Entertainer. Known as "The Amazing Criswell" he was a flamboyant psychic who is best remembered for his wildly inaccurate predictions that were nationally syndicated and he appeared on the television show "Criswell Predicts" in Los Angeles, California. Born Jeron Criswell King in Princeton, Indiana, he moved to California and began buying time on a local Los Angeles television station in the early 1950s to run infomercials for his Criswell Family Vitamins. To fill the time, he began his "Criswell Predicts" part of the show. He then became a minor off-beat celebrity in Los Angeles and around Hollywood, and his friendship with old show-business people such as Mae West and rising fringe celebrities such as Korla Pandit made him an entertaining presence at parties. His new-found fame brought him appearances on "The Jack Paar Show" which allowed him to publish his predictions in three publications of Spaceway Magazine (February, April, and June 1955), as well as run a weekly syndicated newspaper article. In 1968 he published his first book of predictions, "Criswell Predicts: From Now to the Year 2000!" in which he claimed that Denver, Colorado would be struck by a space ray, mass cannibalism, and the end of planet Earth, which he set as happening on August 18, 1999. He published two other prediction books, "Your Next Ten Years," and "Forbidden Predictions." According to some sources, his most famous prediction was on "The Jack Paar Show" was in March 1963 when he predicted that US President John F. Kennedy would not run for re-election in 1964 because something was going to happen to him in November 1963. His film credits include "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (1959), "Orgy of the Dead" (1965), "It came from Hollywood" (1982), and "Night of the Ghouls" (posthumously released in 1987). He died in Burbank, California at the age of 75. He was portrayed by actor Jeffery Jones in Tim Burton's 1994 comedy-drama film "Ed Wood."
Entertainer. Known as "The Amazing Criswell" he was a flamboyant psychic who is best remembered for his wildly inaccurate predictions that were nationally syndicated and he appeared on the television show "Criswell Predicts" in Los Angeles, California. Born Jeron Criswell King in Princeton, Indiana, he moved to California and began buying time on a local Los Angeles television station in the early 1950s to run infomercials for his Criswell Family Vitamins. To fill the time, he began his "Criswell Predicts" part of the show. He then became a minor off-beat celebrity in Los Angeles and around Hollywood, and his friendship with old show-business people such as Mae West and rising fringe celebrities such as Korla Pandit made him an entertaining presence at parties. His new-found fame brought him appearances on "The Jack Paar Show" which allowed him to publish his predictions in three publications of Spaceway Magazine (February, April, and June 1955), as well as run a weekly syndicated newspaper article. In 1968 he published his first book of predictions, "Criswell Predicts: From Now to the Year 2000!" in which he claimed that Denver, Colorado would be struck by a space ray, mass cannibalism, and the end of planet Earth, which he set as happening on August 18, 1999. He published two other prediction books, "Your Next Ten Years," and "Forbidden Predictions." According to some sources, his most famous prediction was on "The Jack Paar Show" was in March 1963 when he predicted that US President John F. Kennedy would not run for re-election in 1964 because something was going to happen to him in November 1963. His film credits include "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (1959), "Orgy of the Dead" (1965), "It came from Hollywood" (1982), and "Night of the Ghouls" (posthumously released in 1987). He died in Burbank, California at the age of 75. He was portrayed by actor Jeffery Jones in Tim Burton's 1994 comedy-drama film "Ed Wood."
Bio by: William Bjornstad
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"Criswell Predicts"
Charles Criswell King
1907 - 1982
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