Patrick McDermott: Not Greased After All

LIFE.com: People Who Faked Their Own Death

In 2005, the mysterious disappearance of McDermott — shown here with long-time girlfriend Olivia Newton John — after a fishing trip near San Pedro, Calif., fueled speculation he had faked his own death amid financial difficutlies. A flurry of investigations — not to mention national television coverage via "America's Most Wanted" and "Dateline NBC" — later revealed that McDermott was reportedly alive and living in Mexico. (Keystone/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Fictional characters have famously done it in the movies (Julia Roberts in "Sleeping With the Enemy") and on television (Jack Bauer in "24"), but how many real people have actually faked their own death? In this gallery, Life.com takes a closer look at those who've committed "pseudocide" and gained infamy in the process. Pictured: "The One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" author and counterculture figure Ken Kesey — shown here in 1969 — faked his death and fled to Mexico in 1966 to avoid drug charges. (Roy Jones/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Aimee Semple McP...

An immensely popular and influential radio evangelist in the 1920s and 1930s, fundamentalist preacher "Sister" Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared from sight on May 18, 1926 swimming in the ocean at Venice Beach, Calif. Her mother stood in for her at the pulpit that day, and said: "Sister is with Jesus," sending a nation full of followers into mourning. On June 23, McPherson wandered out of the desert near a Mexican border town, claiming she'd been kidnapped, drugged, tortured, and held for a $500,000 ransom — despite evidence that she may have actually run off to a seaside cottage in Carmel, Calif., with a married sound engineer. (Keystone/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Patrick McDermot...

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Friedrich Gulda:...

In 1999, the eccentric Austrian pianist and composer allegedly sent a fax from a Zurich airport announcing his own death of a heart attack, which prompted an outpouring of tributes worldwide. After two days of intense speculation, the hoax was exposed when a Geneva concert agent told the Austrian media that Guida — shown here at the keys in 1966 — was "remarkably alive." Ironically, Guida died the following year of heart failure. (Erich Auerbach/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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John Stonehouse:...

In 1974, former British Labor Minister John Stonehouse — shown here in 1968 — concocted a fake drowning by leaving his clothes on a Miami beach and vanishing without a trace. Abandoning his wife, Stonehouse fled with his mistress and secretary to Australia, where he lived under a false name. Australian authorities apprehended Stonehouse later that year, and he was deported back to the U.K. in 1975. (Tim Graham/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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