David Copperfield (born David Seth Kotkin; September 16, 1956) is an Americanillusionist, described by Forbes in 2006 as the most commercially successful magician in history.[1] Best known for his combination of storytelling and illusion, Copperfield has so far sold 40 million tickets and grossed over $1 billion.[1]
Copperfield was born David Seth Kotkin in Metuchen, New Jersey,[2][3] the son of Jewish parents, Rebecca, an insurance adjuster, and Hyman Kotkin, who owned and operated a men's haberdashery in Metuchen called Korby's.[2] Copperfield's mother was born in Jerusalem, Israel, while his paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia (present-day Ukraine).[4][5]
When Copperfield was 10, he began practicing magic as "Davino the Boy Magician" in his neighborhood,[6] and at the age of 14, became the youngest person ever admitted to the Society of American Magicians.[7][8][9] Shy and a loner, the young Copperfield saw magic as a way of fitting in and, later, as a way to get girls.[10] As a teenager, Copperfield became fascinated with Broadway and frequently sneaked into shows, especially musicals featuring Stephen Sondheim or Bob Fosse.[11] By age 16, he was teaching a course in magic at New York University.[12]
At age 18, he enrolled at Fordham University, and was cast in the lead role of the Chicago-based musical The Magic Man (written by Barbara D'Amato[13] and directed by Holland, MI's John Tammi) three weeks into his freshman year,[14] adopting his new stage name "David Copperfield" from the Charles Dickensbook of the same name. At age 19, he was headlining at the Pagoda Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii.[8]
Copperfield's career in television began in earnest when he was discovered by Joseph Cates, a producer of Broadway shows and television specials.[15] Cates produced a magic special in 1977 on ABC called "The Magic of ABC" hosted by Copperfield,[9] as well as several of "The Magic of David Copperfield" specials on CBS between 1978 and 1998.[15] There have been 20 Copperfield TV specials between 1977 and 2001.
Copperfield played the character of "Ken the Magician" in the 1980 horror film Terror Train. He also made an uncredited appearance in the 1994 film Prêt-à-Porter.
Most of his media appearances have been through television specials and
guest spots on television programs. His illusions have included making
the Statue of Liberty disappear, flying, levitating over the Grand Canyon, and walking through the Great Wall of China.
In 1996, Copperfield joined forces with Dean Koontz, Joyce Carol Oates, Ray Bradbury and others for David Copperfield's Tales of the Impossible, an anthology of original fiction set in the world of magic and illusion. A second volume was later published in 1997, called David Copperfield's Beyond Imagination. In addition to the 2 books, David also wrote an essay as part of the "This I Believe" series from NPR and the This I Believe, Inc.[16] Also during 1996, in collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola, David Ives, and Eiko Ishioka, Copperfield's Broadway show "Dreams & Nightmares" broke box office records.[17]
Copperfield notes that his role models were not magicians and that "My idols were Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire and Orson Welles and Walt Disney
... they took their individual art forms and they moved people with
them ... I wanted to do the same thing with magic. I wanted to take
magic and make it romantic and make it sexy and make it funny and make
it goofy ... all the different things that a songwriter gets to express
or a filmmaker gets to express ...."[18]
On 7 May 2009, Copperfield was dropped by Michael Jackson from Jackson's residency at the O2 Arena after an alleged row over money. Copperfield wanted $1 million (£666,000) per show.[19] Copperfield denied the reports of a row, saying "don't believe everything you read."[20]
