Although the character played by Marlon Brando was based on ivory trader Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's book Heart of Darkness, another inspiration for the character in the film was Australian Col. Barry Petersen (1935-2019) AKA: The Tiger Man of Vietnam, who was Australian Army advisor in Vietnam to the CIA. His job in 1963 was to recruit, train and operate a Montagnard guerrilla force, whose tasks were to not only protect their villages from the communists, but also to disrupt the communist supply lines to South Vietnam and to stop them setting up bases. His men not only ruined the Viet Cong supply lines through the highlands, they staged kidnappings, ambushes and killed many Viet Cong agents. The disruption to their supply lines eventually forced the communists to send supplies through Cambodia. The CIA started to fear he had built up a "personality cult" in the highlands. He was replaced by an American CIA employee two years later who failed to gain the respect of the Montagnards or the Vietnamese. Petersen was later informed that if he had not left when ordered to, he would have likely been killed by the CIA.

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