Ferdinand Waldo Demara

Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr. (December 1921 – 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, an editor, a cancer researcher, and a teacher. One teaching job led to six months in prison.

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. 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".^: 218