{"id":1131,"date":"2021-03-20T17:30:22","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T17:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/2021\/03\/20\/nyads-in-hollywood\/"},"modified":"2024-11-17T18:19:16","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T18:19:16","slug":"nyads-in-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/nyads-in-hollywood\/","title":{"rendered":"Nyads in Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diana Nyad likes to be first: the first woman to swim around Manhattan Island<\/a>, for instance, or the first person to swim unassisted from Cuba to Florida<\/a>, or even the first entry in a non-existent database of abuse survivors<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

But she won\u2019t be the first charlatan who duped Hollywood. She won\u2019t even be the first Nyad.<\/em><\/p>\n

.\u00a0.\u00a0.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
1976 first-edition cover.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Walt Disney Company optioned a fraudulent memoir, Monique De Wael\u2019s Misha: A M\u00e9moire of the Holocaust Years<\/em>, but didn\u2019t go ahead<\/a> with production. Oprah loved Herman Rosenblat\u2019s Angel at the Fence<\/em><\/a>, which producer Harris Salomon of Atlantic Overseas Pictures intended to spend $25 million adapting\u2014until the book turned out to be a hoax. However, Asa Earl Carter\u2019s<\/a> The Education of Little Tree<\/em>, another fraud, became a well-regarded film<\/a>. That doesn\u2019t bode well for trying to keep an illegitimate Nyad<\/em> off the screen.<\/p>\n

And what is it with people like De Wael and Rosenblat who, according to genealogist and hoax researcher Sharon Sergeant<\/a>, \u201cexploit human tragedy for personal gain\u201d? Given Diana Nyad\u2019s experience in this area<\/a>, perhaps she can let us know.<\/p>\n

While we wait for Diana\u2019s explanation, let\u2019s look at the first Nyad to con members of the movie industry.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Another Nyad Takes In Hollywood<\/h5>\n

Aristotle Z. Nyad left Piraeus, Greece, on May 11, 1940, as a crew member of the S.S. Nea Hellas. Seventeen days later, the ship docked in New York. Aris promptly deserted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1941, he entered Canada illegally, got deported to New York<\/a>, then returned to Canada to join the Royal Canadian Air Force as a pilot<\/a>.\u00a0 That\u2019s quite a feat considering Aris probably didn\u2019t know how to fly.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAristotle Nyad\u2019s exploits are many\u201d may be the only true statement in the article above. Aris Nyad was never in the Greek Air Force. He had been in North America since May of 1940, which means he did not escape the Nazis. Germany didn\u2019t invade Greece until April 1941. Aris Nyad exploited human tragedy for personal gain, a skill his stepdaughter inherited.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1942, authorities arrested Aris in New York, this time for entering the U.S. illegally.<\/a><\/p>\n

We pick up the elder Nyad\u2019s trail again later that year. A January 1943 Los Angeles Times<\/em> article<\/a> reports that \u201cLieutenant Commander\u201d Aristotle Nyad, a self-proclaimed war hero wearing an officer\u2019s uniform, had been in Hollywood for months,\u00a0 \u201cfeted at night clubs and by film celebrities.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Beverly Hills Police arrest him on immigration and gun possession charges, he explains that \u201che served seven or eight years in the Greek navy as a flyer, was wounded and came back to this country to spur Greek morale.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Federal Judge hands Nyad the maximum sentence, six months in County Jail, for illegally posing as a soldier<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ten years, two marriages, and at least one child later \u2014 and after<\/p>\n