People do not become swindlers, they are born that way. True, not all of them embark on a criminal path, many successfully use their abilities in business or simply in love affairs, but often they turn out to be inveterate scammers. Who does not know, for example, the great strategist Victor Lustig, who managed to sell the Eiffel Tower in Paris twice for scrap.
Among the most prominent swindlers in the world is Ferdinand Demara, who was even nicknamed "The Great Impostor". Unlike other famous swindlers, without any education, he managed to work conscientiously in the role of many graduates, even to be in the shoes of a surgeon performing successful operations. At the same time, his employers and patients were satisfied with him and his services, and Demara himself did not derive practically any material benefit from this fraud, except perhaps for the salary he needed to exist.
Becoming an impostor
Born into the family of the owner of a small theater (1921, Massachusetts, USA), Ferdinand Demara immediately showed himself as a gifted boy and … a great lazy person who does not want to put much effort to achieve his goal. But he literally caught everything on the fly, had a phenomenal memory, was distinguished by courage and a penchant for adventures. In order not to study or work, he went to a monastery as a teenager, which was his first adventurous escapade, but soon the young man realized that humility and an ascetic lifestyle were not for him.
And then Demara decided to go to the military, and the role of a soldier who dreamed of becoming a general did not suit him in any way, and therefore he passed himself off as another, immediately becoming an officer. The talent helped him feel great in this role, so the deception was not noticed. True, Ferdinand himself was soon bored with army discipline, and he deserted from the military unit.
Having bought a psychology diploma, he got a job as a teacher at a college, and he read his lectures so talentedly that both students and the leadership of the educational institution were satisfied with him. And this is despite the fact that Demara received all his knowledge by studying books on psychology at night. In college, he found everything he wanted: a good job, a decent salary, respect, and even some fame, albeit in narrow circles. But thunder struck - he was found as a deserter and sent to prison for a year and a half.
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Self-styled doctor is for life
Released, Ferdinand Demara tried himself in many more professions, for example, a civil engineer, an expert in the Child Protection Service, a deputy sheriff, a lawyer, an editor, a warden, a cancer specialist, etc. Surprisingly, he never looked for a great material benefit, was simply content with this or that social status, worked conscientiously and honestly. True … he quickly cooled to the chosen business and therefore soon changed it to the next one. Sometimes disappointed in the profession and in people, the great impostor again went to the monastery, where one day he met the young and talented doctor Joseph Syrah, who literally infected Ferdinand with his passion for medicine.
And Demara decided to become a doctor, and therefore soon enters the service in the Canadian Navy under the name of Joseph Syrah, receiving the rank of lieutenant of the medical service. And all would be good, because for Demard it was not difficult to treat sailors for flu, runny nose and indigestion, relying on the knowledge gained from reference books. But then the Korean War broke out (began in 1950), and the alleged Joseph is sent to serve as a ship's doctor on the destroyer Cayuga. It became more difficult to work, but even here Demara, thanks to his ability to catch everything on the fly and learn whole volumes in one night, successfully coped with his duties.
But war is war, and one day sixteen seriously wounded sailors were taken aboard the Cayuga. Demara did not even blink an eye, examined the victims, ordered the nurses to prepare them for operations, and he himself studied all night how and in what sequence all this was done. And in the morning Ferdinand began to operate. Doctors still question this feat of Demard, but the fact is, all sixteen sailors recovered after operations, continued their service and were grateful to the ship's doctor Joseph Sira all their lives.
True, the imaginary name played a cruel joke with Demara this time. Thanks to journalists, the fame of the heroic deed of the young ship doctor spread all over the world and … reached the mother of Joseph Sire, who knew perfectly well that her son was in the monastery. A scandal erupted, Demara was ultimately fired from the ship, however, they did not start a criminal case against him - he actually did an excellent job and was a true hero.
The tragedy of the good-natured impostor
After that, Demara tried himself many times as one or another specialist, but he never experienced a better fate than when he was a "real doctor". By the way, once he was offered to play the role of a surgeon in a film. Acting superbly in real life, Demara did a poor job with the stage role, which is why it can be argued that the great impostor could have become anyone except an artist.
One day, Ferdinand came up with the idea to make money by talking about all his adventures in the press. He arranged for such a publication with Life magazine, and his fascinating story was printed. However, this did not bring Demarau any special fame, much less the means of coexistence, it only hurt. For example, he once got a good job in a Texas state prison, but one of the inmates found that unfortunate article with Ferdinand's photograph in an old Life magazine, and the alleged specialist is almost imprisoned again.
In recent years, Demara has become increasingly difficult to live under fictitious names, especially since the book "The Great Impostor" was written about him by Robert Crishton, according to which the film of the same name was shot a year later (Tony Curtis starred, see the film below - in English). However, such glory to the greatest impostor brought nothing but grief and disappointment, he begins to drink a lot, and in 1982 dies of cardiac arrest.
In the future, everyone who knew Demard personally constantly criticized both the book and the film about the great impostor, and especially the game in the movie Curtis, who was completely different from the real Ferdinand, even in physique. Demara was strong and full, weighed almost one hundred and sixty kilograms, and had a great sense of smell and good nature, which Tony also could not convey from the screen …
