Several names come to mind: Orson Wells Milton Berle, Chester Morris..to name a few.
some a
vinny

Johnny Carson, Steve Martin....

I think Bill Bixby, Dick Cavette and Cary Grant also may have been magicians too. I know they had a lot of envolvement with it.

I also heard that Rita Hayworth was a pretty good magician, hanging out with Orson Wells and the gang at the Chavez College of Magic.

Steve

Sadly enough Ed Alonzo was frequently on Saved By the Bell. And who can forget Harry Anderson on Night Court. Oh and wasn't Channing Pollock an actor also??

And please don't forget Carl Ballantine!

Also, Milton Berle and Tony Curtis.

Peter, was Carl Ballantine the Amazing Ballantine that did comedy magic and later played on TV show McHales Navy? I'm not sure.
BTW, Peter did you get the warped and restored trick I sent?
vinny

Vinny,
That is, indeed, the same Carl Ballantine. He was also guest of honor at the IBM convention in San Diego this year.
And, yes, I just got your tapes.
Went through them quickly but haven't had a chance to really study them.
Your handling of Card Warp, though, is beautiful.
And the wrist change is amazing!

Jason Alexander, who was George on Seinfeld, is supposed to be very good as well.

My wife told me Vinny Testerverde of the New York Jets is an amateur magician.
Thought I might add this piece of information.

vinny

What about Jim Varney? (AKA Ernest?) I thought I heard he was a magish? We also can't forget John Denver.

Aresenio Hall was an accomplished magician as well.

I've seen a very young Arsenio in a promo picture producing a dove!

Lyndel

Wasn't Gene Grant an actor/magician also?
I remember hearing something about that...

"My wife told me Vinny Testerverde of the New York Jets is a amateur magician.
Thought I might add this piece of information"

She is correct.

Steve Martin did some stuff too.

Steve Martin as a young man performed magic at Disney. He later developed his Flydini act

From the old days movie comedian Harold Lloyd was a magician as was actress Barbara Stanwick,(they both have tricks in The Jinx magazine!)

Here's some names...

Don Knotts
Orson Welles
Steve Martin
Tony Curtis
Cary Grant
Walt Disney
Johnny Carson
Paul White a.k.a. The Big Show (pro wrestler)
Michael Jackson
Harry Anderson
Muhammed Ali
Lou Derman
Dom Delouise

These are just some of the names that I am aware of that were or are active to some degree in magic. I would love to know more.

Take care,

Dorian Rhodell

I don't know of too many more than Dorian has already posted, but I think Mel Gibson is a big fan of the magical arts. Also, just to piggyback off of what Dorian said, the wrestler's name is Paul Write. Although I didn't know he was a magician...

Kraft

The Marx brothers, was Harpo Marx a magician?
And what about Jackie Gleason? These are two more name that I heard were into magic.

Wow, could this thread get any geekier?

A couple more names for the list:
Tom Cruise (witness his CD palm in Mission Impossible, taught by Shaxon);
Shari Lewis (puppeteer, whose father was a professional magician);
and a definite confirmation of Bill Bixby (who played the title character in a suspenseful magic whodunit series of the 70s, The Magician, whose Technical Director was Mark Wilson).

Yes, Channing Pollock was also an actor. (Aren't we all?) I believe he starred in a movie called Judex. But if we get into that area (magicians who act vs. performers who magish) we'll likely be here all day. On Max Maven's site, he even confesses to an appearance as a driving instructor on Mork & Mindy.

This just in: I understand that Madonna will be getting into magic next week, but should be onto something else in a month or so.

I sold some magic to George Segal about 10 years ago. He was in town doing a play. He loved the funny stuff. (Remember his movies King Rat or Fun with Dick and Jane?)

Apparently Val Kilmer is into coin stuff... who knew?