Dr. Hervey Cleckley was a world re-nown psychiatrist. His book, The Mask of Sanity, first published in 1941, quickly became the definitive work of the psychopathic personality. Cleckley revised and updated this book many times. The 5th Edition is still in print. This book has been used in medical schools throughout the world for more than seventy years.
In 1956, Cleckley and his colleague, Dr. Corbett Thigpen, published The Three Faces of Eve.This book examined the life of Chris Sizemore; it was the first book to fully validate the multiple personality. The Three Faces of Eve was a New York Times best seller, sold more than three million copies and was translated into fourteen foreign languages. As all of the authors who have been associated with the Medical College of Georgia, Cleckley is the most successful.
In 1957, the movie, The Three Faces of Eve was released. Joanne Woodward earned the best actress Academy Award in 1957 for her role as Chris Sizemore.
On many occasions Cleckley was asked to testify at important trials. An example was the 1979 trial of Ted Bundy who murdered more than thirty people. Cleckley testified that Bundy was a classic psychopath but was not criminally insane.
Dr. Cleckley taught for many years at the Medical College of Georgia sharing his wisdom with thousands of future doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. He was a mentor to many throughout the world. Today, the most prominent person in the study and analysis of the psychopathic personality is Dr. Robert Hare of the University of British Columbia. Hare acknowledges that much of his research and writing is based on the insights he gained from Dr. Cleckley.