NO DEGREES

He Conned the Society Crowd but Died Alone (DAN BARRY, July 19, 2003, NY Times)

David Hampton's pursuit of a fabulous Manhattan life ended last month in the early-morning hush of a downtown hospital. No
celebrities keened by his bedside, no theatrics unfolded in the hall; there was no last touch of the fabulous. Just the clinical cluck that follows the death of a man who dies alone at 39.

His name may not resonate, but his story will. David Hampton was the black teenager who conned members of the city's white elite 20 years ago with an outsized charm. He duped them into believing that he was a classmate of their children, the son of Sidney Poitier, and a victim of muggers who had just stolen his money and Harvard term paper--a term paper titled "Injustices in the Criminal Justice System."

The scam yielded a modest payoff: temporary shelter, a little cash, and the satisfaction of having mocked what he saw as the hypocritical world of limousine liberalism. He also briefly experienced the glamorous Manhattan life that had first seduced him from his upper-middle-class home in Buffalo, a city that he once said lacked anyone "who was glamorous or fabulous or outrageously talented."

"New York was the place for him," Susan V. Tipograph, a lawyer and close friend, said. "In his mind, the fabulous people lived in New York City."

But Mr. Hampton paid long-term costs for his New York conceit and deceit. For beguiling the affluent under false pretenses--the formal charge was attempted burglary--he received 21 months in prison. And for being such a distinctive character, he received eternal notoriety as the inspiration for "Six Degrees of Separation," a 1990 play by John Guare that became a hit and then a movie.

The play is only enjoyable for its lacerating portrayal of New York liberal guilt. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 19, 2003 8:39 PM