Charles Van Doren

In the 1994 drama Quiz Show, based on real events in which it was discovered that a popular game show was rigged, college professor Charles Van Doren is one of the main characters. He is similar to Dimmesdale and Proctor. Van Doren enters the trivia game show Twenty One. The show's producers offer to give him questions he has already seen, but he refuses to accept these questions for ethical reasons. However, they give him a question he has already seen anyway, and Van Doren decides to go with it, winning the first episode he appears in. He then continues to receive questions ahead of time and continues winning in Twenty One for several weeks, becoming a national celebrity. Eventually, people start asking questions and suggesting the game might be rigged. Van Doren initially denies these accusations, but eventually confesses because he cannot morally justify his actions. This confession severely impacts his career. He resigns from his job teaching at Colombia University after hearing that the board planned on firing him. He is also fired from a position he had gotten on a talk show. He became an encyclopedia editor and never taught again. There are some major similarities between Van Doren, Dimmesdale, and Proctor. All three are very respectable members of their communities. Van Doren is a professor and author and his parents are well known intellectuals. Despite their respectable positions, all three commit amoral acts- two different kinds of cheating. All three eventually destroy themselves due to their morality. Dimmesdale confesses and dies, Proctor refuses to confess and dies, and Van Doren confesses and ruins his reputation and career.