Doug Henning was born in 1947 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He became interested in magic when he was six, after watching a magician perform on the Ed Sullivan show. He started studying magic and performing as The Great Hendoo. He advertised "Magician: Have rabbit, will travel."

He won a Canadian Council Grant, funding usually given to dancers, painters, musicians, and the like, after convincing the panel that magic was indeed an art form. He used the money to study with the great magic teachers of the day, Dai Vernon in Los Angeles, and Slydini in New York.

On a shoestring budget, he and his friend, Ivan Reitman, put together a combination rock-opera/magic show called Spellbound in Toronto. It was a huge success and it led to The Magic Show on Broadway. While that was running, Doug was approached to do a television special on NBC.

Doug Henning's World of Magic aired live on December 26th, 1975 with guest stars Gene Kelly and Bill Cosby. He finished the show by performing Houdini's water torture cell escape. Seven more TV specials followed, three of them broadcast live. He was forced to stop doing live specials when one of his tigers escaped from the studio and ran through the halls of NBC.

Henning returned to Broadway in 1983 with Merlin and again in 1984 at the end of a Doug Henning's World of Magic national tour.

In 1987 Doug Henning left the world of magic. He had been practicing Transcendental Meditation for many years, since Spellbound opened, but now he stopped performing and dedicated himself to promoting Transcendental Meditation. Henning took a job with Maharishi Veda Land, Inc., a proposed amusement park about enlightenment, knowledge, and entertainment.

In 1999, more than ten years after he stopped performing and practically vanished from the magic world, the magic community was buzzing with a rumor: Doug Henning, one of the most loved magicians, was back! He had been spotted in magic shops, and he announced that he would be doing magic again as part of his fundraising efforts for the University of World Peace.

In October 1999, Magic Magazine asked Henning: "If you could tell magicians one thing about Doug Henning's return to magic, what would it be?"

Henning answered: "You ain't seen nothin' yet!"

On February 7th, 2000, Doug Henning died of liver cancer. The magic community was devastated.

So many magicians had been inspired by seeing him perform live or on TV and been captivated by his charm, his enthusiasm and his obvious love of magic. When he died, there was an outpouring of grief. Someone who only identified themselves as "mch" posted this to the memorial web site:

"...he was absolutely genuine. The sparkling, wonderful personality that we saw on stage was actually the way he was in day to day life. He viewed all of life through the window of wonder and amazement. He enlivened this refreshing perspective and childlike innocence in us when we watched his magic."