When Ferdinand (The Great Impostor) Demara blew into Hollywood three weeks ago for his first movie, The Hypnotic Eye, Producer Charles Bloch and Allied Artists' Pressagent Ted Bonnet were at the airport to meet his plane. One by one, the passengers filed down the ramp—but no Demara. The stewardess said that Ferdinand had indeed been on the New York-Hollywood flight, but he seemed to have disappeared. Just as Producer Bloch turned to walk away, a bulky man dressed like a pilot tapped him on the shoulder: "You looking for a guy named Demara?" "Yes," replied Bloch, "we sure are. Was he on your plane?" Off came the braid-encrusted cap. "Well, here I am," said the imposing (6 ft., 270 Ibs.), self-assured impostor, "ready for work."
For a man who has managed to pass himself as a military surgeon, a psychology professor, a college dean, a cancer researcher, an assistant prison warden and a Trappist monk (TIME, June 29), acting seemed a logical career. But after a few days on the set of The Hypnotic Eye—Demara plays a doctor, plus eight bit parts—he decided that Hollywood was not for him. "The technical adviser hates me. And they are paying me peanuts. There is a huge power vacuum in this place. A smart guy could just walk in and take over." As for The Great Impostor, the movie that Universal International plans to produce from the bestseller about his life, Demara complained that he got only $4,000 ("I've been had"), and that Tony Curtis was completely miscast in the hero's role. Hollywood, which has always instinctively taken impostors to its heart, loved Demara's bluster. Even stone-faced assistant directors had to smile when the world's most successful character actor thundered: "I just don't enjoy acting; it is too artificial."