Doug Henning, Magician, 52

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

Tuesday February 8 3:20 PM ET 

Famed Magician Doug Henning Dies at 52

TORONTO (Reuters) - Magician Doug Henning, who recreated Harry Houdini's
most famous trick, the ``Water Torture Escape,'' and made magic popular
again on the Broadway stage, has died at age 52, a spokesman for him said
on Tuesday.

Don Jackson, a Toronto spokesman for a theme park Henning was developing
in Niagara Falls, Ontario, said the magician died on Monday at his home in
Los Angeles with his wife, Deborah, at his side. He was diagnosed five
months ago with liver cancer, according to news reports.

Henning, known as the ``the hippie magician'' because of his long brown
hair and mustache, was born in Fort Garry, Manitoba, in 1947 and became
one of Canada's best-known magicians before moving to the United States.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he created and starred in several magic musicals
on Broadway, including ``The Magic Show'' ''Merlin'' and ``Doug Henning's
World of Magic.'' On his annual NBC TV special ``Doug Henning's World of
Magic,'' he recreated the legendary magician Houdini's ``Water Torture
Escape'' before a live audience.

He was immersed upside down in a straitjacket and shackles in a
glass-enclosed tank of water. He thrashed around creating a burst of
bubbles that prevented the audience from seeing what was going on and
suddenly emerged unscathed.

In 1992, Henning unveiled plans for a $1.03 billion theme park, Veda Land,
that would be tied to Indian spiritual guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the
founder of Transcendental Mediation.

``We're deeply saddened here at the Veda Land office. We were working on
the project that Doug had his heart in and we can say that we understand
that he expressed very strongly his desire to see us proceed,'' Jackson
said on Tuesday. 





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