 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2010) |
Ferdinand Waldo Demara | |
|---|---|
 Demara during a 1959 broadcast of You Bet Your Life | |
| Born | December 1921 Lawrence, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | June 7, 1982 (aged 60) Anaheim, California, U.S. |
| Known for | Impersonating other people |
Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr. (December 1921[1] – June 7, 1982) was an American impostor. He was the subject of both a book and a movie, loosely based on his exploits: The Great Impostor, in which he was played by Tony Curtis.
Demara's impersonations included a civil engineer, a sheriff's deputy, an assistant prison warden, a doctor of applied psychology, a hospital orderly, a lawyer, a child-care expert, a Benedictine monk, a Trappist monk, a naval surgeon,[2] an editor, a cancer researcher, and a teacher. One teaching job led to six months in prison.[citation needed]
There are not many facts that have been proven about Demara, in spite of the articles, book, and big screen movie made about him during his lifetime. He was said to possess a true photographic memory and was widely reputed to have an extraordinary IQ.[citation needed] He was apparently able to memorize necessary techniques from textbooks and worked on two cardinal rules: The burden of proof is on the accuser and When in danger, attack. He described his own motivation as "Rascality, pure rascality".[3]: 218
- ^ Per World War II Army Enlistment Records
- ^ Ap (1982-06-09). "Ferdinand Waldo Demara, 60, an Impostor in Varied Fields". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
- ^ Crichton, Robert (1959). The Great Impostor. Random House. ISBN 0-394-42714-9.