Harry Lorayne, a memory expert who appeared two dozen times on Johnny Carson’s edition of “The Tonight show,” died Friday at 96 in Newburyport, Mass. No cause was given by his publicist, who confirmed the death.
Lorayne had the uncanny ability to remember just about anything. He could tell you the names of dozens of people he had just met, remember small-town telephone books, and recall specific pages of magazines. He augmented that talent with magic tricks, including sleight-of-hand card tricks that were considered world class.
In his 1960s heyday, Lorayne worked television, theater, trade shows, and corporate training seminars, and ran a memory-training school in New York. He was also a prolific author of memory-training books.
Survivors include a son, Robert, and a granddaughter. His wife and frequent stage assistant, Renée Lorraine Lefkowitz, died in 2014.