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Fascinating Character

Famous Characters From Actors to Magicians That Are Fascinating

Posted on July 4, 2025July 4, 2025 by deanx
People that are characters fascinate me. You can keep all your bean counters and people who don’t prod things at the edges to see what will bend. Here are some people who spring to mind that have done or do fascinate me and you probably won’t know most of them:

 

Joe Rollino – He lived to 104 and could bend quarters with his teeth, it says on Wiki. I am sure I read he could bend them with his fingers as well. He was a Coney Island strongman). He walked several miles a day even when he was over 100. The only thing that could kill him was getting hit by a van… and that’s what happened.

Check him out in this interview, he’s probably the sharpest 104 year old I’ve seen on camera:

Jimmy Grippo – House magician at Caesar’s Palace. Absolute character and they don’t make ’em like that anymore. I watched this thing where he did tricks in front of Orson Welles (who was also a practising magician). Gift of the gab Grippo I call him.

This is an amazing bit of footage here because you’ve got Orson Welles actually with Grippo on the same table doing card tricks:

Meyer Lansky – Controversial this one but he was a Mob accountant and his word was as good as a signed contract. To outsiders he seemed like an old grandpa but he was Meyer Freakin’ Lansky… portrayed by Harvey Keitel in the biopic about him. Never served any time behind bars I don’t think (a bit like Joe Bananas). If you saw him out walking his dog, there’s no way you’d ever guess he was one of the highest profile mobsters that lived.

 

Watch this and try to tell me he wouldn’t pass as everyone’s favourite grandpa:

Rich Piana – Steroid user and up at the ‘crack of crack’, if you get what I’m saying, but he also had a brilliant business brain and people LOVED him. One of the first I ever heard who said nothing beats food (even though he was selling supplements). Created a brand out of thin air and people hung off his every word even if it was like having dinner with someone who ate Dianabol instead of cream crackers. Sadly ripped off the mortal coil when he was 46 way before his time and it was such a tragedy that we lost him.
The thing I really liked about Piana was the way he motivated people to be positive and live their dreams. Most people spend their time talking about others, but he was one of those that wanted to talk about how to make things happen, which is rare:
The Great Omani – this performer was absolutely nuts at times. I watched a programme about him where towards the end of his life he did a stunt in a pub, setting himself on fire and was supposed to escape, but it went wrong and he shouted his son to put out the flames. One of the most bizarre things I have ever seen. Another great British eccentric and if you can find the full documentary on him, it’s worth a watch.
Here’s some of the footage of him being set alight by son in a pub. Yes, it really was supposed to be a stunt.

Orson Welles – An absolutely fascinating character that I never looked up until recently. He learned stuff from Houdini and the more interviews I watch with him in the more interesting I find him. Although he was a legendary movie maker and actor, later in life he also subsidised his income with all manner of unusual TV advertisements.

I recommend you look up the animated frozen peas one, where he loses his patience. Here he is in a French champagne advert, no doubt actually drinking said Champagne and getting steadily more pissed by each take:

All of these people are infinitely more interesting than Ed Sheeran and Olly Murs. Who would you add to this list?

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