David Geffen's daring act of forgery that led to a Hollywood fortune

David Geffen, determined to land his first job in Hollywood, forged a university degree. But a gift for spotting talent made him a millionaire by his mid-20s.

Hollywood lore has it that when David Geffen got his first job in the mail room at the William Morris talent agency in New York, he lied about having a degree, says the FT. When a letter from UCLA arrived casting doubt on his claim, he intercepted it, steamed it open and swapped the contents for a forgery. "It was a daring act and had he been caught he would have been fired." Yet his later achievements suggest that not even rejection from William Morris would have derailed his path to success.

Having conquered the music industry, produced a string of Broadway shows and launched the independent film studio DreamWorks SKG, the 66-year-old the richest man in Hollywood, says Forbes is now bent on owning a newspaper. An attempt to acquire the Los Angeles Times failed (he was beaten by Sam Zell, who went on to lose a fortune on the paper). Now he's gunning for The New York Times. If he succeeds, says The Observer, "it would represent a dramatic home-coming for a boy who left New York when he was barely out of his teens".

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