THE 22 MOST FAMOUS MAGICIANS AND ILLUSIONISTS IN HISTORY - ART - 2024

Among the most famous magicians and illusionists in history we have in mind the classics Houdini, Copperfield or Fu-Manchu, but there are many more, those who, thanks to their tricks and innovation in this art, have managed to keep alive a cultural sector that was born thousands of years ago.

Illusionists, or magicians, take care to entertain the public, whether in a theater, on the street, on television or at a private party, with their improbable tricks and actions that seem to break, at times, all the laws of life. physics, logic and common sense.

There are several types of magicians: card magicians (those who use cards for their tricks), numismagos (use coins), escapists (magicians specialized in escaping from traps, boxes, cages, straitjackets, loosening from handcuffs or chains, etc), mentalists (diviners from the viewers' thinking through questions or missions that he entrusts to the public), etc.

These artists of deception, specialists in illusion, aces of the trick, have always attracted the attention of the human being. As soon as there is a magician in a room or in a group of friends, the others will drop whatever they are doing to give them immediate attention. It seems that the human being loves in a special way to be deceived as long as he never discovers the trick, that the secret of the magician remains in the air.

Illusionism was known in history as white magic (to distinguish it from satanic black magic), simulated magic, or sneakiness.

Top 22 most famous magicians

Famous Hungarian escapist, emigrated to the United States, where he joined a circus to show his surprising and impossible escapades. Houdini was able to escape chains, handcuffs, straitjackets, barred boxes, cages, etc.

His most famous trick was "metamorphosis." It consisted of putting Houdini in a sack and then in a box, all tied with padlocks and chains. Then a girl or a helper would climb on top of the box and put up a curtain for a few seconds. Then Houdini would appear liberated, out of the bag, and the girl or the assistant in the bag and inside the box.

Without a doubt, he is the number 1 magician par excellence. Books have been written about him, films made, and much ink circulated discussing his impossible feats.

2- Fu-Manchu

He is remembered for his famous "Chinese shadows", figures that he made with his hands and that seemed to be scenes from a movie, made with great skill and speed in front of the public.

He mastered a lot of classic magic tricks. He knew many languages ​​and was a great mass communicator. He worked with many assistants and humor was always present in his shows.

3- Richiardi Jr.

Peruvian magician. He always began his performances with the trick of rice cups, which he invented when he was 4 years old. It converted cups of water into cups of rice. He considered that starting with this trick gave him luck for the rest of the show.

In addition to being a magician and illusionist, he was a singer, dancer and actor. His shows were very complete and the staging almost insurmountable due to this great versatility.

4- Jasper Maskelyne

He was known as "the wizard of war" because he participated in World War II. This British illusionist was the inventor of a trick that would not be for the classic public sitting in their seats, but for the Nazis.

He prepared a great deception for them in El Alamein, creating the illusion of a fake army using cardboard tanks, fake train tracks, barracks, water tanks… All fake! A fake, as the Anglo-Saxons would say. The ploy worked and the Nazis moved to avoid attack by these "great troops" and that important battle was won.

5- Dai Vernon

Better known as "the professor" to the rest of the magicians of the world. This Canadian illusionist became famous for being the only one who managed to fool the Great Houdini. He challenged magicians from all over the world ensuring that he was capable of discovering any trick, of any magician, as long as they allowed him to see it three times in a row.

Dai Vernon used, to deceive the Great Houdini, the card trick, called "the ambitious card." It was a simple trick where a card was inserted through the center of the deck and then that card was the one that was right on top, which was turned over.

Well, Houdini couldn't figure out what the trick was when he saw it three times. Confident of his ability, Dai allowed him to see the trick five more times, for a total of eight. Houdini was defeated. Dai Vernon had beaten him. He was also a specialist in improving other magicians' tricks.

6- David Blaine

At the end of the 90s of the 20th century, this spectacular magician appeared who, among other tricks, made himself burn alive or got into a block of ice for 63 hours. These and other physical feats of the style are the mark of this illusionist.

7- Siegfried Fischbacher

This German magician used white Siberian tigers (the largest and strongest) and lions to practice his magic. Unfortunately, in one show, one of the tigers bit him on the neck when he put his head in his mouth and shattered most of his skull, in addition to inflicting severe injuries that caused him to lose a lot of blood. They managed to save his life, but obviously the show disappeared.

8- David Copperfield

He may be the most famous modern magician. He acted alone and some of his tricks were: make the Statue of Liberty disappear, cross the Great Wall of China or float over the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.

9- Criss Angel

A young magician is able to walk between two buildings in front of a crowd, walk on water, or cut himself in two. He is also an expert in levitation tricks.

10- Penn and Teller

Penn Jillete and Raymond Teller is a duo that triumphed in the late 80s. They were comedic magicians and, at times, they showed the public how they had performed the trick, explaining it, like their famous trick “Balls and Cups”. Teller never spoke during performances.

11- Dynamo

For many fans, he is the best magician today. Like Criss Angel, walk on water, go through windows, or read the public's mind.

12- Herbert Becker

Famous magician who created several television shows. In the 1970s he was named America's Best Magician.

13- Uri Geller

Known all over the world during the 70s and 80s, also in Spain, he rose to fame for bending spoons with his mind in front of the television camera, giving instructions so that viewers could also do it at home, like him.

In Spain he participated for the first time in the program «Directísimo» by José María Íñigo. The next day, the whole country did not talk about anything else.

14- Nicolae Filipp Ladru

The scientific magician. In reality, he was a renowned physicist who used illusionism to show the effects of light, sound, electricity, or magnetism.

His tricks were very popular in France and other European countries. A special room was built for him in Paris, so that he could safely carry out all his trick-experiments.

15- Kio

Emil Teodórovich Girshfeld Renard, actor of the miniature theater first, circus artist later and finally illusionist. This Russian made unique numbers with aquariums, turned women into lions, or blew grand pianos.

16- Tamariz

Juan Tamariz specialized in card magic, numismagia and close-up magic. This man from Madrid has performed in theaters around the world, always gaining public recognition. He is a very important magician and highly valued internationally.

He is considered a great theorist of magic, having created a large number of magical passes and routines used by many modern magicians.

He created the "red herring" method, by means of which the viewer has to be made to abandon the desire of wanting to discover the secret of the magic trick and focus only on enjoying it and living it. He has published numerous magic books translated into various languages.

17- Jorge Blass

Actor and magician, this Spanish illusionist sold one of his tricks to the famous David Copperfield.

18- Inés «the magician»

There are not too many women in this world, but here we have one. He practices magic up close with cards, coins, rings and other small objects that he places very close to the viewer.

19- The pop magician

Young Spanish magician, he is having great success with his teleportation show.

20- Paulino Gil

This Zamora veteran continues to dazzle audiences of all ages with his fun and fast tricks and his connection with the public.

A few years ago he received an important international award in recognition of his long artistic work. His show is titled “Chequín”, it is the story of a traveler who arrives at a hotel. From there, magic is the protagonist.

21- Yunke

Very popular current Spanish magician, who surprises everyone with a way of understanding magic totally different from the conventional. He creates magical spaces that will surprise and agitate the viewer.

22- Hector Mancha

Very interesting Spanish magician, from the Canary Islands, who is known for a great trick where he makes bills appear and disappear. He was World Magic Champion in 2015. He confesses he likes the “pickpocket”, tricks that consist of taking objects away from the spectators without them noticing.

References

1. The Top Tens (Ten Magicians of the 20 ^th Century).
2. EL PAÍS, Leisure Guide. The Spanish magicians that you should know.