A woman claiming to be the daughter of Andy Kaufman, the famed ‘Taxi’ comedian who died from a rare type of lung cancer in 1984, has renewed rumors his death was a hoax and that he’s actually alive.
The woman took the stage at the Andy Kaufman Awards on Tuesday night after Kaufman’s brother, Michael, told the audience he found an essay by Kaufman that not only explained how he would fake his own death, but also reappear at one of his choice restaurants on Christmas Eve 1999. Kaufman didn’t show up, but Michael did and received a letter from a waitress about his going into hiding to live a regular life with a woman he loved and their daughter. In the letter, Kaufman requested Michael not say anything until after their father died.
That happened this past summer. A month later, Michael received a phone call from a woman who said Kaufman was alive and enjoyed watching the awards. On Tuesday, the 24-year-old joined Michael on stage. The strange video below, published by TMZ, shows her talking about what Kaufman is supposedly doing now.
But Michael Kaufman quickly squelched the latest rumors of his brother’s faked death Wednesday, telling the Hollywood Reporter: “I think I’ve been misquoted, OK? I never came out with, ‘He’s alive.’ I’m as skeptical as anybody else.”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8JWT34Yiqk”%5D
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Andy Kaufman had often talked about performing the ultimate prank--faking his death and coming back years later. So in the years since he died of cancer in 1984, there's been no end to claims that he is, in fact, still with us.