Over the years, we’ve had some great mentalists that went beyond expectation and wowed the whole world with their mentalism tricks. Not only that, but these mentalists contributed a lot to the art of mentalism.
Today, we’re going to honor some of those great names. We’re going to look at the 12 best mentalists of all time.
So whether you’re looking for a mentalist to follow or are an aspiring mentalist yourself, this list of names will tell you a bit about the best of the best and help encourage you as well.
Let’s begin!
1. The Amazing Kreskin
Kreskin is a mentalist who rose to fame in the 1970s when his TV show “The Amazing World of Kreskin” aired in Canada and the United States. He then had another show called “The New Kreskin Show.”
Since then, he has become a regular guest on talk shows, including his 61 notable appearances on The Tonight Talk Show from 1970-1980.
Although Kreskin was known for his predictions, he didn’t claim to have clairvoyant or paranormal powers. He also didn’t consider himself as a “psychic”.
One of his most famous schticks was hiding his paycheck for the day within the audiences of his shows. If he failed to locate his paycheck, he will not get paid for that day. There were only about 10 or 11 instances where he wasn’t able to locate his paycheck.
Today, Kreskin is in his mid-80s and still appears on TV shows to show off his incredible abilities. The funny this is, Kreskin was inspired to become a mentalist by a comic strip called Mandrake.
2. Theodore Annemann
Theodore or “Ted” was born on November 22, 1907. In his early life, he worked as a magician’s assistant. Eventually, he became passionate about mentalism and used the skills that led him to become one of the best mentalists in the 1930s.
He was known for performing the bullet catch illusion outdoors. The bullet catch is an illusion where a magician appears to catch the bullet that is fired directly at him using his mouth or any items.
Additionally, he invented standard routine tricks that are still being used by mentalists today.
He also published The Jinx, a magic magazine or newsletter. But it didn’t last long and later became a collectible after his death.
Two weeks before his first indoor performance of the bullet catch illusion, Theodore Anemann committed suicide.
3. Uri Geller
Uri is one of the most controversial mentalists. He was known for the bending spoon trick, moving tables, dowsing, and being able to stop, start, or increase or slow down the speed of the clock’s hands.
Uri claimed to have telepathy and psychokinesis powers. He is also a self-acclaimed psychic.
Later on in his career, he was exposed because he was only using basic magic tricks and mentalism techniques to imitate telepathy and psychokinesis.
Despite being exposed, he still continued his career as an illusionist, mentalist, and magician for over four decades.
4. Marc Salem
Marc Salem is a successful and well-known cold mind reader, mentalist, and nonverbal communicator.
He performs entertaining and mind-blowing Mind Games all over the world. Some of what he did was floating on air while reading the minds of people and he even predicted the death of Elvis Presley.
Marc Salem is also a researcher professor. He earned a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology and is working on the study of Kinesis. He travels around the round to explore the mind and its potential.
He has a book called Discover the Secrets of Mind Games where readers will discover Marc’s secret and methods.
5. Gerry McCambridge
Gerry McCambridge is a famous stage mentalist from New York. Since he was a child, he was always fascinated by magic. He started performing magic shows at parties when he was 12 years old and called himself “Gerard the Great”.
At age 18, his performing name became Gerry Cambridge. It was in 1988 that he completely stopped performing magic tricks and focused on being a mentalist.
He has the most successful and longest-running mentalism show in Las Vegas called “The Mentalist”. On April 5, 2020, he marked his 4,000th performance in Las Vegas for the last fifteen years.
6. Keith Patrick Barry
Keith Barry is an Irish mentalist, magician, hypnotist, and subconscious mind specialist. His career started when his television series entitled Close Encounters with Keith Barry aired from 2003-2005, which originally aired in Europe.
Keith is known to blend mentalism, magic, and comedy in his performances. His astounding skills have been showcased in popular international TV shows, including You’re Back in The Room where the contestants were hypnotized by Keith to prevent them from winning the prize money.
He is also a mind coach and has worked with international athletes, influencers, actors, and business people. Keith helps his clients unleash their subconscious potentials.
7. Joseph Dunninger
Joseph was born in 1892 in New York City. He is known as “The Amazing Dunninger”. He was a master of mind-reading, divination, and telepathy.
At the age of 17, he performed at Theodore Roosevelt’s and Thomas Edison’s homes.
He was a debunker of fraudulent psychics and mediums. He is the author of the book Inside the Medium’s Cabinet where he exposed the tricks of mediums and how camera trickery was used to perform the Indian rope trick.
He was one of the first magicians to perform on television and radio. He appeared on radio in 1943 and was featured on a television show in 1948.
Since then, he frequently appeared on television during the 1950s through 1960s.
He died at the age of 82 because of Parkinson’s disease.
8. Richard Osterlind
Richard is one of the famous and sought-after mentalists today. He is an author, teacher of magic, speaker, and creator of magic effects.
He started as a drummer of a rock band but was already learning about hypnotism at that time. When he successfully hypnotized a bandmate, it led him to be hired to perform in hypnotism shows. Since then, he has been performing for more than 35 years.
When his DVD series Mind Mysteries was released, Osterlind became a well-known teacher in the art of mentalism. Because of his success, he published 16 books and 25 instructional DVDs on the subject “Mind Over Matter”.
9. Max Maven
Max is a widely respected mentalist and magician who practices interactive mind reading and cold reading skills. He is dubbed by Magic Magazine as “The Most Influential Magicians of the 20th Century”.
His birth name was Phil Goldstein, which he then legally changed it to Max Maven. Although he still uses Phil as his pen name when writing.
In his performances, he interacts with a crowd full of strangers and predicts their answers correctly. He is considered a legend in the world of magic because of his knowledge of the various tricks, methods, and history of magic.
10. James Randi
James Randi is a stage magician and mentalist. Just like other mentalists, he exposed fraudulent mediums and psychics like Slyvia Brown, John Edwards, and even Uri Geller.
He dedicated the latter part of his career to debunking supernatural, occult, and paranormal claims.
He founded the James Randi Educational Foundation, known for its paranormal challenge that will give a $1,000,000 prize for he anyone who can demonstrate and prove the existence of paranormal, psychic, and supernatural powers. No one has completed this challenge.
11. Alexander – The Man Who Knows
Claud Alexander Conlin was a stage magician specializing in psychic reading and mentalism. He was also an author who wrote about psychology, spirituality, and stage performance.
Conlin was a highly paid and popular stage mentalist between 1915 and 1924. He claimed that his psychic abilities are a form of mind-reading or telepathy.
During his performances, his audience will give him sealed questions and he will answer them accurately while on stage. His tricks were never revealed during his lifetime.
He retired from stage performances when he was 47. Sources say that he earned millions of dollars during his career. He may have been the highest-paid stage magician in his lifetime.
12. Derren Brown
Probably the most popular mentalist name for this day and age, Derren Brown has proved time and time again why he is considered one of the best.
From breathtaking mind-reading tricks to using the power of suggestion, he was able to wow thousands of people around the world.
Not only that, but he is also an illusionist, painter, and author.
He still performs to this day. If you ever get the chance, then you should definitely go see him!
Conclusion
There you have it, the 12 best mentalists of all time!
Each of them has been known for their unique skills, abilities, and contribution in the field of mentalism.
So whether you’re looking for mentalists to follow or want to be inspired, you can trust that these 12 mentalists are the very best you’ll find. Go check them out!