Channing Pollock (magician)
Channing Pollock was an American magician and film actor.
Biography
Channing Pollock was the son of Robert Burns Pollock and Marjorie Leppert. While his parents attended a lecture of famed playwright Channing Pollock, the author noticed that Majorie was pregnant. After finding out that the couple shared the same last name, he joked that the baby should be named after him. He died before his namesake became famous.After serving in the US Navy during World War II, Channing married his childhood sweetheart, Naomi Phelps, a daughter of a preacher. He first became interested in magic after reading Professor Hoffmann's Modern Magic in his early 20s. Pollock used his G.I. Bill to study at the Chavez School of Magic in La Verne, California from which he graduated in 1952. After graduating from the famed Chavez School of Magic in Hollywood, California, Naomi soon became his partner on stage until their divorce in 1959. The marriage produced one son, Russell.
His second marriage was to Josephine Bolton from England on January 13, 1960. Jozy soon became his onstage partner. They divorced in 1968.
In January 1969, he married Corinne Shoong.
Career
Magician
Pollock was recognized as one of the most sophisticated and charismatic practitioners of his craft. He was best known for an act in which he elegantly produced doves out of the air, and he was often billed as "the most beautiful man in the world". Pollock's early work as a magician was on the nightclub circuit.Pollock was skilled with sleight of hand and card manipulation. He appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1954, and went on to make several appearances at the London Palladium. By the mid-1950s Pollock was unsurpassed in his field, and he had many imitators.
In 1954 the Academy of Magical Arts and Sciences awarded him Magician of the Year.
He appeared at cabaret venues and in special shows all over the world, performing for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Queen Elizabeth II and at the wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly. At the height of his career he was one of America's highest-paid entertainers. He taught his act to his chauffeur in London, Frank Brooker, who went on performing the act for several years under the name of Franklyn.
While in Rome doing movies, he appeared on Italian TV doing magic. On his return to America, he was not able to secure work as an actor so he returned to doing magic by touring with Liberace.
Pollock retired in 1968 when he had his last performance on his friend Peter Pit's television show, Watch Closely later that year. During his retirement, he and his wife Corri visited the Magic Castle in Hollywood, California and attended many magic conventions. He made brief appearances on various television shows doing card tricks. In 1996, on the television show Champions of Magic, Pollock even produced a dove for Princess Stephanie of Monaco.