Robinson Crusoe, his most widely read work, was published on 25 April, 1719, with the book’s protagonist credited as its author. This led many readers to assume that Crusoe was a real person and the book an actual travelogue. It is now believed that the novel was based on the life of the Scottish adventurer Alexander Selkirk. The book is written as an autobiography of the eponymous character, a shipwreck survivor who spends thirty years on a remote island before he is finally rescued. Robinson Crusoe has been adapted numerous times for the screen and stage, with Dan O'Herlihy playing the lead in the 1954 Luis Bunuel classic.
