Editing Ferdinand Waldo Demara

{{short description|American imposter}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2010}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Ferdinand Waldo Demara
| image              =Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr.png
| caption            = Demara during a 1959 broadcast of [[You Bet Your Life]]
| birth_date         = December 1921
| birth_place        = [[Lawrence, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1982|6|7|1921|12}}
| death_place        = [[Anaheim, California]], U.S.
| known_for          = Impersonating other people
| occupation         = 
}}

'''Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr.''' (December 1921<ref>Per ''World War II Army Enlistment Records''</ref>&nbsp;&ndash; 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|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]],<ref name="nyt">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/09/obituaries/ferdinand-waldo-demara-60-an-impostor-in-varied-fields.html|title=Ferdinand Waldo Demara, 60, an Impostor in Varied Fields|last=Ap|date=1982-06-09|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-07-27|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> an editor, a cancer researcher, and a teacher. One teaching job led to six months in prison.{{citation needed|date=October 2010}}

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 [[Eidetic memory|photographic memory]] and was widely reputed to have an extraordinary IQ.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} He was apparently able to memorize necessary techniques from textbooks and worked on two cardinal rules: ''"the [[legal burden of proof|burden of proof]] is on the accuser"'' and ''"when in danger, attack."'' He described his own motivation as "Rascality, pure rascality".<ref name = TGI>{{cite book|title=The Great Impostor |first= Robert| last= Crichton| publisher= Random House| year= 1959| isbn= 0-394-42714-9| url= https://archive.org/details/greatimpostor010210mbp}}</ref>{{rp|218}}

== Early life and adulthood ==
Demara, known locally as 'Fred', was born in [[Lawrence, Massachusetts|Lawrence]], [[Massachusetts]], in 1921. His father, Ferdinand Waldo Demara Sr., was born in [[Rhode Island]] and worked in Lawrence's old Theatre District as a motion picture operator. Demara Sr. had been financially well-off, and the family lived in an upper-class neighborhood on Jackson St. in Lawrence. Demara Sr.'s brother, Napoleon, owned many of the theatres in Lawrence, in which Demara Sr. was an active [[trade union|union]] member. Early in the [[Great Depression]], Fred's father became financially insolvent, forcing the family to move from the Tower Hill neighborhood to the poorer section in the city, at 40 Texas Avenue in the lower southwest Tower Hill neighborhood.

During this financially troubled time, Demara Jr. ran away from home at age 16 to join the [[Trappist]] monks in Rhode Island.<ref name="Time-1957">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936819-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106081257/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936819-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 6, 2012|title=Americana: Ferdinand the Bull Thrower|date=February 25, 1957 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|accessdate=30 October 2010}}</ref> After two years, he was told he wasn't suited to being a Trappist and was sent instead to a [[Brothers of Charity]] home near Montreal, Canada.<ref name="NCR">{{cite news |last1=Cavanaugh |first1=Ray |title=Brother, doctor, soldier, lies |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/brother-doctor-soldier-lies |access-date=April 29, 2022 |work=National Catholic Reporter |date=July 17, 2015 |language=en}}</ref> He was then transferred to a Brothers of Charity boys home in [[West Newbury]], Massachusetts, where he taught fourth grade. After running away from the Brothers of Charity after an argument with his superior,<ref name="NCR" /> he joined the [[United States Army]] in 1941.

== Impersonations ==
The following year, Demara began his new life by borrowing the name of Anthony Ignolia, an army buddy, and going [[AWOL]]. He joined the [[Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani]], a Trappist monastery in Kentucky under his assumed identity. However, he met an acquaintance from his first Trappist monastery, and so he left before his true identity could be revealed. He then moved to the [[New Melleray Abbey]] near [[Dubuque, Iowa]], before finally returning home. His father encouraged his son to turn himself in to the military police for his desertion but he did not.<ref name="NCR" />

