Houdini, Harry

(born March 24, 1874, Budapest, Hung.—died Oct. 31, 1926, Detroit, Mich., U.S.) U.S. magician.

The son of a rabbi who emigrated from Hungary to the U.S. and settled in Wisconsin, he became a trapeze performer at an early age. In 1882 he moved to New York City, where he played in vaudeville shows without much success. From about 1900 he earned an international reputation for his daring feats of escape from locked boxes, often submerged, while shackled in chains and handcuffed. His success depended on his great strength and agility and his unusual skill in manipulating locks. He exhibited his abilities in several films (1916–23). In his later years he campaigned against magicians and mind readers who claimed supernatural powers, including Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, from whom Houdini had taken his name.

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