristocratic mansion but is actually a very humble and kind person.
- Robot Girl: Inverted. She disguises herself as a mechanical doll on a music box as a birthday present for Baron Bomburst in the movie's climax.
- Wind-Up Key: A wind-up key is inserted into the music box to make it start up.
- Living Toys: Somewhat subverted. Truly stiffly moves her upper body, head and arms while her hips, legs and feet remain stationary as she sings and rotates on the spinning disc on the box. Since she's pretending to be a doll on a music box, when her box isn't wound up, Truly stays motionless. The sentience of Truly's doll character is hinted at with words such as "you" and "people" during her song, refering to the Baron's birthday party attendees.
Jeremy and Jemima Potts
Played by: Adrian Hall, Heather Ripley
Caractacus' two children.- Cheerful Child: Well, until they get kidnapped by the Child Catcher that is.
Grandpa Potts
"I'm off to India, gonna have a cup of tea with the Maharajah. Cheerio."
Played by: Lionel Jeffries
The Potts family's grandfather.- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He is only known as "Grandpa".
Vulgarians:
Baron Bomburst
Played by: Gert Frobe
- Big Bad: He is the main villain of the movie.
- Canon Foreigner: One of Roald Dahl's original creations.
- Child Hater: He hates kids because, let's be honest, he is pure evil.
- Laughably Evil: Being a tyrannical dictator with the demeanor of a spoiled child, he's guaranteed to make viewers ache with laughter.
- Manchild: Extremely immature and enjoys playing with toys.
Baroness Bomburst
Played by: Anna Quayle
- The Baroness: And an actual one to boot as she is married to a Baron.
- Canon Foreigner: One of Roald Dahl's original creations.
- Child Hater: She hates and fears children for reasons that only Dahl knows and is the reason why they're outlawed in Vulgaria. Particularly strange considering how much of a manchild her husband is.
- Parachute Petticoat: Happens to her after Chitty's Ejector Seat sends her flying. She even provides the trope image.
- Unwanted Spouse: The Baron clearly doesn't like her very much and is constantly trying to kill her. If she's noticed she's not letting it show.
The Child Catcher
Played by: Robert Helpmann
- Canon Foreigner: One of Roald Dahl's original creations, taking over from the Belgian criminals in the original book.
- Child Hater: He hates kids because, well let's face it, he's pure evil.
- Evil Wears Black: He wears black and he's a child kidnapper.
- More Despicable Minion: Despite both The Baron and The Baroness being Laughably Evil, he is more scary than the two of them due to the fact that he's willing to kidnap children and send them away to an uncertain fate.
- Punch-Clock Villain: His job is to capture and imprison children and he does not come off as a very decent guy, no matter how much of a quirky little bastard he is.
The Vulgarian Spies
Played by: Alexander Doré and Bernard Spear.
- Bumbling Henchman Duo: They are the bumbling henchmen sent by the Baron to steal the car and kidnap its inventor. They keep messing up their mission, accidentally kidnapping Lord Scrumptious and Grandpa Potts instead of Caractacus Potts.
- Even Evil Has Standards: In the musical, it's shown that they dislike The Child Catcher.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the musical, they turn over a new leaf after The Baron, his wife and The Child Catcher are all beaten.
- Laughably Evil: Befitting their characterization as a Bumbling Henchman Duo. Their failed attempts to capture the eponymous car are just so hilarious.
Others
Coggins
Played by: Desmond Llewelyn
A kindly old junkyard owner, who sells Caractacus Chitty.- Actor Allusion: A old man who gives a young man a car with various gadgets he ends up using by the end of the film... Now where have we heard that before?
