Fictional Portrayals and Legacy
Toppan is widely believed to have been the inspiration for "the Incomparable Bessie Denker", a character in William March's novel The Bad Seed, which Maxwell Anderson turned into a successful play and film. Like Toppan, Denker was a serial poisoner who began killing at a young age.
In the independent film American Nightmare, written and directed by John Keyes, Debbie Rochon portrays a serial killer named "Jane Toppan" who manages to kill numerous characters throughout the course of the film by various means. The character is also employed as a nurse. This character was inspired by Toppan.
Toppan was the subject of one of six monologues in the play Murderess by Anne Bertram, which premiered in St. Paul, Minnesota at Theatre Unbound. She was portrayed by Laura Wiebers in the segment The Truth About Miss Toppan, directed by Mishia Burns Edwards. The play opened to favorable reviews. Minneapolis StarTribune theater critic William Randall Beard called the Toppan segment "a chilling portrait of a sociopath nurse."
Read more about this topic: Jane Toppan
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