True story??? - Six Degrees of Separation (1993) Discussion

[–] valmont77 22 years ago

Not much, except for the fact that the real "Paul" is very much alive, and actually tried to sue (unsuccessfully) Guare on numerous occasions for rights to "his story". He has harassed Guare repeatedly, leading Guare to put a restraining order out against him. This incident happened in the very early 80's, and the real life "Paul" claimed he was successful because of the inherent racism in whites.

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[–] 22 years ago

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[–] valmont77 22 years ago

Just found this online:

1983- David Hampton, a young con man, is arrested in Manhattan after duping several prominent New Yorkers into believing he is the son of Sidney Poitier, gaining access to their homes and swindling them out of money. He is ordered to pay restitution and to stay out of New York City. He does neither. Guare’s friends, one of them the dean of Columbia School of Journalism, are among those conned by Hampton.

1989 - Guare rereads newspaper clippings he had saved about David Hampton. He writes Six Degrees of Separation for production at Lincoln Center in New York.

1990 - The play opens at Lincoln Center, May 19, on the thrust stage of the Newhouse Theater. The play is received enthusiastically. In November the production moves to Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater where it runs until January 1992.

1991 - David Hampton learns of the play. He publicly accuses Guare of stealing his story and demands to be paid. Following personal threats from Hampton, Guare asks for a restraining order. Hampton files a lawsuit, asking for $100,000 in damages from Guare and from the theaters producing Six Degrees of Separation. The case is eventually ruled against Hampton. Guare files a complaint of harassment against Hampton. Court battles with David Hampton continue through 1993.

The Guthrie Theater recently did a production of the play and had this information on their website.

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[–] DreamsAgain 9 years ago

TXS for the info.

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[–] katamaranas 21 years ago

I don't know if the story is true but the character "Paul" was based on David Hamton.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/dhamptonmug1.html

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[–] xavrush89 21 years ago

Here's the info.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7725795&pt=David%20Hampton

I met someone, briefly, who was ripped off by him. It was LONG after this incident, so he was not rehabilitated at all. Come to think of it, the person I met wasn't much either.

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[–] corrupt200 21 years ago

Jesus christ, when are they going to get the god awful diseae under control?

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[–] xavrush89 21 years ago

My guess would be when a white American Christian male with political clout gets it.

Although AIDS patient Mary Fisher did speak at the 1992 Republican convention, it was just lip service in the same year they had Pat Buchanan give an address. Her speech was very moving nonetheless (http://gos.sbc.edu/f/fisher.html).

"Connecting to the boards system - wait a few seconds for the page to load."

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[–] chanteuse_ar 18 years ago

If you could contract it by holding onto golf clubs, it would have been cured by now.

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[–] drxcreatures 13 years ago

Chanteuse, so true.

http://www.cgonzales.net & http://www.drxcreatures.com

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[–] michaelamurray1 9 years ago

IS YOUR DOCTOR LYING TO YOU
OR TO SOMEONE THAT YOU KNOW?
Did you know that the alleged "HIV/AIDS" virus, has NEVER been discovered. That's right! Never been isolated! Dr. Robert Gallo LIED to the world in 1984 that he found "the PROBABLE cause of AIDS". The definition of "PROBABLE" means- "Likely, but not sure or certain."

Did you know that the "HIV Tests" DO NOT, I MEAN, DO NOT test for "HIV" at all? They only test for antibodies, NOT related to "HIV" at all. (70-100 medical conditions, non-HIV related). Even the HIV Test manufacturers, ADMIT this in their package inserts!

Did you know that AIDS medications such as (Truvada, Atripla, Retrovir - "another name for AZT", etc), are DNA chain terminators and cause all types of body damage & organ failures; (LONG & SHORT TERM DAMAGE)?

Did you know that the AIDS Establishment purposely, MANIPULATE AIDS statistics to gain profits? It's all about the money, folks!

Did you know that the AIDS Establishment are targeting HIV-Negative peoples, Yes HIV-Negative, to give toxic ARV medications to?

Did you know that French "HIV" discoverer, Luc Montagnier, admits that your body "can cure HIV within a few weeks"? Yes, even if you are poor & living in poverty also. (He's talking about nutrition).

