History Main / OfficerAndAGentleman

* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' there's General White, a retired Bob-omb general with a rather [[BadassMustache elegant moustache.]] Admiral Bobbery comes close too, though he's a little rougher.

* Literature/{{Sten}} mocks this trope with the [[GeneralFailure incompetent Admiral van Doorman]], who prides himself on spit-and-polish while sneering at Army-trained Sten. Yet Sten himself embodies this trope to a certain degree. His [[CombatPragmatist Combat Pragmatism]] is never really seen with regard to women, to the point that it's an InformedAttribute. Doubtless it's to preserve the sympathy of readers who have yet to reach the [[SocietyMarchesOn egalitarian attitudes of the future]].

* ''Film/{{Greyhound}}'': The ''Keeling'''s commanding officer Commander Ernest Krause; a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who is fair to his crew, only demanding that two that got into a fight explain their actions, but is called to the bridge before he can mete out discipline so lets the matter drop, does not swear and doesn't allow it in his presence, is quick to give credit where it is due, and is a devout Christian.

* Nigerian military officer C. Odumegwu Ojukwu led his homeland of Biafra all throughout the Nigerian Civil War, which seceded from Nigeria due to ethnic tensions. He was a well-educated man who studied at Oxford University in England, and he spoke with a refined accent.

Not to be confused with the film, ''Film/AnOfficerAndAGentleman'', the 1982 movie with Richard Gere and Deborah Winger.

* One of the primary themes of ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''.

* ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' is the science fiction version of this trope.

* Quite a few characters from ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''.

* Captain Amelia of ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' fits this trope perfectly right down to the [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents upper-class British accent]] and StiffUpperLip, blending it with sharp GentlemanSnarker wit, LadyOfWar badassery, and IceQueen unattainability (eventually [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosted).]]

* Skipper of ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'' [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguins]] (and in ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'') has some of these qualities. He is a lot more cultured than the rest of the commando penguins, generally courteous towards ladies, and also [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking pulls off the craziest stunts]].
** Case in point: "No little girl will shed a tear on my watch!" from "What Goes Around."

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': While ComicBook/SteveTrevor is rarley a "gentleman" by birth he's nearly always one by action and tends to be a high ranking military officer by the end of his service.

For example, an officer and a gentleman will rarely if ever [[ClusterFBomb cuss]], and never knowingly in the presence of a lady. He will rarely drink to the point of inebriation, unless it is used for [[NotSoAboveItAll comedic purposes]] or to tragically show how the war [[DrowningMySorrows may be taking a toll on him]]. He would never, ever [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil take advantage of a lady]], and will be very protective of women, both of their persons and their sensibilities, even when it is not merited. Further, if you insult his honour, or worse, the honour of a lady he fancies, you may earn yourself a [[ThrowingDownTheGauntlet challenge]] to a [[DuelToTheDeath duel]], unless profuse apology is the next thing out of your mouth. Otherwise, expect a [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen fair, gentlemanly duel]] in which he will proceed to carve you into cutlets. However, he would not think of [[CombatPragmatist fighting dirty]], and most certainly WouldNotShootACivilian on purpose. On the other hand, if he is evil, he might have some of his less honourable henchmen do the DirtyBusiness for him. Further, whether good or bad, he will always keep his word… after all, [[IGaveMyWord he gave his word as a gentleman]]. Characters typifying this trope often have the habit, for better or worse, of displaying HonourBeforeReason. Expect him to be AFatherToHisMen.

* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfWonderWoman2016'': ComicBook/SteveTrevor and Lawrence Stone are both USAAF pilots who are very respectful lieutenants who get promotions for their actions, though Steve feels his is undeserved. They are gentlemen by their honorable and polite actions not by class, as they are Americans from lower-middle-class families.

These guys are considered the model military officers. Most forms of media will typically portray the Officer and a Gentleman as being a member of the [[BlueBlood upper-class]] in whatever society he originates, and almost undoubtedly attended a MilitaryAcademy. If this character is a British officer (or speaking with an English accent), you can often tell whether he is an officer and a gentleman because he will almost invariably speak with a Received Pronunciation (i.e., the Queen’s English). If he's American, he will either be a SouthernGentleman with a soft voice but pronounced Tidewater or Dixie accent (especially if in the Army), or a Northeastern gent with Mid-Atlantic tones (particularly in the Navy). If he is German or French, expect the preposition ''von'' or ''de'' on his surname. It is ''very likely'' he has generations of military traditions and an unbroken lineage of soldiers in his family, and his genetic ancestors may have been [[KnightInShiningArmor knights in shining armour]].

