David Hampton (April 28, 1964 – July 18, 2003) was an American

con artist A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

and robber who became infamous in the 1980s after he convinced a group of wealthy

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

ites to give him money, food, and shelter under the pretense that he was the son of

Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive ...

. David Hampton's story became the inspiration for a play titled "Six Degrees of Separation" and a film titled by the same name. David Hampton died of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

-related complications in 2003.

Background

Hampton was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, and was the eldest son of an attorney. He moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(NYC) in 1981 and stumbled upon his now-famous ruse in 1983, when he and another man were attempting to gain entry into

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater was ...

. After the club denied Hampton and his partner entry, Hampton's partner decided to pose as

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...

's son while Hampton assumed the identity of

's son. They were ushered in as celebrities. Thereafter, Hampton adopted the persona of "David Poitier" to obtain free meals in restaurants. He also persuaded at least a dozen people into letting him stay with them and give him money, including

Melanie Griffith Melanie Richards Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career in the 1970s, appearing in several independent thriller films before achieving mainstream success in the mid-1980s. Born in Manhattan, New York City, ...

Gary Sinise Gary Alan Sinise (; born March 17, 1955) is an American actor, humanitarian, and musician. Among other awards, he has won a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also received a st ...

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and ...

John Jay Iselin John Jay Iselin (December 8, 1933 – May 6, 2008) was a magazine and television journalist, editor, and publisher. He served as president of WNET, president of the Cooper Union, and president of the Marconi Foundation at Columbia University. Earl ...

, the president of

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...

;

Osborn Elliott Osborn Elliott (October 25, 1924 – September 28, 2008) was the editor of ''Newsweek'' magazine for sixteen years between 1961 and 1976. Elliott is credited with transforming ''Newsweek'' from a staid publication into a modern rival of ''Time ...

, the dean of the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...

;

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

, and a Manhattan

urologist Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and ''-logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary-tract system and the reproductive organ ...

. He convinced some that he was an acquaintance of their children, some that he had just missed a plane to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

with his luggage still on it, and some that his belongings had been stolen. In October 1983, Hampton was arrested and convicted of fraud and ordered to pay restitution of $4,469 to his various victims. After refusing to comply with these terms, he was sentenced to a term of 18 months to 4 years in prison.

''Six Degrees of Separation''

Playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

John Guare John Guare ( ;; born February 5, 1938) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is best known as the author of ''The House of Blue Leaves'' and ''Six Degrees of Separation''. Early life He was raised in Jackson Heights, Queens.Druckman, ...

became interested in Hampton's story through his friendship with

Inger McCabe Elliott Inger McCabe Elliott (born February 23, 1933) is a Norwegian-born American entrepreneur, photographer, artist, and socialite. She is the founder of China Seas, Inc., a textile company. A fictionalized version of her life involving the 1983 enco ...

and

, who had been outraged to find "David Poitier" in bed with another man the morning after they let him into their home. ''

Six Degrees of Separation Six degrees of separation is the idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. As a result, a chain of "friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It is also k ...

'' opened at the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

in May 1990 and became a long-running success. Hampton attempted to parlay the play's success to his benefit, giving interviews to the press,

gate-crashing Gate crashing, gatecrashing, or party crashing is the act of entering, attending, or participating in an event without an Invitation to tender, invitation nor Ticket (admission), ticket. The person doing the gate crashing is known as a gate cras ...

a producer's party, and beginning a campaign of harassment against Guare that included phone calls and death threats. The harassment campaign prompted Guare to apply for a restraining order in April 1991. The restraining order was denied. In the fall of 1991, Hampton filed a $100 million lawsuit, claiming that the play had infringed on the copyright on his persona and his story. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed.

Death

David Hampton died of

-related complications while being treated for his illness at

Beth Israel Medical Center Mount Sinai Beth Israel is a 799-bed teaching hospital in Manhattan. It is part of the Mount Sinai Health System, a nonprofit health system formed in September 2013 by the merger of Continuum Health Partners and Mount Sinai Medical Center, and ...

(BIMC) in

References

External links

Suspect in Hoax is Arrested Here in Rendezvous
at nytimes.com (October 19, 1983)

at nytimes.com (November 20, 1983)

at nytimes.com (July 31, 1990) * ttps://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/05/weekinreview/headliners-playing-himself.html HEADLINERS; Playing Himselfat nytimes.com (August 5, 1990)
About New York; He Conned the Society Crowd but Died Alone
at nytimes.com (July 19, 2003) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hampton, David 1964 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American criminals AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) Criminals from New York (state) Impostors LGBT people from New York (state) People from Buffalo, New York Prisoners and detainees of New York (state) American confidence tricksters LGBT African Americans 20th-century American LGBT people 21st-century American LGBT people

Background

''Six Degrees of Separation''

Death

See also

References

External links