James randi

The Amazing Randi it is!

Your turn, Fedora!

1, I was born in Pretoria south Africa.

2, I learned computer programming from a manual,
i developed a video game called "blastar" when
i was 12, and sold the code for $500.

3, I applied for a canada passport through my mothers citizenship
at 17, while waiting I attended Pretoria university to avoid
mandatory conscription.

Elon Musk?

That was fast, You're correct alan, Elon musk.

I didn't know Elon Musk was born in Pretoria ... I myself grew up in that city (although born elsewhere).

Your turn, Alan.

Sorry folks, was out all day with the family. Here is the next challenge.

1) As a writer, my first professional sale was a short story in 1967. I was 19.

2) My first novel to be published was in 1973, but it was the fourth I had written.

3) Since then, my books have sold over 350 million copies.

I’m going to guess Stephen King … not because I know any of the 3 clues, but because I heard that he had a hard time getting published, but that after he finally did, he then got all his previously rejected stories published.

Well done Arthur! It is indeed Stephen King. Yuuuur up!

I was born on November 19, 1889 in Indianapolis, Indiana. However, my parents separated when I was not quite three years old.

The next year, my mother and I moved to New York, where we lived together until her death at age 91.

It is said that I never recovered from my mother's death in 1960, spending the remainder of my life in seclusion.

I trained in dance and theater, quitting school at age 13 to study music and painting. By 19, I was a professional ballroom dancer in New York.

In 1913, at age 20, I debuted on Broadway in an operetta about Napoleon's court entitled The Purple Road. By my mid-twenties, I was performing in musicals, dramas on Broadway and in London, and in silent movies.

Clifton Webb?

It is indeed Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck, known professionally as Clifton Webb.

Amazed you guessed him so soon, Dynamike. Which clue gave him away?

I had many more clues prepared:

In 1925, I appeared on stage in a dance act with vaudeville star & silent film actress Mary Hay. Later that year, when she and her husband produced and starred in their own film vehicle New Toys, they chose me to be second lead. The movie proved to be financially successful, but nineteen more years would pass before I appeared in another feature film.

In 1935, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer put me on a salary of $3,000 a week. While socially it turned out to be a pleasant experience, professionally it was a disaster. For eighteen months, I swam, attended gala parties, met all the important people, but never once appeared in a motion picture. I referred to Hollywood as "a land of endowed vacations."

Otto Preminger, seeing me perform in a touring stage production of "Blithe Spirit," cast me in a 20th Century Fox feature film in 1944. But Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of 20th Century Fox, was opposed to hiring me because he thought I was a “poofter.” However, producer Preminger prevailed after taking over directing the film.

Making my first screen appearance since 1925, I was nominated for an Oscar for my role in this movie. My elegant taste kept me on Hollywood's best-dressed lists for decades.

Ayn Rand wanted me to play suave villain Ellsworth Toohey in the 1949 adaptation of The Fountainhead, but studio chiefs vetoed this idea and cast Robert Douglas instead.

In 1948 I was billed in a starring role, playing a snide, know-it-all babysitter. It was a huge hit and I received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Other box-office successes followed, resulting in exhibitors voting me the seventh biggest star in the United States.
Throughout the 1950s I had roles portraying an angel, a college professor, a scoutmaster, a novelist, a navy officer, a wealthy sophisticate, and a doomed husband.

In 1954, I discovered the body of Countess Dorothy di Frasso on the Los Angeles Limited shortly before it arrived at L.A.'s Union Station. The two of us were traveling together from Las Vegas, and she was carrying a quarter-million dollars in jewels with her (worth about $2.4 million in 2020).

In 1959 I starred in two comedies as a family man. My final film role was as an initially sarcastic, but ultimately self-sacrificing Catholic priest.

Due to health problems, I spent the last five years of my life as a recluse at my home in Beverly Hills, California. On October 13, 1966, I suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 76.

ADDENDUM: For folks who are unfamiliar with Clifton Webb, he starred in many movies, including Laura, The Razor’s Edge, Sitting Pretty, Cheaper By The Dozen, Three Coins In The Fountain, and The Man Who Never Was.

A search for your key words in the second paragraph, first sentence lead me here:

https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0916067/trivia

Steve Brooks cals him "Uncle".

He is presently in his eighties.

He was friends with Don Alan, "Senator" Clarke Crandall, Ed Marlo, Jack McMillian, Charlie Miller, Dai Vernon, Milt Kort, and many more.

Hey Dynamike,

Internet searches are not allowed for solving these puzzles. We’re all supposed to use our “little grey cells.” That’s the beauty of the game … otherwise anybody can look anything up. Please bear that in mind in future.

But, since you’ve already started a new round, let’s see who can guess your mystery personality.

The books he put together are titled with his name plus "Private Studies".

He is my #1 mentor.

He had his own local troupe in Michigan, entertaining kids as well as adults, during the '70s.

His wife is named Patty.

He got Ed Marlo a gig in the sixties.

I thought this was from our own knowledge and memories. I didn’t realize searching Google was allowed. Heck anybody can find answers that way.

Mindpro, I've communicated as much to Dynamike. He hasn't responded (yet), but hopefully he understood.

Arthur

I just looked over Dynamike’s clues again. Didn’t Ron Bauer have a “Private Studies” series of booklets?