52 What an Actor!

There isn’t much likelihood of an uneducated, untrained man being hired to do three very different, highly professional jobs in his life. But a man named Ferdinand Waldo Demera accomplished just that. He was such a consummate actor that he wrote his own roles and played them out upon life’s broad stage.

Demera realized early that the only way he could succeed in life would be by using his special powers of deceit. To convince people of his qualifications, Demera forged signatures on an impressive array of references. Then his confident manner and convincing acting made him a success at almost everything he tried. As a surgeon on a Royal Canadian ship during the Korean War, Demera performed 19 successful operations—and he had had no medical training.

Later, acting as a college professor in applied psychology, he was well liked and admired by both students and faculty. But the day when Demera’s charade was uncovered, so he forced to keep a low profile for several years. Then he obtained a position as a guidance counselor in a prison. True to form, Demera turned in a very good performance and actually helped many of the inmates.

Demera’s trickery eventually became well known, and the story of his highly successful “acting” career was written. Hollywood bought the story and made it into a movie. It was rumored that Demera applied for the lead in his own life’s story, but, ironically, he did not pass the screen test. It was the first time he failed to fool.

52 真是个演员！

一个没受过教育、没经过培训的人，一生中被雇去做三份截然不同、高度专业的工作，这种可能性不大。但一个名叫费迪南德·沃尔多·德梅拉的人做到了这一点。他是个如此出色的演员，以至于他自己编写角色，并在人生的广阔舞台上演绎这些角色。

德梅拉很早就意识到，他能在生活中取得成功的唯一途径就是利用自己独特的欺骗能力。为了让人们相信他的资历，德梅拉在一系列令人印象深刻的推荐信上伪造签名。然后，他自信的举止和令人信服的表演让他几乎在所有尝试的事情上都取得了成功。在朝鲜战争期间，德梅拉作为加拿大皇家军舰上的外科医生，成功完成了19台手术——而他根本没有接受过医学培训。

后来，他扮演应用心理学大学教授的角色，受到了学生和教职员工的喜爱与钦佩。但当德梅拉的伪装被揭穿后，他被迫低调了好几年。之后，他在一所监狱里获得了辅导员的职位。一如既往，德梅拉表现得非常出色，实际上还帮助了许多囚犯。

德梅拉的诡计最终变得广为人知，他那极为成功的“表演”生涯被写成了故事。好莱坞买下了这个故事，将其改编成电影。有传言说，德梅拉申请出演自己人生故事的主角，但具有讽刺意味的是，他没有通过试镜。这是他第一次没能蒙混过关。