Andy Kaufman was a comedian and actor known for his crazy appearance and antics. He has a great career and to this day, many famous actors and comedians model their characters and acts after him. Kaufman died in a hospital in West Hollywood on May 16, 1984, of kidney failure, caused by metastasized large-cell lung carcinoma.

But did he really die? There have been many rumors surrounding the death of Andy Kaufman and some people, including his brother maintain that he is still alive and simply faked his death. During the Andy Kaufman Awards show last week, Michael Kaufman, brother of Andy Kaufman not only told the audience that his brother had faked his death and was still alive, but also brought Andy’s alleged 24 year old daughter with him as proof.

It turned out that the accusation was simply a story told to amuse the audience. The girl who claimed to be his daughter, was simply an actress. While many people assumed the stunt was a hoax, many others still believe Kaufman is alive. But why?

According to close friends of Kaufman, he had talked about faking his own death several times and was obsessed with the idea. Kaufman always claimed that if he ever were to fake his own death, he would return 20 years from the date. Since Kaufman has never officially reappeared, most of his family and close friends believe he really did die in 1984.

Stories of his faked death are so popular that there is even a website dedicated to the theory. A video recently uploaded to the site allegedly shows Kaufman going by an assumed name and living happily in Albuquerque, N.M.

Do you believe Kaufman really could have faked his death and hidden all this time?

Image from Wikimedia Commons.