Ivan Boesky - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

  • The character of Gordon Gekko in the 1987 movie Wall Street is based at least in part on Boesky, especially regarding a famous speech he delivered on the positive aspects of greed at the University of California, Berkeley School of Business commencement ceremony in May 1986, where he said in part "I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself".
  • In a 1993 episode of Animaniacs entitled "Plane Pals", Yakko, Wakko, and Dot harass a tightly-wound Wall Street accountant named Ivan Blowsky, when he is forced to sit next to them on an airplane.
  • The character Charlotte, a high-stakes CEO, on Rugrats has two fish in her office named "Boesky" and "Vesco".
  • Boesky is mentioned in the episode Last Days of the television series Sliders: after an asteroid fails to destroy the Earth of the dimension they are in, Rembrandt Brown sees an article in a newspaper stating that Boesky had bought half of the houses in Beverly Hills for $10,000 dollars apiece, and that the erstwhile owners want their houses back.
  • In the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven, Brad Pitt's character, Rusty Ryan, mentions a type of confidence scam termed "a Boesky" that involves a wealthy bankroller with insider information.
  • In The Shield, Vic Mackey states that there will be a "money laundering operation which would make Ivan Boesky flinch".
  • In Season 2, Episode 3 of "Psych"("Psy vs. Psy"), the Federal Treasury agent claims to have arrested Ivan Boesky himself.
  • In the novel American Psycho, Craig McDermott wins a halloween costume party dressed as Ivan Boesky.
  • In the episode of Futurama, Future Stock, an 80s Wall Street character, reminiscent of Gordon Gekko, said of his glory days: "I was having whisky with Boesky and cookies with Milken."
  • Famous hacker Kevin Mitnick recollects his encounters with Boesky in the prison in his book Ghost in the Wires.
  • In the musical The Wedding Singer (based on the Adam Sandler/ Drew Barrymore movie), the character Glen Guglia mentions that "Boesky bought half, and if Ivan's buying, you know it's in the money."
  • The sequel to Forrest Gump, the Winston Groom book Gump & Company, had the protagonist Forrest Gump being hired by Boesky. Gump, having trouble with the name, often refers to him as "Mr. Bozosky". Gump also later begins to wonder how he is being able to command such a high salary for only having to sign papers.

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