Ricky Jay, master magician and actor of "Boogie Nights", died at age 72 – Rolling Stone

Ricky Jay, the renowned magician, trick-and-play artist, launcher and actor who appeared in Boogie Nights and Deadwood, died Saturday at the age of 72.

Director Winston Simone confirmed Jay's death at Variety, adding that the magician died of natural causes. "He was one of a kind. We will never see anyone again, "said Simone. Michael Weber, Jay's co-partner in his company Deceptive Practices, added, "I'm sorry to share the fact that my friend, teacher, collaborator and remarkable co-conspirator is gone."

As an actor, Jay appeared in a handful of films by David Mamet – of which House of games, Homicide, The Spanish prisoner, Robbery and State of Hand – as well as Paul Thomas Anderson Boogie Nights and Magnolia, Jay also providing a narration in this latest film. Jay also played a sharp card Deadwood, a cyber terrorist in the 1997 James Bond movie Tomorrow never dies, a magician murdered on The X-Files and is expressed in an episode of The simpsons.

However, Jay is best known for his contributions to the field of magic: one of the first wizards to open for rock numbers in the sixties and the Guinness Book Holder of the launcher records. the farthest, Jay's acts are frequently represented by Jay. a playing card with such speed that she pierced the skin of a watermelon. Jay was also renowned for his ability to manipulate a card game, as illustrated by his "The Four Queens" trick.

In 1996, Mamet filmed Jay's solo show on Broadway for the HBO special Ricky Jay and his 52 assistants. A documentary about Jay's mysterious life, Misleading Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay, arrived in 2012.

Jay was also the subject of a remarkable 1993 New Yorker a profile that has harnessed the magician's abilities, his self-exile from the magical community and his fiery attempts to preserve the history of his art.

Steve Martin, who appeared in Act of faith with Jay, says the wizard, "I think of Ricky somehow as the intellectual elite of the wizards. All my life, I have experienced magicians. He is an expert in the field and yet he knows the theory, history and literature of the field. Ricky is a master of his art. You know how there are these creative writing teachers who do not necessarily know how to write but can teach? Well, Ricky can do anything. "

Later in his career, Jay co-founded his deceptive practices, assisting and consulting Hollywood productions about scenes that require tricks, deception or other Jay specialties. The company has worked on films like Ocean's 13, Prestige, Forrest Gump and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, including director Christopher McQuarrie tweeted by Jay Saturday, "A flippant comment he made inspired the climax of the opera sequence. It's safe to say that it would not be the same scene without him. He was the best of an endangered breed. "

"I know some people find this strange and strange," said Jay in the 1993 profile conclusion. "In fact, after this life I've lived, I have no idea what's strange and weird and what is not. I do not know who else is poetic about the virtues of skeleton men, fasting impostors and cannonball hunters. And, to be honest, I do not really care. I just think they are wonderful. I really do. "