George Joseph Kresge Jr., better known by his stage name The Amazing Kreskin, died this Tuesday at the age of 89.
He was known to generations of TV watchers as a mesmerizing entertainer and mentalist, appearing on a variety of talk shows.
Over the decades, he featured on programs ranging from The Steve Allen Show in the 1960s to Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in the 2000s.
Kreskin’s friend and former road manager, Ryan Galway, told news outlets that he died Tuesday at his home in Caldwell, New Jersey, where he spent much of his life.
Galway did not provide additional details.
Inspired by the crime-fighting comic book character Mandrake the Magician, Kreskin launched his television career in the 1960s.
George Joseph Kresge Jr., better known by his stage name The Amazing Kreskin, died this Tuesday at the age of 89; pictured 2003
He made his TV debut in 1964 on The Steve Allen Show, tripping and falling to the floor because the stage lights got in his eyes.
In spite of his rocky start, he became a reliable fixture on the talk-show circuit, enrapturing audiences with his mind tricks.
After starting off his career under the name Kreskin, he acquired the tag ‘The Amazing’ when it was applied to him by Johnny Carson, whose late-night series he appeared on a whopping 88 times.
He remained popular for decades, making guest appearances on talk shows hosted by everyone from Merv Griffin to Johnny Carson to Jimmy Fallon.
Fans would welcome, if not entirely figure out, his favorite mind tricks – whether correctly guessing a playing card chosen at random, or, most famously, divining where his paycheck had been planted among the audience.
He also hosted his own show in the 1970s, gave live performances and wrote numerous books, including Secrets Of The Amazing Kreskin and Mental Power Is Real.
Although he was a talk show regular, one host wasn’t amused by a Kreskin stunt.
In 2002, he claimed that a UFO would appear over Las Vegas on the night of June 2, and added that he would donate $50,000 to charity if he was wrong.
He made his TV debut in 1964 on The Steve Allen Show, tripping and falling to the floor because the stage lights got in his eyes; pictured 1967
Over the decades, he featured on programs ranging from The Steve Allen Show in the 1960s to Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in the 2000s; pictured on Fallon’s show in 2009
Kreskin is pictured with Tom Petty and the latter’s wife Jane Benyo in 1993
Hundreds of people gathered in the desert, in vain.
Kreskin acknowledged to radio personality Art Bell that his prediction was a hoax, a way of proving that the September 11 terrorist attacks the year before had made people susceptible to manipulation.
Bell called the ruse ‘lame, lame, lame’ and banned Kreskin from his show.
In his 1991 book Secrets Of The Amazing Kreskin, the famed television personality explained the attributes that made him a star.
‘I am not a psychic, an occultist or fortune teller. I am not a mind reader, medium or hypnotist. There is nothing supernatural about anything that I do,’ he wrote.
‘I am a scientist, a researcher in the field of suggestion and “extrasensory” perceptions. I perform what I discover.’
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