He then joined the [[United States Navy]] where he trained as a [[hospital corpsman]].<ref name= tale>{{cite magazine| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=flQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA79 |first= Joe| last= McCarthy| magazine= Life| date= January 28, 1952 | title= The Master Imposter: An Incredible Tale | pages= 79–89| via= Google Books| access-date= December 13, 2017}}</ref>{{rp|80}} He did not reach the position he wanted, faked his suicide and borrowed another name, Robert Linton French, and pretended to be a religion-oriented psychologist. "Dr French" then presented himself at the [[Subiaco Abbey (Arkansas)|New Subiaco Abbey]], a Benedictine monastery in Arkansas, as a would-be Catholic convert. However, after a few weeks "he was summoned to the abbot's office, where he was accused of having forged his documents".<ref name="NCR" /> He denied the accusations but left the monastery. He travelled to Chicago, where he joined the [[Clerics of Saint Viator]], before moving on to the [[Order of St. Camillus]] in Milwaukee.<ref name="NCR" /> After once more arguing with his superiors, this time over his lack of cooking skills, he left and moved to New Jersey, where he joined the [[Paulist]] novitiate in [[Oak Ridge, New Jersey|Oak Ridge]].<ref name="NCR" />

As Dr. French, he applied for various jobs at Catholic colleges and was eventually employed to teach [[psychology]] at [[Gannon College]] (now a university) in Erie, Pennsylvania. Being made dean of the School of Philosophy, he taught general psychology, [[industrial psychology]], and [[abnormal psychology]], and published a "well-received booklet" titled ''How to Bring Up Your Child''.<ref name="NCR" /> He left after "an unfortunate incident involving forged checks".<ref name="NCR" /> He was briefly a member of the Benedictine [[St. Bede Academy|Saint Bede's Abbey, Peru]], Illinois, before joining the [[Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God]].<ref name="NCR" />

Afterwards, Demara served as an orderly in a Los Angeles sanitarium, and served as an instructor in [[Saint Martin's University|St. Martin's College]] (now a university) in the state of Washington. The [[FBI]] captured him and he served 18 months at the Naval Disciplinary Barracks, [[San Pedro, California]], for desertion. After his release, he assumed a fake identity and studied law at night at Northeastern University, then joined the [[Brothers of Christian Instruction]] in [[Maine]], a Roman Catholic order.<ref name="Time-1957" />

While there, he became acquainted with a young Canadian surgeon named Joseph C. Cyr.<ref name="Time-1957" /> That led to his most famous exploit in which he masqueraded as Cyr, working as a [[ship's doctor]] aboard [[HMCS Cayuga (R04)|HMCS ''Cayuga'']], a [[Royal Canadian Navy]] destroyer, during the [[Korean War]]. He managed to improvise successful major surgeries and fend off infection with generous amounts of [[penicillin]]. His most notable surgical practices were performed on some sixteen Korean combat injuries who were loaded onto the ''Cayuga''. All eyes turned to Demara, as several men needed urgent surgery. After ordering personnel to transport them to the ship's operating room and prep them for treatment, Demara disappeared to his room with a textbook on general surgery and speed-read the steps for the procedures that lay ahead, including major chest surgery. All the men survived.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Accounts of his heroic efforts ended up in Canadian newspapers, reaching the mother of the real Joseph Cyr, who was quietly practicing medicine in [[Grand Falls, New Brunswick|Grand Falls]], [[New Brunswick]]. When news of the impersonation reached the ''Cayuga'', still on station off Korea, Captain James Plomer at first refused to believe them. Demara, however, confessed and returned to Canada to face a court-martial.  Faced with the embarrassment of having allowed an impostor into the Royal Canadian Navy's ranks, a board of enquiry instead chose to quietly dismiss him and force his deportation to the United States. 

The ''MASH'' episode "[[Dear Dad...Again]]" included a one-time character Captain Adam Casey, likely inspired by Demara's exploits, who performs several surgeries, but turns out not to be a real surgeon.

=== Guiding philosophy ===
Demara told his biographer he was successful in his roles because he was able to fit into positions that no one else had previously occupied. Demara explained it in the following excerpt from his biography:{{blockquote|'(Demara) had come to two beliefs. One was that in any organization there is always a lot of loose, unused power lying about which can be picked up without alienating anyone. The second rule is, if you want power and want to expand, never encroach on anyone else's domain; open up new ones...'}}

Demara referred to it as 'expanding into the power vacuum,' and described as such; 'if you come into a new situation (there's a nice word for it), don't join some other professor's committee and try to make your mark by moving up in that committee. You'll, one, have a long haul and two, make an enemy.' Demara's technique was to find his own committee. 'That way there's no competition, no past standards to measure you by. How can anyone tell you aren't running a top outfit? And then there's no past laws or rules or precedents to hold you down or limit you. Make your own rules and interpretations. Nothing like it. Remember it, expand into the power vacuum!'<ref name = TGI />{{rp|102–103}}
In his later years, he joined the Los Angeles Adventurers Club; he was noted as the only person to lie his way into the club.

