'Spider-Man': Fantasy or Reality?

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/08/2002 at 04:40 PM EDT

Talk about art mirroring life, or vice-versa: In the comic and in the movie "Spider-Man," the hero's nerdy alter ego, Peter Parker, lives at 20 Ingram Street in the New York borough of Queens. Tobey Maguire, of course, plays both Peter and Spidy in the new, blockbuster screen version. But in reality, notes The New York Times, the occupants of that very address in Queens happen to be named Parker -- Andrew and Suzanne. The Parkers, who have two daughters, moved there in 1974, and since 1989, they told the paper, they've been getting junk mail addressed to Peter Parker. "We get tons of it," Suzanne Parker informed The Times on Tuesday. "'Star Trek' magazines, a Discover Card in his name, and notices from them over the years calling him a good customer." And, as could well be imagined, they get crank phone calls. But it was only last summer that a reporter for a local weekly paper informed the Parkers that they are living in a comic-book landmark. Then there was this additional odd coincidence, notes The Times. Spider-Man's nemesis, the Green Goblin, is also called Norman Osborn (played by Willem Dafoe in the movie). Well, living across the street from the Parkers is a Terri Osborne, who has lived there since 1979. And, reports The Times, the Parkers and Mrs. Osborne are friends, not enemies. Who says fact isn't better than fiction?