But a group of UK academics have discovered that Austen's fictional heartthrob Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy didn't look at all like the actors -- Colin Firth and Matthew MacFadyen -- who've played him.

But, according to a team of experts on fashion and social culture, Fitzwilliam Darcy doesn’t look like Olivier, Macfadyen or Firth. Based on research, the group recently released what they deem ...

Firth originally set hearts afire as Fitzwilliam Darcy in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. While Cumberbatch deserves credit for the swooning frenzy his photograph inspired ...

Anyone who has ever read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice over the past 200 years has surely conjured up his or her own idea of what the curmudgeonly-but-lovable Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy would ...

He has a funny name: Fitzwilliam Darcy. His occupation is even worse: "gentleman." (Ugh.) He's cold, aloof, stoic and proud to the point of arrogance. "Haughty, reserved and fastidious," in fact ...

The first historically accurate illustration of Mr Darcy has been created (Picture: UKTV/Nick Hardcastle) An artist has created a historically accurate portrait of Jane Austen’s Mr Darcy.

Professor John Sutherland from University College London, who led the research, said: "There are only scraps of physical description of Fitzwilliam Darcy to be found in Pride and Prejudice.