"The Great Imposter" was Ferdinand "Waldo" Demara Jr.

Jul 25, 2011
Jill Stefko

Demara Performed Surgery Aboard the "HMCS Cayuga" - melodi2

Waldo Demara, "The Great Imposter," was an affable roguish man who had many "careers" using stolen names of real people. Why did he do this?

Waldo Demara was a Pathological Liar, a master of deception, one of the most fascinating people in Canadian Naval history and a frustration for law enforcement. He was the inspiration for the movie, The Great Imposter, starring Tony Curtis. Demara, a devout Roman Catholic, was highly intelligent and had a photographic memory that helped him get away with his scams until he finally was apprehended. He was able to memorize what he needed to succeed in his chosen “careers.” His true career as an imposter began after he joined the US Army in 1941. Demara had two principal rules: The burden of proof is on the accuser and when in danger, assail.

The Great Imposter: "Careers"

In addition to his “career” as a doctor, others included civil engineer, sheriff's deputy, hospital orderly, doctor of applied psychology, child-care expert, lawyer, Benedictine and Trappist monks, editor, teacher, cancer researcher and, ironically, an assistant prison warden. Most of Demara's employers were satisfied with his work.

Demara began his new career as an imposter by using army buddy Anthony Ignolia’s name when he went AWOL. He tried the monastic life, which didn’t suit him, so he joined the US Navy. He didn’t earn the position he wanted, faked suicide and used another name, Robert Linton French, when he decided to be psychologist. The FBI finally apprehended him and he was incarcerated for eighteen months in prison for desertion.

The Great Imposter: A Doctor in the Canadian Navy

Demara used the name Joseph Cyr, who was a real practicing doctor, when he arrived at the recruiting office in Saint John, New Brunswick to enlist as a physician during the Korean War. There was a dearth of medical officers, so no one thoroughly checked his credentials. He was commissioned as a Surgeon-Lieutenant and assigned to the Naval Hospital in Halifax, then to the HMCS Cayuga in Korean waters.

As Cyr, Demara performed numerous minor surgeries, including dental work on the infected tooth of Cayuga's Captain, James Plomer. Demara went into his cabin and read a textbook about general surgery before performing operations. There was an account of Demara’s exploits in Canadian newspapers. Either the real Dr. Cyr’s mother or the doctor, himself, who was practicing in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, reported Demara to the authorities. Accounts vary.

The Royal Canadian Navy was embarrassed and declined to prosecute Demara. He was ordered to leave Canada ASAP and never return. He was honorably discharged, given back pay and active service credits, driven to the border and turned over to the United States Immigration Office in Blaine, Washington. He was asked several questions, then released because he had no outstanding warrants.

In 1961, Universal International Pictures made a fictionalized movie about Demara. It starred Tony Curtis as the roguish affable Waldo Demara, Edmond O’Brien as HMS Cayuga Captain Glover, and Gary Merrill and Jeanette Nolan as Mr. and Mrs. Demara, Waldo’s parents.

The Great Imposter: Shipmates’ Accounts

Retired Commander Peter G. Chance recalls Demara’s last days aboard HMCS Cayuga in his autobiography Before It's Too Late, A Sailor's Life, 1920-2001. He received a signal from the Canadian Naval Service Headquarters, NSHQ, marked for the Captain’s eyes only. It read that they had reason to believe that their Medical Officer was an imposter and he was asked to investigate and make a report.

Demara went ballistic when he was confronted. He spent three days in his cabin, with the door locked and taking barbiturates. He finally surrendered. He apologized and said he wished that they could have stayed together until the ship returned to her home port. He would have disembarked then.

Peter Godwin Chance, who had an infected toe treated by Demara, said he was an affable man, the life of the party, although he didn’t drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes.

The Great Imposter: Demara Explains why this was his “Career”

He said he was having a great deal of fun posing as different people in various occupations. It was a game, one that was funny and serious, but dangerous. It was expanding for himself and self-destructive It was like an exhilarating drug that, once taken, made all else seem flat, trite and unreal. When he was asked to explain his motives, Demara is claimed to have replied "Rascality, pure rascality."

Sources:

“Ferdinand "Waldo" Demara: The Great Impostor,” Naval and Military Museum.

The Great Imposter: The Amazing Career of Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Robert Crichton, New York: Random House, 1959, Albany Data/Sci_Fraud.