born March 24, 1874, Budapest 【see Researcher's Note】

died Oct. 31, 1926, Detroit, Mich., U.S.

American magician (conjuring) noted for his sensational escape acts.

Houdini was the son of a rabbi who emigrated from Hungary to the United States and settled in Appleton, Wis. He became a trapeze performer in circuses at an early age, and, after settling in New York City in 1882, he performed in vaudeville shows there without much success. In 1894 he was married to Wilhelmina Rahner, who thereafter as Beatrice Houdini served as his stage assistant. From about 1900 Houdini began to earn an international reputation for his daring feats of extrication from shackles, ropes, and handcuffs and from various locked containers ranging from milk cans to coffins to prison cells. In a typical act he was shackled with chains and placed in a box that was locked, roped, and weighted. The box was submerged from a boat, to which he returned after freeing himself underwater. In another outdoor exhibition he allowed himself to be suspended, head down, about 75 feet (23 m) above ground and then freed himself from a straitjacket. These demonstrations were typically watched by many thousands of people. Houdini's uncanny escape abilities depended partly on his great physical strength and agility and partly on his extraordinary skill at manipulating locks. He exhibited his skills in many motion pictures from 1916 to 1923.