* Zig-Zagged with the Soviets. The Red Army amid the Russian Civil War did have a good number of ex-Tsarist officers who made up most of the Red officer corps. A good number of these officers played this trope straight, but many of them such as Semyon Budyonny came from poorer backgrounds and those with a penchant for vulgarity were more favored by the communist ideology to contrast with the White Army's noble officer corps. Once the USSR was established, this trope was generally averted as gentleman officers were portrayed as imperialist class enemies, and the idea was to instead establish that anyone could be an officer. This culminated in the great purge ridding much of the Soviet's old guard officer corps due to the paranoia that they were politically unreliable, even ones who were never Tsarists or nobles, and thus young inexperienced officers who were at least reliably communist took their place. This purge contributed to multiple Soviet setbacks in the early 1940s, but the growing professionalism of the Red Army in World War II brought upon pragmatic forces that embraced professional officers, relented purges, and saw those hastily promoted young officers mature and transform the Red Army onto the most devastating land force on the planet. By the ColdWar era, the Soviet Army's officers were "red" gentlemen and nobles that indulged in special privileges but sought to end the "decadent" west as well despite their own vulgarity.

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When it comes to actual leadership ability, the Officer and a Gentleman runs the gamut. If portrayed in a good light, the officer will be shown as being a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, like TheBrigadier, and if he takes pains to look out for his soldier’s wellbeing, he is AFatherToHisMen. In a really positive light, they may be shown to be great front-line leaders and warriors as well, playing the role of [[ColonelBadass Colonel]] or [[FourStarBadass General Badass]]. If they are being portrayed in a negative light, they will be the BloodKnight, NaziNobleman, GeneralRipper or TheNeidermeyer. If they are cruel and/or incompetent, they will most likely be portrayed as a ColonelKilgore or GeneralFailure. While these more negative incarnations may be just as dedicated to politeness and etiquette as the good ones, their good behavior is reserved for their superiors and people of proper social rank, rather than the rabble of men they lead. Further, the evil officer would not hesitate saying "WeHaveReserves." After all, the only ones whose lives are at risk are the commoner soldiers, and [[MoralMyopia who cares about them]]?

** His most notable aspect, apart from working for the other side, is not shooting down already damaged aircraft. A straight on duel, yes, plinking the defenseless, no.

* Captain Anson in ''Film/IceColdInAlex'' not only recovers from DrowningMySorrows as he flees [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Rommel's assault]] in a beaten-up ambulance, but also saves the life of [[spoiler: a South African soldier who tagged along for the ride who's revealed to be a German spy]].

* From ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger the good Captain America]] qualifies. He's less uppercrust and more the ideal American Boy Next Door type; however, he makes up for that with his keen intelligence and artistic talent. He's unfailingly polite to every woman he meets - he shields ComicBook/BlackWidow instead of himself or ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} during battle, and he pretty much gets [[ForcefulKiss lip-raped]] by a random secretary because he can't figure out how to turn down her advances without being rude. He ''will'' [[HonorBeforeReason do anything]] to help a friend, even go on what basically amounts to a suicide mission, ''alone.'' The only time we see him [[DrowningMySorrows drinking heavily]] is when said friend dies later on - and even then, his hyperactive metabolism won't let him get drunk. He plays TheSpock to ComicBook/IronMan's TheMcCoy (and challenges ComicBook/IronMan to a [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen one-on-one fistfight]], not over a woman, but because Tony's being the [[ByronicHero consummate douchebag]] we all know and love). And the only time we hear him swear is when he's vehemently ''ordering'' his love interest ([[MajorlyAwesome who outranks him]]) to get the hell outta Dodge before she's shot down by anti-aircraft artillery. Damn.

* Peter D'Alembord from ''Literature/{{Sharpe}}'', a charming, elegant and well-educated gentleman (who only joined the army because he killed a man in a duel). The title character is often pointed out to not be a gentleman, though an officer, although his conduct towards women is usually better than most of his well-born peers

* [[Main/SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with Kydd during ''Quarterdeck'' and ''Tenacious'', as well as other "tarpaulin" officers who "came up aft through the hawsehole". While certainly very good at their jobs through experience, hey're considered crude by the standards of those who play this trope straight, which is why Kydd begins to resent his fellow officers in ''Quarterdeck''.

