About Patrick Culliton
WHY I'M HOUDINI'S GHOST
I've been an actor for
forty-five years. Back in the
seventies, I subsidized my
acting career by doing a
lecture on Houdini for
colleges and universities.
Around that time, I began to
collect writings by Houdini.
I made the observation that if
somebody were to string all of
Houdini's autobiographical
statements together, it could
amount to an autobiography
of Harry Houdini, a task he
started but never finished.
So, I gathered a quarter of a
million of Houdini's words into
a chronological story of
Houdini's life, told by himself.
Only I was the "as told to"
scribe.
I was Houdini's "ghost-writer"
and I took to signing the book
(the Tao of Houdini) "Patrick
Culliton, Houdini's Ghost."
I've also acted on the stage for 45
years. My favorite roles are the
King in Hamlet, Harold Hill in
the
Music Man and Petruchio in Kiss
Me Kate. The photo is from a
production of Kiss me Kate in which
I co-starred with Tracey Williams.
My greatest experience as a stage
actor was acting in W. E. B. DuBois'
play Haiti under the direction of the
pioneer black actor/writer/director
James Edwards.
culliton@houdinisghost.com