For those who believe Andy Kaufman faked his death in 1984, the latest reports could have been seen as a glimmer of hope, but it now appears to be just an homage to the eccentric comedian. It wouldn't be far from the first Kaufman hoax, and it's just one of many celebrity tales out there -- some that the stars themselves have perpetuated. Here are just a few. ...
Seems like every day social media kills another celebrity. Recording artist Raz-B was the latest to be the subject of reports that he was in a coma after being hit by a bottle in China. His rep denies that his camp started the rumor.
Remember when The White Stripes -- Meg White and Jack White -- were claiming to be siblings? Turns out they were actually married. The two divorced in 1999 and the band broke up for good in 2011.
Singer Lauryn Hill may be strong in some of her opinions (she reportedly prefers to be called "Ms. Hill") but there appears to be no truth to the story that she told MTV she would rather her children starve than have white people buy her music.
Marilyn Manson is way out there, but he did not have a rib removed so that he could more easily ... pleasure himself.
Singer Billy Idol may sorta have the hairline for it, but he did not portray Eddie Munster on the television series "The Munsters." That was actor Butch Patrick.
That Richard Gere gerbil story just refuses to die. And that's all we are going to say about that one.
Call it a hoax or an urban legend, but the kid who played "Mikey" in the Life cereal commercial back in 1971 did not die from consuming Pop Rocks candy and soda. A now-adult John Gilchrist told Newsday back in 2012 that he still enjoys the cereal.
Author James Frey found success when he appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to talk about his book, "A Million Little Pieces." He also found scrutiny and shame when it was revealed that his memoir about struggling with addiction wasn't entirely true.
Prior to 2006, novelist J.T. LeRoy was thought to be a young male truck-stop prostitute who chronicled his treacherous tales in critically acclaimed novels. But the persona was later revealed to be the invention of writer Laura Albert. In person, LeRoy was played by Savannah Knoop, who made appearances disguised as a man. Here LeRoy attends the 2005 premiere of "his" movie, "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things," in Rome.
Fred Rogers aka. Mr. Rogers from the kids show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" was neither a Marine sniper nor a Navy SEAL with confirmed kills in Vietnam. We aren't even sure how this one got started.
Lady Gaga does sport some flamboyant outfits, but we assure you that she is a woman, and not a man dressed as a woman as some have claimed. Nor was she born a man and had a sex change.
Jamie Lee Curtis is not a hermaphrodite. We repeat: she is not a hermaphrodite!
This one caused such an issue that Oprah Winfrey felt compelled to invite Tommy Hilfiger on her show to prove she never kicked him of it. Every few years the story pops up that the designer was asked to leave Winfrey's show after he said he didn't want African-Americans and Asians wearing his clothes. So not true.
Sorry porn aficionados: A young Barbra Streisand, seen here in 1966, did not appear in a stag film. As The Village Voice pointed out in 2003, it was just an adult film actress with a pronounced nose.
Star Jones let the world believe she relied on diet and exercise when she started shedding weight in 2003. She finally came clean in 2008, revealing she had gastric bypass surgery to lose more than 160 pounds. OK, this one might be more of a fib than a hoax, but plenty of people took the deception very personally -- including her former "The View" boss Barbara Walters.
- Andy Kaufman's brother tells CNN's Jake Tapper he is victim of a hoax
- Latest story started Monday when woman appeared at club claiming to be comedian's daughter
- Conspiracy theories have always speculated Kaufman faked his death
- Wrestling legend Jerry Lawler wants rematch if rumors are true
(CNN) -- It seemed too good to be true. Andy Kaufman still alive.
The Internet erupted with the buzz after Kaufman's brother read a letter purportedly from Andy at a comedy club on Monday night and introduced a 24-year-old woman as his brother's daughter.
But almost as quickly as reports surfaced Thursday, the news seemed to fizzle, with Michael Kaufman telling CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper" that he believes he's the victim of a hoax.
"Now that it's Thursday, not Monday anymore, I believe I am part of a hoax," Kaufman said in a bizarre, rambling interview where he spoke in a monotone not unlike his brother.
"I don't believe she's acting on her own, though," Kaufman said of the woman he introduced Monday night. "But, you know, that's all I know."
Andy Kaufman's brother: This is a hoax
Andy Kaufman, the comedian who wasn't a comedian, as Latka Gravas on ABC's television show, "Taxi," one of his best-known roles, in 1978. Kaufman's death in 1984 has fueled many conspiracy theories to the effect that the actor faked it. Take a look back at his life cut short.
John Denver, left, Kaufman as "Foreign Man," and Dick Van Dyke during one of Kaufman's many "unscheduled" appearance on Van Dyke and Company in 1976. He became a favorite during the sketches.
Andy Kaufman onstage in 1977, wearing a "I love grandma" sweater after doing one of his trademark Elvis impersonations.
Anne Murray, clockwise from upper left, Kaufman as Santa, Tom T. Hall, June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash appear on the "Johnny Cash Christmas Special" on CBS in 1979.
Kaufman with Danny DeVito during the episode "Latka the Playboy" on "Taxi," which aired on May 21, 1981. DeVito in 1999 produced a film about his co-star's life, titled "Man on the Moon," and starring Jim Carrey as Kaufman.
During the Janurary 30, 1982, episode of "Saturday Night Live," Kaufman performs an Elvis Presley impersonation. Kaufman had a lifelong fascination with the King.
Kaufman had to go to a hospital for X-rays on his neck after getting a "pile driver" from professional wrestler Jerry Lawler during a match in Memphis on April 5, 1982. Like most of Kaufman's antics, his wrestling career was all a put-on, lending credence to rumors that his death itself was a hoax. "I would like nothing better than to know that Andy was still alive and been with us all this time," Lawler told CNN. "But like anybody else, I really don't know any more than what I've heard."