News of Copperfield's collaboration with Jackson first surfaced on
April 1, 2009, and has since been reported by several websites as a
possible April Fool's prank.[21][22]
In August 2009, Copperfield brought his show to Australia.[23][24]
[edit]International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts
Copperfield owns the International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts, which houses the world's largest[25]
collection of historically significant magic memorabilia, books and
artifacts. Begun in 1991 when Copperfield purchased the Mullholland
Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts, which contained the world's
largest collection of Houdini memorabilia,[1]
the museum comprises 5,000 cubic feet and approximately 80,000 items of
magic memorabilia, including Houdini's Water Torture Cabinet and his
Metamorphosis Trunk, Orson Welles' Buzz Saw Illusion and automata created by Robert-Houdin.[25][26]
The museum is not open to the public; tours are reserved for "colleagues, fellow magicians, and serious collectors".[25] Located in a warehouse at Copperfield's headquarters in Las Vegas, the museum is entered via a secret door in what was described by actor Hugh Jackman as a "sex shop"[27] and by Forbes as a "mail-order lingerie warehouse".[1]
"'It doesn't need to be secret, it needs to be respected,' he said. 'If
a scholar or journalist needs a piece of magic history, it's there.'"[28]
[edit]Musha Cay and the Islands of Copperfield Bay
David Copperfield's Magic Underground was planned to be a restaurant based on Copperfield's magic.[33] There was a sign on Hollywood Boulevard during the late 90s indicating the restaurant was coming soon. Signs were also located around Pleasure Island and signs outside Disney-MGM Studios.[34] A Magic Underground restaurant was also going to open in New York's Times Square.[33] Plans also included eventual expansion into Disneyland in Anaheim, California, as well as Paris and Tokyo.[35]
The restaurants were to have magic props and other items on the walls
of the restaurants while magicians would go around to tables doing sleight of hand tricks. There was also to be a larger stage for larger stunts.[36] The restaurant in Times Square was 85 percent completed,[35]
but, amid disputes between the creative team and the financial team,
and enormous cost overruns, finances dried up from the investors, so
the project was cancelled, and Disney cancelled the lease.[37]
Copperfield was not an investor in the project; the investors
reportedly lost $34 million on the project, and subcontractors placed
$15 million in liens.[35][38]
On March 11, 1984, while rehearsing an illusion called "Escape from
Death" where he was shackled and handcuffed in a tank of water,
Copperfield became tangled in the chains and started taking in water
and banging into the sides of the tank.[18] He was pulled from the water after 1 minute 20 seconds, hyperventilating and in shock, and taken to a Burbank hospital, and found to have pulled tendons in arms and legs. He was in a wheelchair for a week and used a cane for a period thereafter.[39]
Doing a rope trick, Copperfield accidentally cut off the tip of his finger with sharp scissors.[40] He was rushed to hospital and the fingertip was re-attached.[41]
On December 17, 2008, during a live performance in Las Vegas, one of
Copperfield's assistants was sucked into the spinning blades of a
12 feet (3.7 m) high industrial fan that Copperfield walks through.[42] The assistant sustained multiple fractures to his arm, lacerations that required stitching, and severe bleeding.[42] Copperfield canceled the rest of the performance and offered the audience members refunds.
