Hellboy's 'Right Hand of Doom' Makes Him Left Handed?

"Hellboy's right hand, referred to as the 'Right Hand of Doom', consists of a large forearm and hand that seems to be made from red stone. The Hand is dexterous enough to catch a fly, but its large size causes Hellboy to prefer his normal-sized left hand to operate weapons and devices." (Source: Wikipedia)

So is Hellboy right handed or left handed?

Hellboy

Ron Perlman as Hellboy, and Samaritan

Actor Ron Perlman, who plays Hellboy in the recent films, is left handed.

Ron Perlman signs an autograph

Mike Mignola, who created Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics, is right handed.

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Sin(ister) City?

Sometimes lefties have to play righties. Many of the shots in Robert Rodriguez's Sin City were modelled directly on panels in Frank Miller's graphic novel. Therefore Detective John Hartigan, played by Bruce Willis, who is left handed, is played right handed.

Hartigan

For example this frame:

Hartigan takes aim at Yellow Bastard

Became this shot:

Hartigan takes aim at Yellow Bastard

Of course Frank Miller, like almost all of his characters, is right handed.

Frank Miller signs a copy of "300"

Jim and Kermit

The left hand of Jim Henson

Jim Henson was left-handed, though he wore Kermit the Frog on his right hand when performing. He used his left hand to manipulate the wires that operate Kermit's hands. Generally Kermit will be seen holding things that have to be manipulated in his left hand.

Kermit is now played by Steve Whitmire, who is right handed, but the pattern set by Jim Henson still makes Kermit mainly left handed.

Kermit holds phone in his left hand

Muppet manipulation

"The Muppeteer or Muppet master always holds the Muppet above his head or in front of his body, with one hand operating the head and mouth and the other manipulating the hands and arms, either with two separate control rods or by "wearing" the hands like gloves. One consequence of this design is that most Muppets are left-handed as the puppeteer uses his right hand to operate the head while operating the arm rod with his left hand." (source: Wikipedia article.)

Live-hand muppets

The Sesame Street character Ernie is an example of a "live-hand" muppet. The muppeteer operates the character's head with his or her right hand, and his or her left hand is in the hand of the character. So all such characters (which include Ernie, Cookie Monster, Fozzie Bear, Rowlf the Dog, Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew) are left-handed. (See "performing Ernie")

Beaker and Dr. Honeydew, both left handed

However, when a character like Rowlf or The Swedish Chef uses both hands, Jim Henson would operate the head and another mupeteer would do both hands. In the picture below Steve Whitmire helps Rowlf play the piano. So at these times Rowlf would be right handed.

Steve Whitmire does Rowlf's hands

Yippee-ki-yay, right-hander

Bruce Willis is left handed. So is John McCane. Hans Gruber is not.

Recent Presidents

Every President of the United States since Gerald Ford (Except Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush) was a leftie. Ronald Reagan is said to have been born leftie but wrote and threw rightie. However, it looks like he shot leftie.

Gerald Ford

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

George H.W. Bush

Bill Clinton

Barack Obama

Isaiah Mustafa

Yes, the manly Old Spice® man, embodied hunkily by Isaiah Mustafa, is left handed. So is Isaiah Mustafa.

Watch the video here.