Based on Robert Crichton's 1959 book by the same name, The Great Impostor is a 1961 movie based on the life of the well-known impostor Ferdinand Waldo Demara. Starring Tony Curtis and Edmond O'Brien, it only loosely follows Demara's real-life exploits.Based on a true story, a bright young man who hasn't the patience for the normal way of advancement finds that people rarely question you if your papers are in order. He becomes a marine, a monk, a surgeon onboard a Canadian Warship, and a prison warden.