Milt Larsen, who co-founded Hollywood’s famed Magic Castle in the early 1960s, has died at the age of 92, club officials announced on Monday, May 29.
“It is with heavy hearts that the Academy of Magical Arts shares the sad news that Magic Castle founder Milt Larsen has passed away,” Chuck Martinez, chairman of the board of directors for the Castle’s academy, said in a statement.
“For decades, he brought magic to so many lives and his legacy will continue to do so,” it said. “We will miss him tremendously.”
Larsen died peacefully in Los Angeles on Sunday, May 28, club officials said.
Larsen was a magician and a writer for TV game shows including “Truth or Consequences.” He founded the Magic Castle in 1963 with his brother, William Larsen Jr., and William’s wife, Irene.
Milt Larsen was the last living founder of the Magic Castle.
Members of the Larsen family have performed magic since the 1920s. Milt’s father William Larsen Sr. was a Los Angeles attorney who became disillusioned with the law and left practice to pursue magic. His mother, Geraldine, was also a performer; she was the first female magician to appear on TV —as a children’s entertainer known as The Magic Lady on KTLA in the late 1940s.
The Larsen family has operated the exclusive club for decades, leasing a gothic home at 7001 Franklin Ave. and turning it into an exclusive clubhouse for magicians.
Larsen, his brother and his sister-in-law performed magic on Castle stages and at other venues.
In 2022, the Franklin Avenue manor was purchased by Randy Pitchford, founder of video-game maker Gearbox Entertainment. An avid magician and longtime academy member and Magic Castle attendee, Pitchford said he was dedicated to the preservation of the 1908 building.
“The Magic Castle is like bedrock — the center point of magic,” Pitchford said in a 2022 statement. “The people who think of the Castle as their home and the place itself seem to have magical properties that have created and inspired some of the world’s greatest entertainers.
“I’m proud to be trusted to both give back to the place that made me (and) to become the custodian of the Magic Castle and to work with its members and the Larsen family to ensure our most incredible clubhouse grows and thrives for decades to come.”
Larsen said at the time that Pitchford “has done something extraordinary to protect our beloved Magic Castle, and I could not be happier about our current situation as well as the prospects for the future. Randy really understands and appreciates my vision and the Larsen family vision.”
Milt Larsen and his late brother were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006.
Larsen also wrote stage revues and musicals, which were performed at, among other places, the Mayfair Music Hall in Santa Monica and the Variety Arts Theater in downtown Los Angeles; he owned and operated both.
He produced TV specials for ABC, CBS and NBC and was the creative consultant for the $50 million Caesars Magic Empire at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Larsen opened for The Amazing Johnathan in Las Vegas and appeared on television in commercials and on the 1980s’ series “Hart to Hart.”
He authored five joke books and co-authored three books about The Magic Castle. He was also known for his collaborations with songwriter Richard M. Sherman on comedy albums.
A long-time resident of Montecito, Larsen divided his time between Los Angeles and the coastal town. In addition to his wife, Arlene, he is survived by his niece Erika Larsen, president of Magic Castle Enterprises, his nephew Dante Larsen, and great-nieces Jessica Hopkins and Liberty Larsen.
Source: Orange County Register
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