May the real Rain Man stand up :: Mmegi Online

It has emerged that Shankuntala Devi, the world acclaimed mathematician who visited Botswana recently might have been operating under false pretences. During her visit, she claimed that the movie Rain Man was based on her after a research. However, other reports say that there is another person with claims to the Rain Man legacy.

The website medical society.org says that Kim Peek and not Devi was the inspiration behind screen writer Barry Morrow's 1988 Oscar-winning movie Rain Man. Morrow had earlier been involved in writing the story for the television movie Bill, about a mentally retarded person sensitively portrayed by Mickey Rooney.

As a result of the interest, and ability, Morrow was invited to attend a Communications Committee meeting of the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC) in Arlington, Texas in 1984. Kim's father, Fran, was chairman of the committee.

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