Rose DeWitt Bukater
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Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt BukaterRose DeWitt Bukater is the fictional heroine of James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic. She was played by British actress Kate Winslet, and the 101-year-old Rose was played by 1930s film star Gloria Stuart.

Both actresses were nominated for Academy Awards, Winslet for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Stuart for Best Supporting Actress nomination, becoming the oldest person to receive an acting nomination (she was 86 when she appeared in the film). This was the first time two actresses had been Oscar-nominated for playing the same character.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Seventeen-year-old Rose was on a transatlantic journey aboard the RMS Titanic, from Southampton, England to New York City in order for her to marry young business tycoon Caledon Hockley, a man she did not love, just so her mother Ruth DeWitt Bukater could become wealthy again. As a token of his devotion, Caledon presents her with a huge diamond called "The Heart of the Ocean", which Rose sees as a symbol of her oppression. Feeling trapped into a marriage she did not want, and feeling stifled by the restrictions of Upper Class society, she tried committing suicide by jumping off the back of the Titanic. However, a friendly young tramp, Jack Dawson saved her, and they fell deeply in love.

Despite the restrictions on board ship segregating the First and Third class passengers, Rose enjoyed several rendezvous with Jack over the next day or so, openly defying her mother and Caledon. On what would be her final night aboard Titanic, she asked Jack -- a gifted artist -- to sketch a picture of her, nude and wearing the Heart of the Ocean. After narrowly escaping from Caledon's bodyguard, Lovejoy, she and Jack took refuge in the baggage area deep within Titanic, where they made love in the back of an automobile stored there. (A deleted scene from the film strongly suggests she was a virgin though this is only indicated by Caledon so may not actually be true.)

Soon after, Titanic hit an iceberg and started to sink. The second half of the movie is crucial to Rose's character: It shows her standing up to her mother and her fiance Caledon Hockley, and risking all to save Jack from the icy bowels of the ship (Jack having been left to die belowdecks). After the ship finally went under, she and Jack clung onto driftwood for hours before finally, Jack died of the cold. Heartbroken, she blew a whistle she found in the water for help, and a lifeboat came back for her. Believed dead by her family, she adopts the name Rose Dawson.

She lived the rest of her life doing the things that Jack and herself talked about doing, like riding horses in Santa Monica, California and becoming a movie actress. Eventually, she married and moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and started a family.

In 1996, when she was 101 and living with her granddaughter, the portrait Jack sketched of her was discovered in the wreck of the Titanic. After contacting the recovery crew, she was invited to go out to the scene, where a search has been underway for the Heart of the Ocean. Rose tells them her story of having survived the wreck. That night, she walks to the back of the salvage ship and removes the Heart of the Ocean from her pocket. Although long since thought to have gone down with the ship, Rose had actually carried it with her off the ship -- not realizing this until she arrived in New York City. She throws the diamond into the water, returning it to its proper resting place. (An alternate version of this scene was shot in which the head of the salvage team tries to convince her not to throw the diamond overboard, but ultimately she does anyway. This version is included on the 2005 DVD release.)

Later, she is seen lying peacefully in her bed. Images appear of Rose, young again, back on the Titanic. Doors are opened for her as she enters the Grand Staircase, and she walks up the stairs. Jack is waiting, and turns and takes her hand. They kiss and the passengers applaud heartily. The film intentionally leaves it ambiguous as to whether this is a dream, or if Rose has passed away.