Best fictional butlers/valets

[xiphias]

Over on Facebook, one of my friends posted a link to the first scene of the first Jeeves and Wooster that Fry and Laurie did. And it got me thinking: obviously, Jeeves is the best valet ever, but there are other valets who are ALSO the best valet ever, because their employers have different needs which they fill as admirably as Jeeves does for Bertie. So I decided to try to make a list of some of them:

• Alfred, for Bruce Wayne
  
• Kato, for Britt Reed
  
• Magersfontein Lugg for Albert Campion (who could be argued to be a TERRIBLE butler, but he's exactly the butler Albert Campion needs)
  
• Jarvis, for Tony Stark, although you could argue that he does the same job as Alfred, and Alfred does it better, so he might not actually make the list.
  
• Bernardo, for Don Diego de la Vega

Who am I forgetting?

Comments

[mangosteen]

s/Albert/Alfred/ , no?

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

Crichton, for Lord Loam and his family, in the eponymous J.M. Barrie play and several film adaptations.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Bunter, for Lord Peter Wimsey. (Dorothy Sayers detective novels.)

[redbird]

Bunter, for Peter Wimsey

[jjhunter]

James 'Mac' MacGuiness for Honor Harrington.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Thank you; changed.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Except you reference him under JARVIS as well. (Mentioning it only because it confused me on first read. :-)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

*grumble*

Fixed, thanks.

Now, actually, I was talking about Jarvis, from the comics, but JARVIS, from the movies, might also deserve a mention.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Jeeves, for Bertie Wooster.

[seventorches.livejournal.com]

Beeker, for Willard Phule.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Miss Fisher's butler (http://vk.com/video-42689184_171435558?list=20f6081d0c8b2ea98b) is my current fave!

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

Armsman Pym, for Miles Vorkosigan.

[cheshyre]

Who was the character in Robert Aspirin's Phule series?

[rosefox]

Bertuccio for the Count of Monte Cristo.

[jazzfish]

My first thought as well. NTS: reread the first two Phule books.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Fresh votes for Bunter and Bertuccio.

[yehoshua.livejournal.com]

Cato, for Inspector Clouseau.

ETA- We're all fitting the most appropriate valet or butler to his employers ever: Lurch and the Addams Family.

How about the distaff?

[seventorches.livejournal.com]

Any female equivalents--ladies' maids, handmaidens, etc?

My suggestions:
Kareen Koudelka for Cordelia Naismith
Gracie Phipps for Charlotte Pitt
Lady Betriz for Royesse Iselle
Norah Blackstone for Chrysanda Flamande



They're a bit thin on the ground, I think.

[seventorches.livejournal.com]

Willikins for Sam Vimes.

[seventorches.livejournal.com]

Beeker.

[seventorches.livejournal.com]

Alberto Malich for Death.

[seventorches.livejournal.com]

I met Lurch once! He was staying with the Oltions the day I hit the deer.

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Wong, for Modesty Blaise. (Though I think he thought of himself more as her houseboy. But he was loyal and capable and every ready to be helpful in whatever capacity was needed, from playing butler to patching up wounds to acting as radio relayman to interrogating a prisoner in the guise of a murderous tong agent.)

[dancing-crow.livejournal.com]

I was going to say that too - dresses Lord Peter, carries magnifying glass, fingerprint powder, and spare hankies, can chat up the kitchen help while Lord Peter interrogates those Upstairs, plus and also can photograph things, develop the photos himself and help with chemical experiments at home.

[ailbhe]

There are several in Georgette Heyer.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Also, Bunter helps treat flareups of Lord Peter's PTSD, though they weren't calling it that at the time.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Mr. Deeds, for the holder of SCP-662.