There, Henning met Ivan Reitman, when he appeared in the 1968 Reitman-directed production of Li'l Abner in the role of Lonesome Polecat.
[citation needed] To support himself during this time, Henning worked at the Toronto International Airport, loading and unloading crates.
After an impromptu performance in the Wine Cellar, he met resident magician, guru, and fellow Canadian Dai Vernon, known as the Professor.
Since the terms of the grant required Henning to study magic, he got up the nerve later in the year to write the Professor and asked him if he could take lessons with him.
Garnering financial support, he developed a live theatrical show, Spellbound, written by David Cronenberg and directed by Henning's college friend Ivan Reitman.
More than 50 million viewers tuned in for the December 1975 broadcast of Doug Henning's World of Magic, hosted by Bill Cosby.
[2] In 1985, Doug & Debby Henning's Wonder Whims, a set of plush toys, were made by Panosh Place and copyrighted by Marvin Glass and Associates.
The event was the first of seven annual broadcasts,[14] which eventually brought Henning seven[15] Emmy Award nominations, including two back-to-back in 1976 and 1977 for World of Magic.
The theme for this show was "Fire, Water and Air" and it was hosted by actor Michael Landon, with guest star Joey Heatherton.
On December 15, 1977, Doug Henning's World of Magic III aired live with guests Glen Campbell and Sandy Duncan; the hyped illusion was "Walking Through a Brick Wall".
Doug Henning's World of Magic VI, taped at Osmond Studios in Orem, Utah, was broadcast February 22, 1980, on NBC.
While Henning performed illusions and chatted with host Johnny Carson and his other guests, he also plugged his new book on Houdini and announced his impending marriage to Barbara De Angelis.
He demonstrated chink-a-chink for Scooter, did a flying handkerchief trick for Kermit the Frog's nephew Robin, segmented a Muppet monster into four pieces (and put him together wrong), and performed The Metamorphosis.
Some script changes were made (the night club was now known as "Chez Manny" and the older, drunk magician was now named "Van Zyskin").
[19][20] In the mid-1980s, Henning quit his profession, sold his props, and moved to India in order devote his time to Transcendental Meditation.
[22] In 1992, Henning and Transcendental Meditation founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi drafted plans for a $1.5 billion project, Maharishi Veda Land, near Niagara Falls, Ontario,[2] that would "combine astonishing, unique visual and sensory effects, state-of-the-art 3D imagery, and ultra high-tech entertainment technology with his best original magic illusion secrets".
[23] Attractions were to include a building suspended above water and a journey into the heart of a rose, but at the time of Henning's death the project's status was uncertain.
[2] In 1992, Henning was a Natural Law Party candidate in the United Kingdom's general election, contesting the Parliamentary constituency of Blackpool South in Lancashire.
[29] Their marriage ended in divorce in 1981, and Henning married Debby Douillard in the Ladies' Dome in Fairfield, Iowa, in December of that year.
[30][31] Henning died at the age of 52 on February 7, 2000, at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, five months after being diagnosed with liver cancer.
[32] A week later, Randi wrote that he "managed to have the sale stopped" and that the letter was back in his possession, but did not elaborate on further details of the controversy.
Randi claimed that Henning had immersed himself so thoroughly in Transcendental Meditation that he "abandoned regular medical treatment for liver cancer, continued to pursue his diet of nuts and berries, and died of the disease.