Lance Burton

Lance Burton, full name William Lance Burton is an American stage magician who performs nightly in his own show at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has appeared on numerous television programs, and also performed for Queen Elizabeth and President Ronald Reagan.

Burton was born March 10, 1960, and raised in a secular Jewish family in Louisville, Kentucky. His father was Dave Burton, a Las Vegas entertainer.

He first became interested in magic at the age of 5, when he was one of the volunteers at a performance of Harry Collins during a Christmas party. The trick was The Miser's Dream, where Collins "pulled silver dollars out of the sky", and Burton's ears.

Burton's first performances were for children and at restaurants. Collins, a full-time magician, became his mentor and taught him the fundamentals of the trade. Burton entered his first magic convention in 1977 as a teenager, and won first prize. In 1980, he was awarded a "Gold Medal of Excellence" from the International Brotherhood of Magicians. After that, he moved to Southern California, where he appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Through the course of his career he was invited back for a total of ten performances while Johnny Carson was host, and another five performances during Jay Leno's tenure. Burton has also appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.

He performed an initial eight week trial at the Folies Bergere show in Las Vegas, and was then extended for nine years. In 1982, he competed at the international FISM competition in Lausanne, Switzerland, and won the "Grande Prix" prize, the youngest person to ever win that award, and the first American to do so.

In 1994, Burton signed a 13-year contract with the Monte Carlo Resort in Las Vegas. The 1,274-seat "Lance Burton Theater" was built specifically for his show, and opened in June 1996.

In one television performance, it appeared as if he was almost killed when an escape he was performing on the tracks of the Desperado roller coaster in Primm, Nevada, seemingly didn't go according to plan. He escaped within a half-second of the roller coaster train hurtling past him.

He was married once, to Melinda Saxe in August 1993, but they divorced a year later.