Did you know that Africans are being diagnosed as having "HIV" over in African countries without having to do an HIV test?

The TRUTH is here ladies and Gentlemen! This info WILL NOT be heard on CNN, NBC, ABC, PBS, FOX, CBS, NPR, or any other mainstream media network source. Not even in the magazines, newspapers, or radio stations! You be the judge & decide for yourself.

Please, visit, these websites for more information & research.

1) OMSJ.org 2) HouseofNumbers.com 3) HelpforHIV.com 4) Consciousdr.com
5) Rense.com 6) Virusmyth.com 7) Youtube.com (Type in either "House of Numbers", "HIV: Fact or Fraud", "Positively False: Birth of a Heresy", "The Science of Panic", "Interview with Dr Robert Gallo - Geneva World AIDS Conference 1998" in the Search Box. 8) Whale.to/aids.html
9) aras.ab.ca/test-disclaimers.html 10) robertscottbell.com 11) fda.gov (Type in "HIV Medications and HIV Tests" in the Search box & read the Black Box warning labels carefully). 12) virusmyth.net/aids/data/cjtestfp.htm 13) NaturalCures.com 14) garynull.com 15) NaturalNews.com 16) "Fear of the Invisible" by Janine Roberts 17) Duesberg.com

Note: This piece of information is not intended for medical advice or diagnosis. Please consult with your doctor for any questions & concerns, about the suggestions listed on this document.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] kellyphx 20 years ago

David Hampton died of complications from AIDS in July 2003 at age 39. A link is posted below. I was sure I'd heard of his death and in searching for verification on the Internet, I came across a lot of links that talked about him, the play and etc.

I remember when the movie came out, one of those celebrity shows (like E!, Access Hollywood, or Inside Hollywood) did a short piece about David Hampton. He struck me as a little, well, sad I guess. I had a "friend" at that time that was a pathological liar of the worst sort. Nothing damaging, just very ridiculous sorts of lies. This friend's lies to create a false existence for himself were frankly pathetic. David Hampton reminded me of this person very much.

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/80762.html

BTW, I enjoyed this movie very much. I rented it the other night and had not seen it since it came out in theaters. The dialogue is fast, sharp and thought-provoking. Stockard Channing is fantastic and deserved the Academy Award nomination she received for her work as Ouisa. Will Smith and Donald Sutherland are really good, too. Indeed, most of the cast is quite good. Anthony Michael Hall, although a small role, shows that he deserves better parts. I thought the children's characters were needlessly over the top (to the point of being absurd), but that is my only complaint about the movie.

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[–] 20 years ago

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[–] macklin-1 20 years ago

I think the "over-the-top" children was done on purpose. I found myself laughing hgisterically at this part as this is how I was with my parents and how my children are we me now (It's always my fault). I see it also in friends as well (their relationships with their parents and children). I only know of Hamilton through the Will Smith Performance but I do feel he should have been compensated by the authors of the play/movie in some way. From the play/movie he seemed to only want acceptance and acknowledgement. A token and/or a little publicity might have helped this guy out. Instead, they seemed to have used his story and abandoned him. Probably the story of his life. Most Pathalogical liars suffer from abandonment issues and lie in order to gain acceptance. If you ask me, He just wanted some love. First he was used for sex, then for the amusement of NY's High Society. He was then used again by this playwright and in the end he received nothing and died alone. It's worth repeating ... Stockard Channing was absolutely FANTASTIC ... as usual.

Macklin Crew

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[–] 20 years ago

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[–] sarasel-1 20 years ago

Anthony Michael Hall used him for sex, and he used Anthony Michael Hall's character for information. So they both used each other.

Also, I've seen this movie about 10 times, so I can say with some authority that the kids were DEFINITELY over the top on purpose, as were all of the "wealthy" characters. The play, and movie, are as much about the absurdity of living in high society as they are anything else, so all the characters are exaggerated.

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[–] katiewon 19 years ago

Well this movie is about reality, and it takes a fraud to point out the phoniness and unreality in the lives of the people who think they have everything and realize there is so much more. This is captured in "Paul's" speech about "The Catcher in the Rye" and phonies and people paralyzed with a lack of imagination. Of course, the irony is Paul is a phony. But, he has imagination!

