Frank Abagnale

Frank William Abagnale, Jr. (born April 27, 1948) was a check forger and impostor for five years in the 1960s. Currently he runs Abagnale and Associates, a financial fraud consultancy company. His life story provided the inspiration for the feature film Catch Me If You Can, nominally based on his ghost-written biography of the same name.

Quotes

• "If my forgeries looked as bad as the CBS documents, it would have been 'Catch Me In Two Days'."
  • When asked his opinion of the Killian memos.

• “What I did in my youth is hundreds of times easier today. Technology breeds crime.”
  • Frank Abagnale on how easy it is with modern technology to commit fraud

• "Remember what being an adult is: It has nothing to do with money or awards"
  • Frank Abagnale

• I stole every nickel and blew it on fine threads, luxurious lodgings, fantastic foxes, and other sensual goodies. I partied in every capital in Europe and basked on all the world's most famous beaches.
  • Frank Abagnale 'Catch Me if You Can' book

About Frank Abagnale

• His chutzpah and his imagination in the scams and stings he pulled off were so imaginative and so courageous. Amazing. I loved the fact that he could pull off all of those professions. In a way, he's sort of the anti-hero that you root for, even though you know he's going to have to pay a price and go to jail
  • Steven Spielberg. on the set of the movie 'Catch Me if You Can'

• He understood whatever those hidden mechanisms are that convince people to trust you. I kind of watched him and absorbed what I could from him.
  • Leonardo DiCaprio. on the set of the movie 'Catch Me if You Can'
• I did not make this film about Frank Abagnale because of what he did . . but because of what he has done with his life the past 30 years.
  • Steven Spielberg.

Catch Me if You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake. Book by Frank Abagnale

Details

Published in 2002, Catch Me if You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake is the autobiographical life story of Frank W. Abagnale. Originally published in 1980

• I made a lot of exits through side doors, down fire escapes or over rooftops. I abandoned more wardrobes in the course of five years than most men acquire in a lifetime. I was slipperier than a buttered escargot.

• If I had to place any blame for my future nefarious actions, I'd put it on the Ford.That Ford fractured every moral fiber in my body. It introduced me to girls, and I didn't come to my senses for six years. They were wonderful years.

• I stole every nickel, dime and dollar and blew it on fine threads, luxurious lodgings, fantastic foxes and other sensual goodies. I partied in every capital in Europe and bask on all the worlds most famous beaches.

• Frank Abagnale could write a check on toilet paper, drawn on the Confederate States Treasury, sign it 'U.R. Hooked' and cash it at any bank in town, using a Hong Kong driver's license for identification"

Catch Me if You Can (Movie)

Details
Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 motion picture set in the 1960s. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted by Jeff Nathanson loosely from the book by Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding.

The movie states that it was inspired by the true life story of Abagnale; however the movie diverges somewhat from the real events as reported in Abagnale's book on his exploits.

• Roger Strong:: Frank, would you like to say grace?Unless you're not comfortable.

  Frank Abagnale:: Absolutely. Two little mice fell into a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned, but the second mouse, he struggled so hard that he eventually churned that cream into butter and he walked out. Amen.

  • Frank Abagnale giving his version of grace in the movie about his life (Catch Me If You Can) to Roger Strong father of his fiance Brenda in the movie.

• Frank Abagnale:: Brenda, I don't want to lie to you anymore. All right? I'm not a doctor. I never went to medical school. I'm not a lawyer, or a Harvard graduate, or a Lutheran. Brenda, I ran away from home a year and a half ago when I was 16.

  Brenda Strong:: Frank? Frank? You're not a Lutheran?

  • Frank telling his fiance Brenda in the movie (Catch Me If You Can) the truth about himself.

• Frank Abagnale:: Stop chasing me!

  Carl Hanratty:: I can't stop, it's my job

  • Frank pleading with FBI agent, Carl Hanratty assigned with tracking him down to stop chasing him in the movie (Catch Me If You Can) and in real life.

• Frank Abagnale:: Ask me to stop

  Frank Abagnale sr.: You can't stop

  Frank Abagnale:: Why?

  Frank Abagnale sr.: Because