On July 11, 1994, Copperfield sued magician and author Herbert L. Becker in order to prevent publication of Becker's book which reveals how magicians perform their illusions.[43] Becker won the law suit.[44] However, the book was published without exposing any of Copperfield's secrets.[45]
Because of a secrecy agreement Becker had signed with Copperfield, and
an independent finding that Becker's description of Copperfield's
methods was inaccurate, the publisher removed the section on
Copperfield from the book before publication.[45] In 1997, Becker sued Copperfield and Lifetime Books for US$50 million for causing breach of contract between himself and Lifetime Books, the publisher of his book All the Secrets of Magic Revealed. Becker won this lawsuit when Copperfield settled at the eleventh hour and the publisher lost during the court battle.[46]
In 1997, Copperfield and Claudia Schiffer sued Paris Match for US$30 million after the magazine claimed their relationship was a stunt,[47] that Schiffer was paid for pretending to be Copperfield's fiancée and that she didn't even like him.[48][49] In 1999, they won an undisclosed sum and a retraction from Paris Match.[50]Herbert
L. Becker who Copperfield asked to give testimony regarding the
validity of the relationship gave convincing testimony that the
relationship was real. Copperfield's publicist confirmed that while
Schiffer had a contract to appear in the audience at Copperfield's show
in Berlin where they met, she was not under contract to be his
"consort".[51]
On August 25, 2000 Copperfield unsuccessfully sued Fireman's Fund Insurance Company for reimbursement of a $506,343 ransom paid to individuals in Russia who had commandeered the entertainer's equipment there.[52][53][54]
In 2004, John Melk, co-founder of Blockbuster Inc., and previous owner of Musha Cay, sued Copperfield for fraud
after Copperfield's purchase of the island chain, alleging that
Copperfield had deliberately obscured his identity during the purchase
and that he would not have sold the island to Copperfield.[55] Copperfield claimed that Melk had agreed to sell the property to Copperfield's Imagine Nation Company,
and that Copperfield negotiated the deal through a third party because
he feared Melk was "seeking to exploit" Copperfield's celebrity status
by demanding an unrealistic price.[56] The case was settled in 2006. The terms of the settlement are undisclosed.[55]
On November 6, 2007, Viva Art International Ltd and Maz Concerts Inc. sued Copperfield for nearly $2.2 million for breach of contract[57][58] and the Indonesian promoter of David Copperfield's canceled shows in Jakarta held on to $550,000 worth of Copperfield's equipment in lieu of money paid to Copperfield that had not been returned.[59] Copperfield countersued.[60] The dispute was resolved in July 2009.[61]
Copperfield was accused of sexual assault in 2007 by Lacey L. Carroll.[62] A federal grand jury in Seattle closed the investigation in January 2010 without bringing charges against Copperfield.[63][64] In January 2010 the Bellevue City Prosecutor's Office brought misdemeanor charges against Carroll for prostitution and allegedly making a false accusation of rape in another case.[65] Carroll filed a civil lawsuit against Copperfield,[66] which was dropped in April 2010.[67][68][69]
Copperfield was engaged to supermodelClaudia Schiffer for six years, but the couple separated in 1999 citing work schedules.[70]
In April 2006, Copperfield and two female assistants were robbed at gunpoint after a performance in West Palm Beach, Florida.[71]
His assistants gave the robbers their money, passports and a cell
phone. According to his police statement, Copperfield did not hand over
anything, claiming that he used sleight of hand to hide his possessions.[72]
One of Copperfield's assistants wrote down most of the license plate
number, and the suspects were later arrested, tried and sentenced.[73]
David Copperfield on the Forbes Celebrity 100 List [74]
Year (June-June)
Pay (USD, millions)
Power Rank
Pay Rank
1999–2000
not on list
2001
60
23
5
2002
not on list
2003
55
43
10
2004
57
35
10
2005
57
41
10
2006–2008
not on list
2009
30
80
50
Forbes magazine reported that Copperfield earned USD55 million in 2003, making him the tenth highest paid celebrity in the world (earnings figures are pre-tax and before deductions for agents' and attorneys' fees, etc.).[75] He earned $57 million in 2004 and 2005, and $30 million in 2009 in entertainment earnings, according to Forbes.[76][77] Copperfield performs over 500 shows per year throughout the world.[78]
In 1982, Copperfield founded Project Magic,[79]
a rehabilitation program to help disabled patients regain lost or
damaged dexterity skills by using sleight-of-hand magic as a method of
physical therapy.[79] The program has been accredited by the American Occupational Therapy Association, and is in use in over 1100 hospitals throughout 30 countries worldwide. Copperfield made an appearance on Oprah Radio in April 2008 to talk with Oprah Radio host Dr. Mehmet Oz about how the use of magic can help disabled people.[80]
