Walter Stanley Keane (October 7, 1915 – December 27, 2000) was an American plagiarist, who became famous in the 1960s,[1] as the claimed painter of a series of widely reproduced paintings depicting vulnerable waifs with enormous eyes.[2] The paintings were in fact painted by his wife Margaret Keane. When she made this fact public, Walter Keane retaliated with a USA Today article that again claimed he had done the work.
In 1986 Margaret Keane sued Walter and USA Today. In the subsequent slander suit, the judge demanded that the litigants paint a painting in the courtroom, but Walter declined, citing a sore shoulder. Margaret then produced a painting for the jurors in 53 minutes. The jury awarded her damages of $4 million.[3]