Ned Kelly
Legendary outlaw and folk hero Ned Kelly captured the imagination of 19th century Australia and ignited one of the largest manhunts in that nation's history. After killing three police officers in Victoria, Kelly and his gang went on the run. They robbed banks, burned an entire town's mortgage contracts and inspired the Irish-Australian population to turn against the government. In their final gun battle with police, the Kelly gang members donned suits of armor fabricated from plowshares and battled standing upright as bullets simply bounced off. Kelly was hit in the leg and captured, and was hung in Melbourne in 1880. But the legend didn't stop in Australia. Mick Jagger played Kelly in a 1970 biopic with a score by Shel Silverstein and Kris Kristofferson. Country-music legends Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings also wrote songs about the Kelly gang. And in 2003, Heath Ledger played the outlaw in a film.