Ferdinand Demara: The Great Impostor
Ferdinand Waldo Demara
Who Was Ferdinand Demara?
Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr. (1921–1982) was, without a doubt, one of the most prolific impostors in United States history. As soon as one of his personas was exposed, he quickly took on another.
Demara, popularly known as “Fred,” is said to have possessed a photographic memory and an extraordinarily high IQ. He was exceptionally skilled at almost any calling, carrying off so many hoaxes and fooling experts in so many fields that he became known as the “Renaissance Man.”
He could speed-read to "teach" himself and memorize advanced concepts and techniques from textbooks so effectively that he was readily accepted as a brilliant scholar in whatever field he chose.
St. Martin's University in Lacey, Washington
"Dr. French" and "Brother John Payne"
Despite being a high school dropout, Demara joined the Navy, where he trained as a hospital corpsman. However, when he failed to attain the position he sought, he faked his suicide and, while still in his twenties, was able to masquerade as a doctor of philosophy named Robert Linton French and was allowed to teach college psychology classes.
Using the Dr. French persona, Demara traveled around and taught at several Benedictine abbeys, monasteries, and Catholic colleges. Under this name, he even published an acclaimed booklet titled How to Bring Up Your Child.
While working as an instructor at St. Martin’s College (now a university) in Washington state, he was apprehended by the FBI and ordered to serve 18 months in the Naval Disciplinary Barracks in San Pedro, California, for desertion. After his release, he assumed another fake identity of Cecil Boyce Haman, claiming a doctor’s degree in zoology, and studied law at night at Northeastern University.
Using the name Brother John Payne, Demara next procured a position at the Brothers of Christian Instruction in Maine. While there, he founded a college and had it chartered by the state, but during that time he also became acquainted with a young Canadian surgeon named Joseph C. Cyr.
This led to his greatest feat of impersonation: masquerading as Dr. Cyr to gain work aboard HMCS Cayuga, a Royal Canadian Navy destroyer, during the Korean War.
Fred the Surgeon
By studying medical texts while on the ship, Demure performed numerous surgical procedures such as extracting teeth, removing tonsils, shrapnel extraction, and amputating limbs. He successfully managed to perform major surgeries and prevent infection by using copious amounts of penicillin.
Being the only surgeon aboard the ship, his most notable achievement was operating on sixteen South Korean soldiers injured in combat. While the patients were being prepped for surgery, Demara retreated to his room with a medical textbook and speed-read the various surgeries he needed to perform.
One involved removing a bullet located dangerously close to a soldier’s heart. Although completely unqualified as a surgeon, Demara miraculously never lost a patient, and his exploits were widely praised.
Fred Demara’s downfall came when word of his exploits got back to Canada. One person reading the reports was the mother of the real Joseph Cyr, who was surprised by the news that her son’s “service” in the Korean War was being praised, while he was actually practising medicine in Grand Falls, New Brunswick.
When word of his impersonation reached the HMCS Cayuga, no one on the ship believed it at first, but Demara was eventually ordered to return to Canada, and was quietly dismissed from the Royal Canadian Navy, with full payment due. It was believed he just faked a name, but never questioned whether he had been a qualified doctor.
Ferdinand “Fred” Demara was never charged, and returned to the United States.
HMCS Cayuga
"Martin D. Godgart"
In 1956, Demara once again became reacquainted with his first love of academia, now adopting the name of Martin D. Godgart, and teaching English, French and Latin in a Maine island high school. This time, when his deception was exposed, he served a few months in jail, charged with “cheating by false premises.”
His amazing exploits brought Demara lasting fame in the best-selling 1959 book The Great Impostor by Robert Crichton, and the 1960 movie by the same name starring Tony Curtis.
Demara himself later landed an acting role as a doctor in the minor epic film called The Hypnotic Eye. He also made an appearance on the Groucho Marx-hosted quiz show You Bet Your Life where he and his partner progressed to the final round and answered the maximum number of questions correctly, winning $2,000.
He faded from sight and the headlines in the mid-1960s, while still only in his 40s. It was amazing how much he managed to fit into his life until that stage. Eventually, he reemerged a decade later, a properly ordained minister working as a hospital chaplain in California, and using his rightful name Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr.
During his life, Demara had friendships with many notable people, including actor Steve McQueen, for whom Demara delivered his last rights in November 1980. Tony Curtis also claimed that his favourite movie role was not Albert DeSalvo in The Boston Strangler or his part in Some Like it Hot, but his portrayal of Demara in The Great Impostor.
Ferdinand Demara Jr. died of a heart attack and complications from diabetes in 1982 at the age of 60.
Tony Curtis enjoyed playing the role of Fred Demara in "The Great Impostor."
The Many Faces of Fred Demara
- Trappist monk
- Benedictine monk
- Doctor of philosophy
- Teacher of psychology
- Biologist involved in cancer research
- Doctor of zoology
- Lietenant-ship’s trauma surgeon
- Hospital orderly
- Hospital chaplain
- American soldier/sailor
- Deputy sheriff
- Lawyer
- Civil engineer
- Prison guidance counsellor
- Language teacher
- Baptist church pastor
When asked to explain his odd compulsion of impersonation and deception, Demara said that he believed in two cardinal rules:
- The burden of proof is on the accuser
- When in danger, attack.
He described his motivation as “Rascality, pure rascality.”
© 2023 John Hansen
