Rudi Gunn is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 in the Dirk Pitt

Dirk Pitt

Dirk Pitt is a fictional character, the protagonist of a series of bestselling adventure novels written by Clive Cussler. The name Dirk Pitt is a registered trademark of Clive Cussler.-Character information and the supporting cast:...

 adventure

Adventure novel

The adventure novel is a genre of novels that has adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme.-History:...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

s by acclaimed novelist Clive Cussler

Clive Cussler

Clive Eric Cussler is an American adventure novelist and marine archaeologist. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached The New York Times fiction best-seller list more than seventeen times...

. He is played by Rainn Wilson

Rainn Wilson

Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...

 in the movie Sahara

Sahara (2005 film)

Sahara is a 2005 action-comedy adventure film directed by Breck Eisner and based on the best-selling book of the same name by Clive Cussler...

.

Rudi Gunn is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating first in his class. He formerly held the rank of Commander in the Navy. He joined NUMA

National Underwater and Marine Agency

The National Underwater and Marine Agency , originally an organization within the fiction of author Clive Cussler, is a private non-profit organization in the United States...

 at the same time as Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino

Al Giordino

Albert Cassius Giordino is a fictional character in a series of adventure novels by Clive Cussler; he first appears in The Mediterranean Caper . He is described as being of Italian ancestry, 5'4" in height, 175 lb, with dark curly hair, swarthy skin, dark Etruscan eyes, and a Roman nose. He...

, becoming deputy director of NUMA's oceanographic

Oceanography

Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...

 projects, making him second in command under Admiral James Sandecker

James Sandecker

Admiral James Sandecker is a fictional character in the Dirk Pitt and Kurt Austin adventure novels by acclaimed novelist Clive Cussler. Sandecker is the Director of NUMA, the National Underwater and Marine Agency...

. Gunn has a thinning hairline and wears thick horn-rimmed glasses, which are reminiscent of his childhood nickname, 'Beaver Eyes'. He was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

 for his work in the Sahara

Sahara

The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...

crisis, but did not win.

Gunn is described as behaving like an academic, but is not afraid to get his hands dirty if the situation so requires. Despite his tendency to be a stickler for rules and regulations, Gunn is respected by Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino because he does not inform Admiral Sandecker of their exploits, which are often in violation of instructions that have been given to them.