Bourdin once wrote, “When you fight monsters, be careful that . . . you do not become one.”

Do it on a stage or screen, and you're an actor.

Do it in real life, and you're a criminal:

“People always say to me, ‘Why don’t you become an actor?’ ” he told me. “I think I would be a very good actor, like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. But I don’t want to play somebody. I want to be somebody.”