In Media
Demara's story was recounted in the 1960 book, The Great Impostor, written by 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".
Other direct or indirect references to Demara include:
- The Band recorded a song called "Ferdinand the Imposter".
- The NBC drama The Pretender (1996–2000) was inspired by the life of Ferdinand Demara. Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) is a child prodigy who was abducted at a young age and raised in a think tank. In each episode, the character poses as a doctor, police officer, attorney, and various other figures in order to help those in trouble.
- The Season 1, episode of M*A*S*H, entitled "Dear Dad...Again", included a character impersonating a surgeon who was loosely based on Demara
Read more about this topic: Ferdinand Waldo Demara
Famous quotes containing the word media:
“Never before has a generation of parents faced such awesome competition with the mass media for their children’s attention. While parents tout the virtues of premarital virginity, drug-free living, nonviolent resolution of social conflict, or character over physical appearance, their values are daily challenged by television soaps, rock music lyrics, tabloid headlines, and movie scenes extolling the importance of physical appearance and conformity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)
“The media have just buried the last yuppie, a pathetic creature who had not heard the news that the great pendulum of public conciousness has just swung from Greed to Compassion and from Tex-Mex to meatballs.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)