=== Founded a college ===
During Demara's impersonation as Brother John Payne of the Christian Brothers of Instruction (also known as [[Brothers of Christian Instruction]]), Demara decided to make the religious teaching order more prominent by founding a college in [[Alfred, Maine]]. Demara proceeded on his own and got the college chartered by the state. He then promptly left the religious order in 1951, when the Christian Brothers of Instruction offended him by not naming him as rector or chancellor of the new college and chose what Demara considered a terrible name for the college.<ref name = TGI />{{rp|115–119}} The college Demara founded, [[LaMennais College]] in Alfred, Maine eventually became, in 1960, Walsh College (now [[Walsh University]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=LaMennais Brothers Blogspot| url= http://lamennaisbrothers.blogspot.com/|accessdate= April 3, 2011}}</ref>

=== Minor fame ===
After this episode, he sold his tale to ''[[Life (magazine)|LIFE]]''<ref name= tale /> and worked in short-term jobs, since he had become widely known. However, he returned to his old tricks, obtained fake credentials, and got a job at a prison in [[Huntsville, Texas|Huntsville]], [[Texas]]. According to his biographer, Demara's past became known and his position untenable when an inmate found a 1952 copy of ''LIFE'' with an article about the impostor. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' ran a full page article on Demara in February 1957.

On November 5, 1959, Demara appeared on the surrealistic game show hosted by [[Ernie Kovacs]], ''[[Take a Good Look (TV series)|Take a Good Look]]''. The object was for one of the three celebrity panelists to guess his identity. One week later, on November 12, 1959, he appeared on an episode of the TV quiz show ''[[You Bet Your Life]]'', with Groucho Marx.  Demara recounted his exploits and said the $1,000 he earned on the program was going to be donated to the "Feed and Clothe Fred Demara Fund".<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/33Rz5yYCeks Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160229142521/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Rz5yYCeks Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite serial| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Rz5yYCeks&index=89&list=PLHaioNpr_GDbvsTj_taM-jO6C1658N1PC | series= [[You Bet Your Life]] |number= 59-08 |title= Ferdinand Demara, 'The Great Imposter' | interviewer= Groucho Marx | first1= Carmen| last1= Phillips| first2= Ferdinand| last2= Demara|date= November 12, 1959| at= 6:48| via= YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Demara continued to use new aliases but, as a result of his self-generated publicity, it became much harder to accomplish impersonations. In 1960, as a publicity stunt, Demara was given a small acting role in the horror film ''[[The Hypnotic Eye]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title="The Hypnotic Eye." AFI Catalog.|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/53182|access-date=2023-08-11}}</ref> He appears briefly in the film portraying a legitimate hospital surgeon. By this point, Demara's girth was so notable that he could not avoid attracting attention. Demara had already been considerably overweight during his impersonation of Joseph C. Cyr.

== Later life ==
{{Moresources|section|date=February 2024}}
Demara had various friendships with a wide variety of notable people during his life, including a close relationship with actor [[Steve McQueen]], to whom Demara delivered last rites in November 1980.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Hillel |author-link=Hillel Schwartz (historian) |title=The Culture of the Copy: Striking Likenesses, Unreasonable Facsimiles |date=2 November 2014 |location=New York |publisher=Zone Books |page=61 |isbn=9781935408451}}</ref> Tony Curtis, on the Tom Snyder television show, claimed that his favorite role was not the "[[Boston Strangler]]", nor his role in the renowned comedy ''[[Some Like it Hot]]'', but his role in the movie ''The Great Impostor'', portraying Demara.

When Demara's past exploits and infamy were discovered in the late 1970s, he was almost dismissed from the Good Samaritan Hospital of Orange County in [[Anaheim, California]], where he worked as a visiting chaplain. Chief of Staff Philip S. Cifarelli, who had developed a close personal friendship with Demara, personally vouched for him and Demara was allowed to remain as chaplain. Demara was a very active and appreciated minister, serving a variety of patients in the hospital. Few of those with whom he interacted at the hospital knew of his colorful past. Due to limited financial resources and his friendships with Cifarelli and Jerry Nilsson, one of the major owners of the hospital, Demara was allowed to live in the hospital until his death, even after illness forced him to stop working for them in 1980.

