Keep Cool Alive Read the full article on AICN Hey folks, Harry here... We all love THE BIG LEBOWSKI and the Jeff Bridges performance of "The Dude" Jeffery Lebowski. That character is based upon Jeff Dowd, THE DUDE, or THE DUDERINO as some reverentially refer. Like most of us, I read every syllable of Roger Ebert, and learned that The Dude was inspired by a real and true character that was at the precipice of so much cool, pushing it into the cultural conscience in such a fashion as to seem fated by the Gods immortal.