HARRY HOUDINI

Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz) was the most famous and best magician and escape artist from the 1890s to 1926. He took his stage name from French magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, and first attracted notice in vaudeville in the U.S., and then as "Harry Handcuff Houdini" on a tour of Europe. Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can with water in it. He only appeared in five movies, beginning with "The Grim Game", and also the serial, "The Master Mystery", plus Terror Island, The Man from Beyond, and Haldane of the Secret Service. He passed away in 1926 at the age of 52, and there are several stories about exactly how he died. In 1953, there was a fictionalized biography of him starring Tony Curtis, called "Houdini".