Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr.: An archaeologist, professor and adventurer who seeks to rescue his father and find the Holy Grail. Ford said he loved the idea of introducing Indiana's father because it allowed him to explore another side to Indiana's personality: "These are men who have never made any accommodation to each other. Indy behaves differently in his father's presence. Who else would dare call Indy 'junior'?"

Harrison Ford

Henry Jones, Sr.: Indiana's father, a professor of medieval literature who cared more about looking for the Grail than raising his son. Spielberg had Connery in mind when he suggested introducing Indiana's father, though he did not tell Lucas at first. Consequently, Lucas wrote the role as "a crazy, eccentric" professor resembling Laurence Olivier, whose relationship with Indiana is "strict schoolmaster and student rather than a father and son". Spielberg had been a fan of Connery's work as James Bond and felt that no one else could perform the role as well. Spielberg biographer Joseph McBride wrote, "Connery was already the father of Indiana Jones since the series had sprung from the desire of Lucas and Spielberg to rival (and outdo) Connery's James Bond films." Connery, who had eschewed major franchise films since his work on the James Bond series, as he found those roles dull and wanted to avoid paparazzi attention, initially turned the role down (as he was only twelve years older than Ford) but eventually relented. Connery—a student of history—began to reshape the character, and revisions were made to the script to address his concerns. "I wanted to play Henry Jones as a kind of Richard Francis Burton," Connery commented. "I was bound to have fun with the role of a gruff, Victorian Scottish father." Connery believed Henry should be a match for his son, telling Spielberg that "whatever Indy'd done my character has done and my character has done it better". Connery signed to the film on March 25, 1988. He improvised the line, "She talks in her sleep", which was left in because it made everyone laugh; in Boam's scripts, Henry telling Indiana that he slept with Elsa occurs later.

Sean Connery

Elsa Schneider: An Austrian art professor and Indy's love interest, who is in league with the Nazis. She seduces the Joneses to trick them, but appears to have genuine feelings for Indy. While the character of Elsa is in her 30s during the film, Doody was 21 when she auditioned and was one of the first actresses who met for the part. Amanda Redman was offered the role, but declined.

a younger Indiana Jones. Phoenix had portrayed the son of Ford's character in The Mosquito Coast (1986). Ford recommended Phoenix for the part; he said that of the young actors working at the time, Phoenix looked the most like him when he was around that age.

River Phoenix

Alex Hyde-White plays Henry in the film's prologue, though his face is never shown and his lines were dubbed by Connery.

Marcus Brody: Indiana's bumbling English colleague, revealed to also be an old friend of Henry. Elliott returned after Spielberg sought to recapture the tone of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), following the actor's absence in the darker Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

Denholm Elliott

Sallah: A friend of Indiana and a professional excavator living in Cairo. Like Elliott's, Rhys-Davies's return was also an attempt to recapture the spirit of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

John Rhys-Davies

Walter Donovan: A wealthy American businessman and grail hunter who sends the Joneses on their quest for the Holy Grail. Later revealed to be secretly working with the Nazis, he is motivated by a desire to achieve immortality. He originally auditioned for the role of Vogel. Glover, who is English, adopted an American accent for the film, but was dissatisfied with the result.

Julian Glover

Standartenführer Ernst Vogel: A brutal SS officer. Byrne and Ford had previously starred in Force 10 from Navarone (1978), in which they also respectively played a German and an American.

Michael Byrne