<P> Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) is an academic and curator who has known Indy since he was a child . Brody was friends with Indy's father, Henry Sr., and served as something of a surrogate father figure, as Indy did not get along well with his own father . In the film, Brody makes a deal with government agents that Indy will recover the Ark of the Covenant and put it in a museum, but the agents put it away in a top secret hiding place (Hangar 51), much to his disappointment . He reappeared in The Last Crusade (1989), aiding Indiana on the search for his father and getting captured by the Nazis . In 1940, Marcus Brody retired as curator of the National Museum and accepted a position as Dean of Students at Marshall College . After he died in 1952, Indy lobbied hard for the bronze statue of Brody featured in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on the Marshall College grounds . The statue of Brody lists his years of service as Dean of Students from 1939 to 1944 . Denholm Elliot's death in 1992 was written into Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with the death of his character . </P> <P> Spielberg cast Elliott in the role because he was a fan of the actor . His return in Crusade was motivated by the director's desire to have the film hew closer to Raiders . He was initially portrayed in the first film as a knowledgeable, accomplished archaeologist in his own right, with much apparent field work under his belt, and tells Indy that he would accompany him on his quest but for other responsibilities . By the third film in the series, his character had changed to a somewhat bumbling figure who Indy mentions had gotten lost in his own museum and provided much of the film's comic relief . Brody has also appeared in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, the Marvel Comics Indiana Jones series, a Young Indiana Jones book and the Bantam novels series . </P> <P> Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) had an affair with Indiana in 1926, which ended abruptly when her father Abner Ravenwood (Jones' mentor) discovered their romance . Ten years later, a resentful Marion is forced to aid Indiana in retrieving the Ark of the Covenant after her bar in Nepal is burned down by Arnold Ernst Toht and his thugs . Marion was a regular supporting character in the Marvel Comics series set after the film, and Allen reprised the role for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008 . </P> <P> In the early script of the film, written by Lawrence Kasdan, Marion was set to be a prostitute after Abner's death, but George Lucas rejected the script . </P>

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