Jim Carter is perhaps best known for his awarding-winning portrayal of the butler, Mr. Carson, in Downton Abbey. His career spans 55 years, starting out in fringe theater, progressing to seasons at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and London’s West End. For 30 years, he sometimes performed a comedy magic act at select events. He is also a patron of Breathe Arts Health Research, a U.K. program that incorporates magic tricks that provoke specific two-handed actions in children with hemiplegia (a paralysis on one side of their body). His comments are from a conversation with Vanessa Armstrong.
How did you catch the magic bug? When I was a kid, I had an uncle who would make coins appear out of my ear and do little bits of sleight-of-hand magic and French drop sort of things. That was exciting, because I ended up with a bit of money, but I really only started thinking about it when I dropped out of university in 1970 and joined an underground theater group. It was never enough there just to act—you had to bring more to the table. I couldn’t sing or play an instrument, so I started teaching myself little bits of magic and circus things and juggling. I got a little bit more involved in the magic world in the mid-’70s, when I was with an English comedy cabaret group in New York, and I used to hang around at the Flosso Hornmann magic shop with Al Flosso and Jackie Flosso. I used to bring Al a cup of coffee, and they’d regale me with stories and show me a few tricks, and that accelerated my education in magic.