* Frequent theme of the works of german author/philosopher Ernst Jünger. In most of his works of fiction, the title character is an officer and gentleman from a royal background. (Especially Heliopolis and the marble clifs.) The villains of his works are frequently villainous because they violate the noblemans obligue.

* TruthInTelevision: modern day officer corps are the direct descendants of knights. When warfare became a science instead of an art in the 15th century, most generals noticed that knights - professional soldiers who had trained for fighting, warfare, strategy, and tactics - were far more valuable as officers and commanders of units composed of commoners, rather than privates in elite units.
** The tradition amongst European noble families is that the eldest son will inherit the estate and the younger sons will select a career, either in military, clergy, academia or as civil servants. The name ''cadet'' for an officer trainee means "younger" in French - ''cadets'' were the younger sons of nobility.

* Real life subversion in conduct Robert Graves, the author of ''Literature/IClaudius'', describes doing during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. He describes an occasion when a German officer was sighted as being within sniping range, and declaring that [[HonorBeforeReason it would be dishonorable to kill a fellow officer this way]], Graves handed his gun to a lower class soldier and [[TechnicalPacifist ordered him to make the kill]].

** The USS ''Chesapeake'' then left harbor and sailed for the ''Shannon'', neither ship firing until they were at point-blank range. After the battle, there were more than 200 killed and wounded, one of the bloodiest ship to ship battles of the age. Captain Broke was badly wounded and would never command another ship. The American Captain Lawrence was killed in action, and buried with full military honors by his enemies, with 6 Royal Navy officers as his pallbearers.

* Peruvian admiral Miguel Grau. After sinking the ''Esmeralda'' battle boat in 1879, he immediately wrote the Esmeralda captain's widow praising her dead husband's bravery and sent her the guy's personal effects.

** Rommel is also known to have expressed objections when the [=SiPo=] sent a survey party to North Africa to "assess the Jewish problem" in Jewish ghettoes in North African cities then under Axis control. Rommel pointedly said that with shipping space so limited and problematical, he would have preferred an equivalent number of fighting soldiers, or their weight in petrol or ammo, rather than a bunch of Useless Mouths (using the rhetoric applied to Germany's disabled, who were being euthanized in ''Aktion T-4'') to feed and house out of his scarce resources. No more SS personnel were dispatched to Africa. However, if he had succeeded in capturing Palestine then Police units would have been sent there to cleanse it. Rommel's reputation as "the Good German" would then have been shot.

* Finland's very own Churchill, Field Marshal and later President Mannerheim. Being raised in an upper-class family, serving in the Russian court and then as Supreme Commander in Finland's four wars did little to prevent him from being a true gentleman. He did, however, subvert it on occasions. His predecessor as president, Risto Ryti, gave a solemn personal pledge that he would continue their strictly-unofficial alliance with UsefulNotes/NaziGermany against the Soviet Union - including holding up their sector of the Siege of Leningrad (which did not extend to sending raiding parties out to disrupt the food imports across Lake Ladoga). On the 2nd of February 1943, the last survivors of the Stalingrad pocket surrendered. The following day Mannerheim met with the Cabinet, Mannerheim's memoirs claiming they unanimously agreed that Germany was utterly screwed and that they had to find a way to ditch them at the earliest opportunity. The moment came some eighteen months later when the Soviets threw the Germans back from Leningrad and drove them into the Baltic: Ryti resigned, Mannerheim took office, and the new government declared war on Germany. When the Nazis demanded that they explain their 'betrayal', Mannerheim (politely if snarkily) reminded the Germans that A) their countries had never had an official alliance and B) countries are not bound by personal pledges of their leaders (however solemn).

* Zig-Zagged with the Soviets. The Red Army amid the Russian Civil War did have a good number of ex-Tsarist officers who made up most of the Red officer corps. A good number of these officers played this trope straight, but many of them such as Semyon Budyonny came from poorer backgrounds and those with a penchant for vulgarity were more favored by the communist ideology to contrast with the White Army's noble officer corps. Once the USSR was established, this trope was generally averted as gentleman officers were portrayed as imperialist class enemies, and the idea was to instead establish that anyone could be an officer. This culminated in the great purge ridding much of the Soviet's old guard officer corps due to the paranoia that they were politically unreliable, even ones who were never Tsarists or nobles, and thus young inexperienced officers who were at least reliably communist took their place. This purge contributed to multiple Soviet setbacks in the early 1940s, but the growing professionalism of the Red Army in World War II brought upon pragmatic forces that embraced professional officers, relented purges, and saw those hastily promoted young officers mature and transform the Red Army onto the most devastating land force on the planet. By the ColdWar era, the Soviet Army's officers were "red" gentleman and nobles that indulged in special privileges but sought to end the "decadent" west as well despite their own vulgarity.

