 ferdinand waldo demara, jr. (december 21, 1921this date is uncertain. some sources say 12 december 1921, 12 december 1922 or 21 december 1922.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0218075/bio&nbsp;&ndash; june 7, 1982), known as "the great impostor", masqueraded as many people from monks to surgeons to prison wardens. http://books.google.pl/books?id=flqeaaaambaj&lpg=pa79&pg=pa79#v=onepage&q&f=false he was the subject of a movie, the great impostor, in which he was played by tony curtis. during demara's "careers", his impersonations included a ship's doctor, 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, an editor, a cancer researcher, and a teacher. one teaching job led to six months in prison. he never seemed to get (or seek) much monetary gain in what he was doing&nbsp;&ndash; just temporary respectability. many of demara's unsuspecting employers, under other circumstances, would have been satisfied with demara as an employee. demara was said to possess a true photographic memory and was widely reputed to have an extraordinary iq. 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". == early life and adulthood == demara, known locally as "fred", was born in lawrence, massachusetts, in 1921, at 40 texas avenue in the lower southwest tower hill neighborhood. his father, ferdinand waldo demara, sr. was born in rhode island and worked in lawrence's old theatre district as a motion picture operator. in those days, his father did financially well and they lived on jackson st in lawrence, an upper class district with many larger-size, finer homes. however it was his uncle, napoleon louis demara, sr. who owned those theatres, where fred's father, ferdinand, sr. was an active union member. at some point during the earlier stages of the 1930s depression, fred's father lost virtually all he had and the family moved to poorer districts in the city. this angered the young man. he ran away from home at the age of sixteen to join cistercian monks in rhode island, where he stayed for several years.{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936819-1,00
1921_births 1982_deaths American_military_personnel_of_World_War_II American_monks Canadian_military_personnel_of_the_Korean_War Cardiovascular_disease_deaths_in_California Cistercians Deaths_from_heart_failure Hoaxes_in_the_United_States Impostors Multnomah_University_alumni People_from_Lawrence,_Massachusetts United_States_Army_soldiers