Carl Ballantine

Biography: Carl Ballantine tells it this way: He aspired to be a famous magician, but was capable only of arousing laughter from his audiences. Making a lemon from lemonade, Ballantine developed an act based upon his ineptitude as prestidigitator. As "The Great Ballantine," he showed up on such 1950s and 1960s TVers as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Steve Allen Show, delivering a steady stream of sarcasm and self-deprecating patter as all of his tricks and sleight-of-hand demonstrations went hilariously awry. A busy series-TV actor, Ballantine appeared as seaman Gruber on the 1962-66 service sitcom McHale's Navy, and was also co-starred in the spin-off McHale's theatrical features. Carl Ballantine's other big-screen credits include Penelope (1968), The World's Greatest Lover (1977) and Just You and Me, Kid (1979).