![]() He challenged him in his 1975 book “The Magic of Uri Geller.” Randi balked at the unskeptical coverage Geller received – and as a magician, he recognized Geller’s tricks. ![]() In the 1970s and ’80s, he published works discrediting the “magic” of self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller, who appeared in print and TV media throughout the 1970s touting his “powers,” which he claimed derived from the paranormal, and magically bending spoons. Though Randi was himself a magician, he became a “professional skeptic” during the latter half of his career. Of course, Randi said, he had an advantage – he was also about 30 years younger than Houdini was when he attempted the feat. He appeared regularly on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson, and his earlier escape attempts in the 1950s were broadcast on NBC’s “Today.”Īt age 22, he broke Harry Houdini’s record for time spent submerged in a coffin at 104 minutes – 11 minutes longer than Houdini. In all, he broke out of at least 22 jails around the world – “all legally,” he said (he hadn’t broken out after being imprisoned for a crime). ![]() And the newspaper that reported his feat also birthed his nickname – “The Amazing Randi.” Sure enough, the next morning, Randi had maneuvered his way out of the Quebec jail. They were impressed, so they upped the ante: Could he escape from their jail? He got in on one side and emerged from the other, hands out of the cuffs. The way he tells it, the officers opened a squad car door for him. As he told The Big in 2011, after a magic show in Quebec, some police officers asked him if he could manage his way out of a pair of handcuffs. The Canadian-American Randi came by escape artistry honestly. ![]() He beat Houdini’s records as an escape artist He’s survived by his husband, Jose, and fans whose pocketbooks and belief systems were saved by his skepticism. Randi, one of the original challenges to media misinformation, died this week at age 92, the James Randi Educational Foundation confirmed. When he wasn’t performing magic himself, he worked tirelessly to debunk the deceivers. And with his long white beard, he certainly fit the part of a wizard.īut he had no time for quacks whose “magic” duped its believers and even defrauded them. He was a celebrated escape artist who broke records set by Houdini and performed everywhere from the White House to Niagara Falls (dangling upside down over the falls in a straightjacket, naturally).
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