 Author James Thurber (qv) has acknowledged that the character  Walter Mitty was based on his friend, writer Robert Benchley (qv).  Thurber said that he got the idea for Mitty from the character  created by Benchley in a series of shorts he made for Fox and MGM  respectively, in the 1920s and 1930s. Thurber is also on record as  saying that he hated this version of the film, and that  Danny Kaye (qv)s interpretation of Mitty is nothing at all like  Thurber intended the character to be.