Donald Draper
| Don Draper | |
|---|---|
| Mad Men character | |
Jon Hamm as Don Draper.
|
|
| First appearance | "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (1.01) |
| Last appearance | "Person to Person" (7.14) |
| Created by | Matthew Weiner |
| Portrayed by |
Jon Hamm Brandon Killham (Young Dick Whitman) |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Don, Dick |
| Aliases | Richard Whitman (birth name) |
| Occupation | Senior Partner and Creative Director, Sterling Cooper & Partners (season 6–present; End of Season 7 Part 1 for Creative Director) Founding Partner, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (seasons 4–6) Creative Director, Sterling Cooper (seasons 1–3) |
| Family | Archibald Whitman Evangeline Abigail Whitman (stepmother) Uncle Mac (stepfather) |
| Spouse(s) | Megan Calvet (1965–1970) Betty Hofstadt (1953–1964) Anna M. Draper (widow of real Don Draper, div. 1953) |
| Children | Sally Beth Draper (daughter) Robert "Bobby" Draper (son) Eugene Scott Draper (son) |
| Relatives | Adam Whitman (half brother) |
| Romances | Midge Daniels (ex-lover) Rachel Katz (ex-lover) Bobbie Barrett (ex-lover) Suzanne Farrell (ex-lover) Dr. Faye Miller (ex-girlfriend) Sylvia Rosen (ex-lover) Bethany Van Nuys |
| Don Draper | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance |
 United States
|
| Service/branch |
 United States Army
|
| Rank |
First Lieutenant Private (as Richard Whitman) |
| Unit | 40th Infantry Division |
| Battles/wars | Korean War |
| Awards |
 Purple Heart Medal Korean Service Medal Navy and Marine Corps Medal
|
Donald Francis "Don" Draper is a fictional character and the protagonist of AMC's television series Mad Men, portrayed by Jon Hamm. Up to the Season 3 finale, Draper was Creative Director of Manhattan advertising firm Sterling Cooper. He then became a founding partner at a new firm, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, after he and his superiors left their previous agency in advance of an unwanted acquisition. The agency later merged with a rival firm, Cutler Gleason & Chaough, to become Sterling Cooper & Partners while pursuing a contract from Chevrolet.
The character of Don Draper is partially inspired by Draper Daniels, a creative director at Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago in the 1950s, who worked on the Marlboro Man campaign.
Most of the characters in the series are portrayed as knowing little, if anything, of Draper's history and true identity; Harry Crane remarks, "Draper? Who knows anything about that guy? No one's ever lifted that rock. He could be Batman for all we know." Clues are given through flashbacks, confessions, and clandestine visits with figures from his past.
As the series unfolds, it is gradually revealed through flashbacks that "Donald Francis Draper" is an assumed identity; the character was born Richard "Dick" Whitman. Whitman was born in Illinois to a prostitute who died in labor and an abusive, alcoholic farmer, Archibald "Archie" Whitman, who was killed during a thunderstorm when a spooked horse kicked him in the face while a ten-year-old Dick watched. He was raised primarily by Archie's wife Abigail, who saw him as a constant reminder of her husband's infidelity and hated him for it; she was physically and emotionally abusive to him, calling him "son of a whore" and giving him savage beatings at the slightest provocation. He hated her just as much: years later, upon learning that she died in agonizing pain of cancer, he simply says, "Good." She later gave birth to a boy named Adam, who considered Dick his brother. The one person to show him any kindness as a child was "Uncle Mac", a friend of his father's who taught him how to survive in the real world.
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Wikipedia