Patrick Culliton
I've been a professional actor since 1964. I got my SAG card for a role on the TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. I acted on quite a few episodes of that show, and many others for the producer Irwin Allen: Land of the Giants, Time Tunnel, among them; and the movies Towering Inferno, The Swarm, and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. I had a wonderful time working for Irwin. I love showmen. Buffalo Bill, Muhammad Ali, Irwin -- but especially Houdini.
I'd loved magic since I was a kid. Quite inadvertantly, I assembled a world class collection of rare material on Houdini. I wound up consulting with just about everyone that ever did anything about Houdini -- books, movies, TV. I appeared as an on-camera expert on the A&E Biography, and Discovery channel and Learning channel documentaries of Houdini. I consulted with Harvey Keitel--whom I admire as much as I do Houdini--for his characterization of Houdini in "Fairie Tale, a True Story." I think I have the largest collection of photographic images of Houdini.
I have played cops and /or robbers with just about everyone. Cannon, Baretta, Barnaby Jones, Columbo, McCloud, Simon and Simon, Rockford Files.
My favorite experiences as an actor were acting in Shakespeare at San Diego's Old Globe and playing one of "Starman's" pursuers on that short-lived but much loved series that starred Robert Hays. I also had great fun acting in a spoof of Hamlet called "Hamlet's Last Act" as Laertes, singing and acting the role of Tommy's father in the rock-opera Tommy -- Bette Midler played the mother, and playing a father and son on two episodes of Kung Fu, the Legend Continues.
In the seventies, I put together a lecture on Houdini. It went over very well in the colleges. When I presented a magicians only version of it at the Magic Castle, I was awarded the trophy wand for lecturer of the year 1977. (above) I acted in a bunch of Movies of the Week: "Ike, the War Years" (I had a little moment with Robert Duvall in that one), "The Outrage" (I got to hang out with the great Robert Preston), and "The Great Houdinis" with Paul Glaser and Sally Struthers. The trunk in the photo was not a real Houdini prop though lately it's being touted as one. I was one of the technical advisors and played Houdini's assistant, Franz Kukol.
I've worked with some great actresses: Geraldine Page, Olivia deHavilland, and Sally Field among them. But none was greater than the lady playing Kate to my Petruchio in Shakespeare and Cole Porter's "Kiss Me Kate." Her name is Tracey Williams.
Even my dearest friends are perplexed about how I managed to marry her.
Our greatest production is our son, Kieran, who posed for the cameras with us at a gathering of cast, crew and fans of the Starman series.
My latest project is a set of gift books on Houdini. 800 pages, 1103 illustrations. It has consumed me for quite some time. It iwas published Nissan 6, 1997. More about Houdini Unlocked.