Canadian-American magician 'Amazing' James Randi, who once escaped a locked coffin and a straitjacket while dangling over Niagara Falls before becoming America's skeptic-in-chief, dies at 92
James Randi, a magician who later challenged spoon benders, mind readers and faith healers with such voracity that he became regarded as the country's foremost skeptic, has died, his foundation announced. He was 92.
The James Randi Educational Foundation confirmed the death, saying simply that its founder succumbed to 'age-related causes' on Tuesday.
'He had an Amazing life. We will miss him,' the foundation wrote.
Entertainer, genius, debunker, atheist Randi, who was dubbed the Harry Houdini of his day, was them all. He began gaining attention not long after dropping out of high school to join the carnival. He began his career in the 1940s as an illusionist and escape artist. In one of his first major performances, he sprang himself from a Quebec jail cell, a local newspaper dubbed him 'L’Étonnant Randi', which means the Amazing Randi.
As the Amazing Randi, he went on to escape from a locked coffin submerged in water and a straitjacket while he dangled over Niagara Falls. In another feat, Randi escaped a straitjacket while being suspended over Broadway in Manhattan.
Magical as his feats seemed, Randi concluded his shows around the globe with a simple statement, insisting no otherworldly powers were at play.
James Randi (pictured in January 2016), a magician who later challenged spoon benders, mind readers and faith healers with such voracity that he became regarded as the country's foremost skeptic, has died, his foundation announced. He was 92
He began gaining attention not long after dropping out of high school to join the carnival. As the Amazing Randi (left and right), he escaped from a locked coffin submerged in water and from a straitjacket as he dangled over Niagara Falls
'Everything you have seen here is tricks,' he would say. 'There is nothing supernatural involved.'
The magician's transparency gave a glimpse of what would become his longest-running act, as the country's skeptic-in-chief. In that role, his first widely seen exploit was also his most enduring.
On a 1973 episode of 'The Tonight Show,' he helped Johnny Carson set up Uri Geller, the Israeli performer who claimed to bend spoons with his mind.
Randi ensured the spoons and other props were kept from Geller's hands until showtime to prevent any tampering. The result was an agonizing 22 minutes in which Geller was unable to perform any tricks.
During an appearance on That's My Line in 1981, Randi debunked psychic, James Hydrick. Hydrick had claimed that he could move objects with his mind and appeared to demonstrate this claim on the show by turning a page in a telephone book without touching it.
Randi determined that Hydrick was blowing on the book and arranged foam packaging peanuts on the table in front of the telephone book for the demonstration. This prevented Hydrick from demonstrating his abilities.
Randi had bushy white eyebrows and beard, a bald head, and gold-rimmed glasses, and bounced his 5-foot-6 frame energetically, even in his final years.
He sought to disprove not just those who read palms and minds, but chiropractors, homeopaths and others he saw as predators seeking innocent people´s money.
Magical as his feats seemed, Randi concluded his shows around the globe with a simple statement, insisting no otherworldly powers were at play. Randi is pictured during a stunt on September 4, 1955
Randi is seen crawling from an ice igloo after being entombed for 43-minutes and 8-seconds. The ice structure, made up of 100-pound ice cakes, measured approximately 4 feet, high, 3 feet wide, and 7 feet long
Randi targeted those he saw as frauds with a tenacity and dedication he admitted was an obsession. His efforts were reminiscent of those of his great predecessor Harry Houdini, who devoted large portions of his time to debunking spiritualists and their seances.
'I see people being swindled every day by medical quackery, frauds of every sort, psychics and their hot lines, people who claim to be able to find lost children or to help them invest their money,' Randi told The Associated Press in 1998. 'I know they are being swindled because I know the methods being used.'
Once, awaiting the chance to sift through the trash of a faith healer, Randi spent days in his car, eating Twinkies and drinking Pepsi.
'I suffer from this obsession that I have something important to do,' he explained in a 2007 interview with The AP.
There were other coups for Randi: He once showed the messages television faith healer Peter Popoff claimed to be getting from God about his audience were actually coming from his wife through an earpiece.
Born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge in Toronto on August 7, 1928. He never earned a high school diploma or went to college but in 1986 was awarded a prestigious MacArthur fellowship, often known as a 'genius grant'
But the vast majority of those he aimed to show were frauds were lesser known, lured to prove their abilities by the James Randi Educational Foundation.
Through that organization, Randi was guardian of a $1million prize he promised to give anyone who could prove either their own supernatural powers or the presence of a supernatural being.
His loudest detractors said they didn't believe the money even existed, but Randi had the bank documentation. No one ever came close to collecting.
Randi continued his escape acts well into his 50s. In 2009, he gave up the day-to-day operation of his foundation and retired in 2015.
Born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge in Toronto on August 7, 1928, Randi known by everyone simply by that surname had a nagging desire to question from a young age.
Academically, he said he was bored in school and teachers acknowledged he was prodigy far ahead of his peers.
He never earned a high school diploma or went to college but in 1986 was awarded a prestigious MacArthur fellowship, often known simply as a 'genius grant'.
He spoke with certainty. While he said he never really questioned his beliefs, he acknowledged there was always a chance he was wrong.
'I am probably right. But I'm always only probably right,' he said. 'Absolutes are very hard to find.'
For all the analysis Randi put into seemingly everything, he still found delight in observing magic he knew was a stunt or watching a film that was just fantasy. He talked about the crushing feelings of watching a friend die and spoke of the magic of love.
In 2010, he announced he was gay. In 2013, he married his longtime partner, Deyvi Pena, at a ceremony in Washington, DC. He was the subject of a 2014 documentary, 'An Honest Liar.'
In 2010, Randi announced he was gay. In 2013, he married his longtime partner, Deyvi Pena, at a ceremony in Washington, DC. He was the subject of a 2014 documentary, 'An Honest Liar'
Randi is seen with Bill Nye during a discussion about An Honest Liar at the PBS Winter TCA in January 2016 in Pasadena, California
Penn Jillette, a magician in the mold of Randi, mourned his friend on Twitter on Wednesday night, writing: 'We will never forget that without Randi, there would not be Penn & Teller. It's really that simple.'
Randi said he couldn't help feeling angry that his targets always seemed to perform escape acts of their own, continuing to win new followers and earn checks he said were cashed at reality's expense. He wanted to see frauds punished, but he recognized most people wanted to believe.
'The true believers,' he said, 'will not pay any attention to evidence that does not show that they believe to be untrue.'
It was frustrating to Randi and fueled an underlying anger toward those he labeled frauds.
When he let his displeasure slip out, though, it often was mixed with wit, as when asked about his final wishes and how he'd like his ashes disposed.
'My best friend is instructed to throw them in Uri Geller's eyes,' he said. 'I'd like him to get an eyeful of my ashes. I think that would be appropriate.'
Randi had previously taught at New York University and at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey.
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October 23, 2020
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