For anime, I can only recall Takatsuki Gentatsu (Rurouni Kenshin) and Kyuzou (Samurai 7) being of or near to the class, as far as characters that I liked; most others just carried swords.

Historically speaking, I don't personally have any favorites. I do respect Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (therefore I am eager to see the anime Basilisk when it starts on channel IFC) and Daimyo Konishi Yukinaga because of their tact, rationality and personal convictions (even though I doubt you could consider Konishi as a true Samurai because of his actions and beliefs). As nothing more than a fierce warrior, Kato Kiyomasa was undoubtedly one of the best! Yeah, you can probably tell which time period I've been sorta learning about...
I don't watch too many Samurai films, although I highly recommend Aragmi - I'm not only a fan of actor Kato Masaya, but the movie had extraordinary essence and feel. The sword fights were wonderfully enhanced with modern music (guitars and synthesizers) which gave the action sequences a lot of oomph!
I personally just adore warriors of any class or status, especially those with honor and strong beliefs, be they "hero" or "villain". And if an anime or film has sword-fighting and epic battles, I'm interested!!