The hero of the novel, Dean Moriarty, is based on their friend Neal Cassady, an ex-convict and a Casanova of astonishing energy.

NPR: 'On the Road' at 50

As Dean Moriarty, a character based on Neal Cassady, Garrett Hedlund, a twenty-eight-year-old Minnesotan, is physically alive, and often naked, with a husky bedroom voice.

NEWYORKER: Open Country