On September 8th in 1157, at Beaumont Palace, Oxford England, Richard of the House of Plantagenet was born to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

He is better known as Richard I of England, Richard Coeur de Lion, or Richard the Lion-Heart.

A king best known by his nickname, he has appeared not only in novels but in movies and TV shows. He is pivotal to the Robin Hood legend. Walter Scott uses him in the novel, Ivanhoe. And among the actors to have played him in the movies include Oscar winner Sir Anthony Hopkins (The Lion in Winter), Cecil B. DeMille favorite Henry Wilcoxon (The Crusader),  Richard Harris (Robin and Marion), Ian Hunter (Errol Flynn’s classic film The Adventures of Robin Hood), and by Oscar winner Sean Connery in a climactic cameo (Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves).

Richard also makes an appearance in the Ridley Scott Robin Hood movie released in 2010 with Russell Crowe as Robin. In that film he is played by Danny Huston, the son of director John Huston.