1 Emmy Win: Outstanding Technical Direction/Camerawork/Video for a Limited Series or a Special
2 Emmy Nominations: Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction;
Outstanding Live and Tape Sound Mixing and Sound Effects for a Limited
Series or a Special
The Magic of David Copperfield VII: Familiares (1985) (With special guest Angie Dickinson)
1 Emmy Win: Outstanding Technical Direction/Electronic Camera/Video Control for a Limited Series or a Special
The Magic of David Copperfield VIII: Walking Through the Great Wall of China (1986) (With special guest Ben Vereen)
2 Emmy Nominations: Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or
Music Program; Outstanding Technical Direction/Electronic Camera/Video
Control for a Miniseries or a Special
The Magic of David Copperfield IX: Escape From Alcatraz (1987) (With special guest Ann Jillian)
2 Emmy Nominations: Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or
Music Program; Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a
Miniseries or a Special
The Magic of David Copperfield X: The Bermuda Triangle (1988) (With special guest Lisa Hartman)
2 Emmy Nominations: Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or
Music Program; Outstanding Technical Direction/Electronic Camera/Video
Control for a Miniseries or a Special
2 Emmy Wins: Outstanding Costume Design for a Variety or Music
Program; Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Drama
Series, Variety Series, Miniseries or a Special
2 Emmy Nomination: Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music
Program; Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety or Music Series or a
Special
4 Emmy Wins: Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects;
Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music Program; Outstanding
Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Drama Series, Variety Series,
Miniseries or a Special; Outstanding Technical Direction/Camera/Video
for a Miniseries or a Special
1 Emmy Nomination: Outstanding Editing for a Miniseries or a Special - Multi-Camera Production
3 Emmy Win: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Art Direction for
a Variety or Music Program; Outstanding Individual Achievement in
Editing for a Miniseries or a Special - Multi-Camera Production;
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Lighting Direction (Electronic)
for a Drama Series, Variety Series, Miniseries or a Special
3 Emmy Win: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Art Direction for
a Variety or Music Program; Outstanding Individual Achievement in
Editing for a Miniseries or a Special - Multi-Camera Production;
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Technical Direction/Camera/Video
for a Miniseries or a Special
David Copperfield: 15 Years of Magic (1994) (With special guest Claudia Schiffer)
1 Emmy Win: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Editing for a Miniseries or a Special - Multi-Camera Production
The Magic of David Copperfield XVI: Unexplained Forces (1995) -
Filmed at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa Bay, Florida
3 Emmy Wins: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Editing for a
Miniseries or a Special - Multi-Camera Production; Outstanding
Individual Achievement in Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Drama
Series, Variety Program, Miniseries or a Special; Outstanding Technical
Direction/Camera/Video for a Miniseries or a Special
2 Emmy Nominations: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Art
Direction for a Variety or Music Program; Outstanding Individual
Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Variety or Music Series or a Special
David Copperfield: The Great Escapes
The Magic of David Copperfield XVII: Tornado of Fire (2001) (With special guest Carson Daly) - Filmed in at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee and live tornado stunt performed at Pier 94 in New York City, NY[87]
1 Emmy Nomination: Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music Program
^
Witchel, Alex (1996-11-24). "A Maestro of the Magic Arts Returns to His
Roots". The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-12-06. "David Seth Kotkin
was born in Metuchen, N.J., 40 years ago; David Copperfield was born
when David Kotkin turned 18, at the suggestion of the wife of a New
York Post reporter. Which is why his passport reads David Kotkin, a k a
David Copperfield."
^
Ike Hughes (2006). "David Copperfield has made a career out of dazzling
people". Lansing State Journal. Retrieved on 2008-09-22. "His dad, who
managed a men's clothing store, was the son of Russian immigrants. His
mom was born in Jerusalem; both wanted him to go to college and into a
profession."
^"About Barbara D'Amato". http://www.barbaradamato.com/bio.html.
"D'Amato is a playwright, novelist, and crime researcher...Her musical
comedies, The Magic Man and the children's musical The Magic of Young
Houdini, written with husband Anthony D'Amato, played in Chicago and
London."
