Uri Geller ( ; ; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other illusions. Geller uses conjuring tricks to simulate the effects of psychokinesis and telepathy. Geller's career as an entertainer has spanned more than four decades, with television shows and appearances in many countries. Magicians have called Geller a fraud due to his claims of possessing psychic powers.
Early life
Geller was born on 20 December 1946 in Tel Aviv, which was then part of British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel). His mother and father were of Austrian-Jewish and Hungarian-Jewish background respectively. Geller is the son of Itzhaak Geller (Gellér Izsák), a retired army sergeant major, and Margaret "Manzy" Freud (Freud Manci). Geller claims that he is a distant relative of Sigmund Freud on his mother's side.
At the age of 11, Geller's family moved to Nicosia, Cyprus, where he attended high school, the Terra Santa College, and learned English. At the age of 18, he joined the Israeli Army's Paratroopers Brigade, with which he served in the 1967 Six-Day War and was wounded in action. He worked as a photographic model in 1968 and 1969; during that time, he began to perform for small audiences as a nightclub entertainer, becoming well known in Israel.
Geller first started to perform in theatres, public halls, auditoriums, military bases and universities in Israel. The parapsychologist Andrija Puharich met Geller in 1971 and assisted him in traveling to the United States.
Television and film career
Geller became famous demonstrating on television what he claimed to be psychokinesis, dowsing, and telepathy. His performance included spoon bending, describing hidden drawings, and making watches stop or run faster. Geller said he performs these feats through willpower and the strength of his mind. His apparent ability to bend metal objects during his television appearances came to be known as the "Geller effect" and made Geller a celebrity. The work of magician and investigator James Randi was the main factor in revealing that Geller's actual methods were stage magic tricks.
In 1973, Geller appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, an appearance recounted both Randi's book The Truth About Uri Geller and in the Nova documentary episode "Secrets of the Psychics" hosted by Randi on PBS. In the documentary, Randi says that "Johnny had been a magician himself and was skeptical" of Geller's claimed paranormal powers, so prior to the date of taping, Randi was asked "to help prevent any trickery"; accordingly, the show prepared their own props without informing Geller, and did not let Geller or his staff "anywhere near them". When Geller joined Carson on stage, he appeared surprised that he was not going to be interviewed, but instead was expected to display his abilities using the provided articles. Geller said, "This scares me", and, "As you know, I told your people what to bring", and "I'm surprised because before this program your producer came and he read me at least 40 questions you were going to ask me". Geller was unable to display any paranormal abilities, saying, "I don't feel strong", and expressed his displeasure at feeling he was being "pressed" to perform by Carson. According to Adam Higginbotham:
This appearance on The Tonight Show, which Carson and Randi had orchestrated to debunk Geller's claimed abilities, backfired. According to Higginbotham,
By the mid-1980s, Geller was described as "a millionaire several times over", and claimed to be performing mineral dowsing services for mining groups at a standard fee of £1 million. In June 1986, the Australian Skeptic reported that Geller had been paid A$350,000 and granted an option of 1,250,000 Zanec shares at A$0.20 each until 5 June 1987.
British television presenter Noel Edmonds often used hidden cameras to record celebrities in Candid Camera–like situations for his television programme, Noel's House Party. In 1996, Edmonds planned a stunt in which shelves would fall from the walls of a room while Geller was in it. The cameras recorded footage of Geller from angles he was not expecting, and they showed Geller grasping a spoon firmly with both hands as he stood up to display a bend in it.