Jackson Bentley is based on the real life American journalist, and broadcaster, Lowell Thomas. According to several sources, Thomas made Lawrence of Arabia-T.E. Lawrence-famous: Thomas shot dramatic footage of Lawrence and, after the war, toured the world, narrating his film, With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia, making Lawrence and himself household names. {T.E. Lawrence by His Friends (Doubleday: New York, 1937), pp. 163-174}Thomas and Lawrence had a falling out over Thomas' constant showing of Lawrence photos, in a traveling show, that made T.E. Lawrence increasingly uncomfortably famous and, at the same time made, Lowell Thomas very wealthy throughout the 1920s.