Andy Warhol, left, with Caitlin Clarke, Debbie Harry and Kaufman, who appeared together in the Broadway show "Teaneck Tansi: The Venus Flytrap" at the Nederlander Theatre in New York. The show ran for only one night, on April 20, 1983.
Andy Kaufman: Tank you veddy much
Tapper pressed him: "Just to reiterate, you now don't think that it's true -- you think that this is a hoax and you were a victim of the hoax?"
"Correct," Kaufman said. He denied he was part of the hoax.
The Smoking Gun reported the woman is actually an actress named Alexandra Tatarsky, and her father is a 58-year-old psychologist. The website reported that Michael Kaufman met her earlier this year at a Manhattan gallery and recruited her to pose as his brother's daughter.
"That is not true," Michael Kaufman told CNN. Attempts to reach the Tatarskys were unsuccessful.
Asked if he was angry, he said, "I'm still processing it. As Andy's brother, you learn over the years, you know, to go with the flow, kind of. So I have mixed emotions. I never allowed myself to get too excited, but I was always slightly skeptical."
Andy Kaufman, the comedic genius, had often talked about faking his death and joked about his eventual return. Sightings of Kaufman's boorish character Tony Clifton were reported at comedy clubs following the comedian's death in 1984 from a rare form of cancer at age 35. Even some of his closest friends never quite believed Kaufman died. A cult following ensued.
As the latest reports spread Thursday, the Los Angeles County Coroner took the unusual step of re-releasing Kaufman's death certificate. "Andy Kaufman is dead," the coroner's office said in a statement.
Kaufman's manager, George Shapiro, was at the comedian's side at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on the day he died, May 16, 1984. "Andy's very much alive in our hearts, but I don't think his body is around," Shapiro told CNN Thursday. "He died. I was in the hospital."
Michael Kaufman told Tapper he, too, was at his brother's deathbed. "I saw him emaciated. I saw him die."
The latest story began Monday. In a tale almost as outlandish as his brother's skits, Michael Kaufman told an audience at a New York comedy club that he received a letter from his brother 15 years after his death. A woman then came on stage and said she was Andy Kaufman's daughter born in 1989.
Michael Kaufman explained he was going through Andy's writings many years ago and found a reference to him "talking about faking his death," including the line, "I will reappear." It said Andy's reappearance would take place at a restaurant on Christmas Eve in 1999.
When Michael Kaufman went to the restaurant, he said, a parking attendant gave him a letter purportedly from his brother. Michael Kaufman read the letter to the audience at Monday's annual Andy Kaufman Awards show.
"It was too much pressure to be Andy Kaufman. I just wanted to be Andy," Michael Kaufman read. "I think that's why I got sick. I had to change completely and quickly. I'm extremely very happily married with the most wonderful wife in the whole wide world and with the two greatest kids: a 10-year-old daughter and a son who is 8."
Michael Kaufman told the audience a woman approached him about a month after his father, Stanley Kaufman, died this summer: "She told me a lot of secrets that Andy and I had together, like our secret handshake, the way Andy made fun of me for being too nice of a guy."
She then came onstage.
The Great Ruse: The comedic genius who rocked wrestling
Kaufman was beloved for his portrayal on "Taxi" of Latka Gravas, the wildly entertaining foreigner who struggled with English and multiple personality disorder. Yet to the dismay of the entertainment world, Kaufman started wrestling women in night clubs around the country in the early 1980s.
It was in Memphis, Tennessee, where his wrestling gig hit the stratosphere, challenging local legend Jerry "The King" Lawler in epic matches.
"I would like nothing better than to know that Andy was still alive and been with us all this time," Lawler told CNN Thursday by phone. "But like anybody else, I really don't know any more than what I've heard.
"It could be a great hoax in his honor, dreamed up by his friend Bob Zmuda and his brother, Michael. That would be something that would be in keeping with Andy's tradition, but who's to say. It could really be legit."
Lawler challenged Kaufman, if he really is alive, to climb back into the ring. "There should be a WrestleMania rematch between Andy and The King," Lawler said. "We could rekindle the feud with no problem."
Longtime friend Dennis Raimondi said Kaufman confided in him around 1980 about his desire to fake his death and how he planned to do it.
"It's certainly something he gave a lot of thought to," Raimondi told CNN Thursday. "One of his concerns at the time was the reaction of his parents. He cared about them."
CNN spoke to Kaufman's father prior to his death this summer. Stanley Kaufman, then 90, said his son had driven him and his wife crazy from a young age -- even more so when he entered the wrestling ring.
"My wife and I used to go bananas when we would see what he was doing. We thought: 'Good God, he's gonna get killed!'" he said. "But my son was a nut, what can I tell you? He knew what he wanted to do."
He said he had no doubts of his son's death and that he missed his boy greatly. "Andy scared the hell out of us," he said. "In retrospect, of course, I'm so, so very proud of him. But at the time, it was scary. I used to be embarrassed by my son. But he knew everything that he did, everything was deliberate, everything was calculated.
"He did a good job with what he intended to do. I am proud of the kid."
Kaufman did have a daughter. She was given up for adoption when Andy was 17. For years, Stanley Kaufman wondered about his granddaughter and what became of her, especially after Andy died.
He reunited with Andy's daughter nearly 20 years ago and the two became exceedingly close. As Stanley suffered from cancer in recent years, she became one of his confidantes. He called it a "beautiful, beautiful relationship."
"She's the greatest gift my son gave me," he said.
