Kim Peek Real Rain Man Dies

Kim Peek, the man who inspired the movie Rain Man, has sadly passed away. (YouTube Video)

Kim Peek, the mega-savant who inspired the Oscar-winning movie, Rain Man, has died from a massive heart attack at the age of 58. Described as a mixture of disability and genius, Peek's ability to memorize trivia inspired the writer Barry Morrow to write Rain Man - Morrow subsequently gave his Academy Award to Peek. After actor Dustin Hoffman met Peek, he told Peek's father Fran Peek to "share him with the world." Fran did just that and Peek became a star of sorts - touring the country to showoff his remarkable ability. Peek thrived off the attention and referred to himself as a celebrity.

Born in 1951, Peek was diagnosed as severely mentally retarded and his parents were advised to place him in a home.   He was later classified as a "mega-savant," a genius in about 15 different subjects and able to read two pages of a book simultaneously - with the left eye reading the left page and the right eye reading the right. At his death, Peek had committed 9,000 books to memory.

Fran became his sole caretaker after divorcing his mother in 1975, helping Kim get dressed and perform the daily functions he is unable to do.

Rain Man won Oscars in 1989 for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor in a leading role.

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