Demara died on June 7, 1982, at the age of 60 due to heart failure and complications from his diabetic condition, which had required both of his legs to be amputated. According to his obituary in ''[[The New York Times]]'', he had been living in [[Orange County, California]], for eight years. He died at West Anaheim Community Hospital.<ref name="nyt" />

== In media ==
Demara's story was recounted in the 1960 book, ''The Great Impostor'', written by [[Robert Crichton (novelist)|Robert Crichton]] and published by [[Random House]]. The book was a ''New York Times'' bestseller and adapted into a 1961 film by the same name starring [[Tony Curtis]] as Demara. A second book by Crichton, ''The Rascal and the Road'', recounted Demara and Crichton's experiences together as Crichton conducted research for ''The Great Impostor''.

===Music===
* [[The Band]] recorded a song, "Ferdinand the Imposter", released on a 2005 [[The Basement Tapes#Other released Basement Tape songs|reissue of ''The Basement Tapes'']].<ref name="song">{{cite web | title = Ferdinand the Imposter | url = http://theband.hiof.no/articles/ferdinand_the_imposter_sadavid.html | accessdate= 2008-11-26 }}</ref>
* [[The Fleetwoods]] recorded a song, "[[(He's) The Great Imposter]]", which was inspired by Demara's story.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780452289185,00.html| title=Greil Marcus/Mystery Train| accessdate=2014-02-12| archive-date=2014-02-22| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222145349/http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780452289185,00.html| url-status=dead}}, p. 245</ref>

=== Books ===
*{{cite book| first= Robert| last= Crichton| title= The Great Impostor| publisher= Random House| year= 1959| isbn= 0-394-42714-9| url= https://archive.org/details/greatimpostor010210mbp}}
*{{cite book| first= Robert| last= Crichton| title= The Rascal and the Road| publisher= Simon & Schuster | year= 1961| isbn=1-199-39990-6| oclc= 1372850}}

=== Films/TV ===
* ''[[The Great Impostor]]'' (1960) is a feature film of a fictionalised version of Demara's life, starring [[Tony Curtis]] as Demara.
* In "[[Dear Dad...Again|Dear Dad... Again]]", a 1973 episode of the TV series ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'', Hawkeye exposes a fraudulent surgeon; the plot was inspired by Demara.
* The protagonist of the TV series ''[[The Pretender (TV series)|The Pretender]]'', Jarod, is inspired by (but not based on) Demara.
* In the manga series ''[[One Piece (manga)|One Piece]]'', a character named Demaro Black impersonated the main character, referring to Demara's impersonations.

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/09/obituaries/ferdinand-waldo-demara-60-an-impostor-in-varied-fields.html Obituary], ''The New York Times''
* {{cite book| first= Robert| last= Crichton| title= The Great Impostor| publisher= Random House| year= 1959| isbn= 0-394-42714-9| url= https://archive.org/details/greatimpostor010210mbp}}
* {{cite web| url= http://www.kvacanada.com/stories_lpimposter.htm| publisher= Korean Veterans Association of Canada| title= The Case of the Spurious Sawbones| website= kvacanada.com| access-date= 2003-01-15| archive-date= 2016-03-03| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303194015/http://www.kvacanada.com/stories_lpimposter.htm| url-status= dead}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051025201105/http://www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org/resource_pages/chars/Demara.html Article on Demara] (archived) at CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum
* [http://www.jproc.ca/cayuga/history.html HMCS ''Cayuga'' history page]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811215511/http://asailorslife.ca/home.html Recollection of Demara as Dr. Joseph Cyr] by Retired Commander Peter G. Chance in his book 
* {{IMDb name|0218075|Fred Demara}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Demara, Ferdinand Waldo}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:American amputees]]
[[Category:American Christian monks]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Brothers of Charity]]
[[Category:Canadian military personnel of the Korean War]]
[[Category:Catholics from California]]
[[Category:Hoaxes in the United States]]
[[Category:Impostors]]
[[Category:Multnomah University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Lawrence, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People who faked their own death]]
[[Category:Trappists]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]