All that, and he was only 5 foot 2 inches tall.

I'm going to be tied up homeschooling today so I invite anyone else to jump in and start the next round!

OK, since no one else is jumping in …

1. I was born in Brooklyn, New York to a middle-class Jewish family.

2. My grandfather encouraged me to follow my chosen profession.

3. I first performed in public at the age of seven.

Neil Sedaka

Neil Diamond?

4. At a very young age I performed a full act on TV.

5. I also worked in comedy clubs.

6. I once performed on a bill between Ike and Tina Turner and Timothy Leary, who lectured about LSD.

7. Later I moved to the Los Angeles area and developed a following.

Doug Henning

Lenny Bruce?

Ricky Jay?

My bad if we did Ricky already.

You win again, Alan M! These would have been my follow-up clues:

8. A famous Hollywood director cast me in a number of his films.

9. Eventually I appeared in several films, TV shows and theaters.

10. You can see me in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.

11. I became a go-to consultant on Hollywood projects, including for Francis Ford Coppola.

12. I taught some of my techniques to Robert Redford.

13. I am the only magician ever to have been profiled in PBS's American Masters.

14. One of several books I authored is entitled “Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women”.

15. I collaborated on several projects with Michael Weber, including The Prestige, The Illusionist, Oceans Thirteen, and many more.

1) Following in the footsteps of my father, I spent about 7 years as a Pentecostal preacher.

2) After my first wife and I divorced, I abandoned preaching and took up comedy as a profession.

3) Six days before my death, I married my third wife in Las Vegas.

I actually met him and hung out at a wild party thrown for him at a NYC recording studio! Sam Kinison.

I was invited up on stage with him during a performance of "52 assistants." Kim Delaney and Stephen Bochco were in the audience that night too.

Nice, Cliff! But I was actually talking about Sam Kinison.

Sam Kinison is indeed correct, Arthur! You’re up.

Thanks Alan! For the record, the party had Leslie West playing guitar, and (as was common in those days) there was an abundance of white powder available.

I'll let someone else jump in. If no one obliges, I'll think of something later tonight.

No takers? Alrighty then:

1. I was born in 1899 in Washington, D.C.

2. As a child, I was more interested in baseball than what became my chosen profession.

3. President Teddy Roosevelt would come by on his horse sometimes, and stop and watch me and my friends play.

Harold Loyd

Duke Ellington