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[–] Krog__ 20 years ago

Well, one of my agreements with the court's decision for him not to be compensated is that there's a law about how criminals cannot be compensated for a crime they've committed.

Join my new political party, the Anti-Death Party, and remember... Death is dead

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[–] 20 years ago

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[–] 20 years ago

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[–] padzok 16 years ago

I thought the children's characters were needlessly over the top (to the point of being absurd), but that is my only complaint about the movie.

I dont think that was an accidental flaw in the movie; it was entirely deliberate.

That's how kids always appear in their parents' witty anecdotes.

Besides - the doctor's son, who got so disgusted with his dad that he threw the phone out the window, was a comedy classic. "you're an idiot... and mom says the sex was lousy"

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[–] TRhett 10 years ago

I watched a few minutes of this today - it was the first time I've seen this in 20 years. But I remember the first time I saw it, I was curious about the real person and case the play/movie were based on, and discovered that there is a LOT of information out there about the real character if you care to dig. He was apparently QUITE the piece of work, and snowed some of New York's most VIP. This was one of those stories that you just couldn't make up . . . it was just so inane. And when I saw that even some highly-placed Columbia Univ. Journalism professor fell for it, I knew this guy must have been good. He even tried to sue when they loosely used the story! Opportunistic to the end, I'm sure. Actually, I was more impressed by the beautiful New York cinematography than I was of the story.

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[–] akeja3 19 years ago

This was an interesting story. There must be thousands of other true stories that would make great movies.

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[–] ButMadNNW 19 years ago

(primarily homosexual males in civilized nations) when they are going to get it under control.

I realize the chances are slim of you seeing this almost four months after your post, but I cannot believe you said that in 2006! That is an extremely outdated misconception.

If AIDS is spread primarily by "homosexual males in civilized nations," how do you explain the children and the women, not to mention the countless in Africa and other places?

Do some research on the disease before you comment on it.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] wonderwoman962 18 years ago

you still sound like a total assh*le

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[–] sewchaotic 18 years ago

While the gross data you used tells one story, the true one is something vastly different. The timespan for your data is 1981 - 2004...

The data is inherently useless in the state you present it. Yes, the majority of AIDS cases to date are in homosexual men. As the disease was first discovered in homosexual men, this should come as no surprise.

More accurate analysis of the data (using US cases in the year 2000 as a baseline), only 32.9 % of the cases of HIV diagnosed that year were homosexual males.

Since the late 1990's HIV's largest growth has been in the heterosexual population, including an alarming rate in young adults 18-25. Why are these people getting AIDS?

They listen to faulty data like that you are spewing forth.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] eorr1 18 years ago

___________________________________________________________________________

Since the late 1990's HIV's largest growth has been in the heterosexual population, including an alarming rate in young adults 18-25. Why are these people getting AIDS?

They listen to faulty data like that you are spewing forth.
___________________________________________________________________________

I "listened" to this data - not sure what makes it "faulty" - and I didn't get AIDS. Maybe because I'm not between 18-25? NOTE: People get AIDS from sex and dirty needles.

Interesting how the homosexual subtext of this film has become the predominant focus of this thread. In my opinion, the larger theme is human behavior and perception of triviality.

One of the character's responses to his son's "over the top" tirade directed at him is that there are two sides to every story. Most of the story is told from the perspective ('side,' if you will) of each of the characters. Therefore, how much of the movie is truly 'factual'? Perhaps each character could retell this story and it would be different each time.

"What do we all have in common?" they ask. Perhaps the ability to spin a subjective tail... which begs the question of who is the biggest liar in the film.

"My new [pink] shirt for my new body and you gave it away?? I hate you!!" Talk about trivial! ALL of the characters are flawed, not just Paul.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Intellectual_Intercourse 18 years ago

I'm glad I saw this post because I wasn't aware it was true until now...anyway, he is one more link about his life. It is a bit more in depth and shows where the plot for the play/movie actually came from :)

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[–] BQQ 18 years ago

... ... THE LINK???

"William F. Buckley wrote a book at Yale; I read one." George W. Bush

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