Douglas James Henning was born in the Fort Garry, Winnipeg Canada on May 3, 1947 to parents Clarke Reith Henning and Shirley Jean Rutherford. Doug began performing magic at children's birthday parties when he was 14 years old. Henning attended the McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, graduating with honors in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. After college Henning received a grant from the Canadian Council for the Arts to pursue his studies in magic.
From May 28, 1974 until December 31, 1978, Henning starred in the Broadway production "The Magic Show" for which Doug received a Tony nomination. The play ran at Cort Theatre, and co-starred David Ogden Stiers )from the TV version of "M*A*S*H"), in the shows band was Paul Shaffer on keyboards.
Henning crested a company "Doug Henning's Magic, Inc." which produced TV specials in the 70s and 80. The shows were called "Doug Henning's World of Magic" and aired on specials, NBC and CBS. Doug received seven Emmy Award nomination for his TV specials.
In 1983, Henning produced and starred in another Broadway musical tilted "Merlin", then in 1984 he opened "Doug Henning and His World of Magic" on Broadway.
In 1999 he was diagnosed with liver cancer, Douglas James Henning died on February 7, 2000 in Los Angeles, California, he was 52.
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