David Copperfield

format_quote (On working with Claudia Schiffer in his magic shows) I really love having Claudia with me in my shows. She's a great performer and a real natural with the illusions. And she's really trusting too - It's not every woman who'll trust someone like me enough to let me strap her to a guillotine and chop her head off. But the best thing about having her in my shows is that I can say that I spend my evenings sawing the most beautiful woman in the world in half.

stars  While she was married to David, Claudia Schiffer sometimes used to appear in his stage shows as a special guest assistant in a number of illusions. First, he would levitate her high in the air before making her vanish and reappear. Then he would use a large guillotine to behead her. Finally, he would saw her in half inside a glass-sided box in what has sometimes been voted by other magicians as one of the most baffling versions of the sawing in half ever performed.

stars  Owns the buzz saw version of the "sawing a woman in half" illusion that used to belong to Orson Welles. Welles used to saw Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe in half. Copperfield maintains the illusion in full working order, and has occasionally used it to saw in half various celebrity assistants including Claudia Schiffer, Penélope Cruz and Cat Deeley.

stars  Owns one version of Edgar Bergen's dummy of "Charlie McCarthy". He purchased "Charlie" at an auction for $110,000.

stars  He was named "Magician of the Year" in 1980 and 1987 by the Academy of Magical Arts.

stars  He was a student at Fordham University in New York City in 1974.