Readers of The Last Leaf by O. Henry perhaps will never forget Old Behrman for his admirable deed – sacrificing his own life to save the life of the young lady Johnsy, who is no relation to him in any way. Except for one short paragraph, there is almost nowhere else that the writer describes the great old man – Old Behrman. As for such a man, in fact, there is no abundance of words that can give readers a picture of him, because his deed alone is enough for him to be enlisted among the greatest heroes. Being “ a failure in art” and having never realized his dream of painting a masterpiece, he has admittedly managed to do much more than that by painting the leaf during the dreadful night – wet, icy, and cold – in spite of his pneumonia and old age and thus his life to save Johnsy’s hope and accordingly her life.