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The Cowardly Lion is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is a lion, but he talks and interacts with humans.
The classic books
The Cowardly Lion makes his first appearance in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He is the last of the companions Dorothy befriends on her way to the Emerald City. The Cowardly Lion joins her so that he can ask The Wizard for courage. Despite outward evidence that he is a coward, The Cowardly Lion displays great bravery along the way.
In later books, The Cowardly Lion often accompanies Dorothy on her adventures. His favored companion is "The Hungry Tiger".
The 1939 movie
In the classic 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, The Cowardly Lion was played by Bert Lahr. Bert Lahr's biography, written by his son John Lahr, is entitled Notes on a Cowardly Lion.
Modern works
The Cowardly Lion is also a minor character in author Gregory Maguire's revisionist novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and its Broadway musical adaptation. In both works he is first seen as a Lion Cub (lion with human attributes) who has been torn from his mother and used as an experiment (in the book by Dr. Dillamond's replacment, and in the musical an agent of the Wizard) on the nature of Animals. Elphaba saves the lion cub who in the end of both adaptions becomes a Witch Hunter. He also appears in Maguire's sequel Son of a Witch.
Todd McFarlane's action figure line 'The Twisted Land of Oz', shows the lion as a walking corpse holding his entrails; according to the accompanying story, he was a crusader in a past life that betrayed his men in the heat of battle.
In The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, The Cowardly Lion is played by Fozzie Bear.
Political interpretations
Some scholars have suggested that Baum modeled the Cowardly Lion after politician William Jennings Bryan.
"Cowardly Lion"