*** NATO's western European and North American officers similarly by the Cold War were no longer disproportional nobles, but this didn't stop the two sides of the iron curtain from portraying each other's officers as decadent oligarchs. The wealthy and well connected were still over-represented in both sides' officer schools, however, but average Joes commissioned from the ranks were steadily taking over due to the need for military build up.

* Captain Amelia of ''Disney/TreasurePlanet'' fits this trope perfectly right down to the [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents upper-class British accent]] and StiffUpperLip, blending it with sharp GentlemanSnarker wit, LadyOfWar badassery, and IceQueen unattainability (eventually [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosted).]]

** Subverted in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'' in the form of Willikins, Vimes' [[BattleButler butler-turned-sergeant]]. When addressing Vimes, Willikins is the picture of politeness - so far so good - but when talking to the men under his charge he turns into a [[DrillSergeantNasty bellowing, foul-mouthed authoritarian.]] Also played straight with Lord Rust, who is the negative, incompetent, "BlueBlood who is polite to equals and superiors only" variety, with [[HonorBeforeReason lots of "honor" and not a lot of reason]], utterly convinced that their enemy (who has spent the last several decades fighting a variety of enemies and getting ''really good at it'') will "turn and flee the minute they taste cold steel"; he is described in Discworld/NightWatch as following the "subtract the enemy's casualties from thine own, and if the number is positive, then it was a Glorious Victory" school of strategy.
** Sergeant Jackrum of ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'' fame would tell you that, as a sergeant, Wilikins is neither an officer or a gentleman. Sergeants are crafty bastards, and he would know. Lieutenant Blouse from the same book ''would'' fit this trope if it were any other kind of story--he's an officer, a gentleman, and honorable to a fault -- but war is a very ugly thing that has no time for honor and chivalry.

*** Henry Tandey, a British soldier, almost shot a wounded and fleeing German infantryman, but decided not to and just waved him on mercifully. Guess [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler who the soldier was]]?

* ''Literature/TheAliceNetwork'': Captain Cameron is an honorable, kind soldier who would never leave a lady in distress. His gentlemanly qualities only make him more attractive to Eve, who rarely encounters kindness in the course of her life.

*** Sons (and, in today's world, daughters) of noble families are even today grossly over-represented in the military academies everywhere in the Western world. Except the United States, for obvious reasons, where they instead tend to be the sons and daughters of the wealthy and well-connected (after all, it's easier to get an appointment to West Point when your dad knows the Congressman making the appointment).
* Real life subversion in conduct Robert Graves, the author of ''Literature/IClaudius'', describes doing during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. He describes an occasion when a German officer was sighted as being within sniping range, and declaring that [[HonorBeforeReason it would be dishonorable to kill a fellow officer this way]], Graves handed his gun to a lower class soldier and ordered him to make the kill.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'', Marion Marik was this during the Reunification War. Despite the ruler of the Star League having officially rescinded the [[FictionalGenevaConventions Ares Accords]] prior to the war, Marion declared at the onset of her campaign against [[{{Matriarchy}} The Magistracy of Canopus]] that she and all forces under her command would obey the Accords as long as they were respected by the Magistracy. As a result, the Canopian Campaign was fought considerably cleaner than the [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene Taurian Campaign]] and the Magistracy survived the war with almost civilian casualties and relatively less ill will against House Marik and the Star League.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'', Marion Marik was this during the Reunification War. Despite the ruler of the Star League having officially rescinded the [[FictionalGenevaConventions Ares Accords]] prior to the war, Marion declared at the onset of her campaign against [[LadyLand The Magistracy of Canopus]] that she and all forces under her command would obey the Accords as long as they were respected by the Magistracy. As a result, the Canopian Campaign was fought considerably cleaner than the [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene Taurian Campaign]] and the Magistracy survived the war with almost civilian casualties and relatively less ill will against House Marik and the Star League.

* Commander Film/JamesBond, serving the Royal Navy before being recruited by MI6 as a double-O agent. He's seen in uniform in ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', and ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies''.

* Canadian figure skater Stephen Gogolev had portrayed a gentlemanly naval officer for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A-0iLiSDuU his short program]] during the 2019-2020 competitive season. His elegant costume combined with the music ("Grand Waltz" and "Russian Sailor's Dance") convey to the audience that he's gracefully "dancing" with a lady.