FERDINAND WALDO DEMARA

Ferdinand Waldo Demara was a criminal from the 1940s to the 1950s. He gained worldwide fame in 1959 when he was arrested for having successfully impersonated over 30 other people, including a doctor, a college dean, a deputy prison warden, and many others! He was not tried for his crimes, because the "victims" refused to press charges! That year, a book was written about his life, and it was made into a movie called "The Great Impostor", starring Tony Curtis in 1961. The year before, he had had a small role in "The Hypnotic Eye", but that was the end of his movie career. But his celebrity gained him many celebrity friends, including Steve McQueen, for whom he delivered the last rites when McQueen died. He spent his later years working as a chaplain in a hospital, and when his past was exposed, he was almost fired, but all the people at that hospital vouched for him, and he was allowed to continue working there. He passed away in 1982 at the age of 59.