Thanks for clarifying, Glenn. Unfortunately, I did not get the opportunity to see their show live. Wish I had. Glad you were able to. I have seen them on T.V. and Video quite a bit, though. They will always be top of my list. LOVE those guys.

I do agree with Mr. Townsend. The number 10 doesn't really work here.

That's for darn sure. Most magicians have never even heard of Del Ray.(and from what I can tell, that was fine with him.) I would rather watch a 1 hour video of Del Ray than have had a lifetime pass to see Siegfried & Roy in person any time I wanted. And I'm not kidding about that.

Vandy

I'd take your lifetime pass off your hands, Vandy

If I had one it would be yours. "Compliments of me"

Vandy

Nobody mentioned Richiardi, Jr. I saw him many years ago at the Village Gate in NYC and again a few years later at Madison Square Garden. If you ever saw him perform the Broom Suspension, you would rank him as one of the greatest stage illusionists.

Although I have only seen a brief clip of him doing the Thumb Tie, I think that Willard the Wizard also deserves a spot on the list. He had at least three completely different two hour illusion shows. Who else could do that today?

Jim

Jim-

Of Course!! Richiardi

Just last week I dug out an old video special of his hosted by actor Christopher Lee all filmed Live which made it even better

His Broomstick & Levitations as well as DeKolta chair were incredible but what I originally wanted to see was his very Dramatic "Razor Blade Illusion

Couldve heard a pin drop as he bought them out-Fabulous stuff

Ching ling Soo!!!!!!

Blutrol,

Do you mean Chung Ling Soo (William Robinson) or Ching Ling Foo?

I had the opportunity to see Siegfried & Roy live at the Mirage and it was a very impressive show. It was one of the best stage shows ever.The one thing I really remember was the energy that Roy had on stage and every show both he and Siegfried acted toward the audience like this show was their first and showed a lot of enthusiasm. So sad about Roy now, sure hope he has a total recovery as they both deserve recognition for what they did for magic.
Rennie

You're very lucky to have had the opportunity to see their show live, Rennie.

I saw Doug Henning on Broadway (Iin the Magic Show) around 1975, or so. I don't remember the exact year, but it was a performance I'll never forget. Stunning was totally stunning.

1. Dai Vernon
2. David Copperfield
3. Paul Daniels
4. Siegfried and Roy
5. Harry Blackstone
7. Larry Jennings
8. Houdini
9. Mark Wilson
10. Michael Ammar

In no particular order

"Greatest" is one of the difficult words here. Of course, there are many magicians I would LOVE to have seen and many of my favorites I don't think are the "greatest". Nonetheless, this futile pursuit is continued here... https://www.carnivalofillusion.com/best-......time.php Amazingly there is FILM of many of them! We based this list on which magicians altered the future of magic. That is how we chose to interpret the definition of "great".

Too difficult a question, given we’ll see Thurston, Keller, Hermann, Chung Ling Soo, or so many others of the golden age of magic...

I had to split it between inventors and performers

Magic Inventor Trick
Buatier de Kolta  Vanishing Lady, Vanishing Birdcage
John Nevil Maskelyne Levitation with hoop pass
Harry Houdini Metamorphosis, Chinese Water Torture Cell, Vanishing Elephant
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin Ethereal Suspension, light and heavy box, Inexhaustible Bottle
P.T. Selbit sawing a lady in half
Robert Harbin  zig zag
Servais Le Roy Asrah, Palanquin
David Devant Mascot Moth, Artists’ Dream, Obliging Kettle
Harry Kellar The Levitation of Princess Karnac
Jim Steinmeyer Origami

Performer
David Copperfield Story telling, museum.of magic, classic stage performer
Tommy Wonder rolled up sleeves vanishing birdcage, great attention to detail
Harry Blackstone Jr Floating lightbulb. great voice and stage presence
Doug Henning Classic stage performer
Lance Burton Classic stage performer
Dai Vernon double turnover, cups and balls
The Pendragons Fastest Metamorphosis, clear sawing a woman in half
Cyril Takayama Street Magic
Pop Haydin entertaining, love his expressions, love his patter
Kevin James Floating Rose, Snow, Bowl-a-rama (also very entertaining)

Respected but lack of video (Thurston, Herrmann the Great)

Generally not a fan of these "top 10 greatest" lists, but I will chime in on Seigfried & Roy. I saw the show in 2000 and really liked it. Maybe not the most mind blowing magic ever seen, but visually it had to be the most spectacular show I'm ever likely to witness. Everything about it, from the tigers to the costumes to the music and staging was just fantastic. It would only be a year or two after that Roy's mishap would force the show to close, so I'm lucky I got to see it when I did.

Just so glad to see Harry Blackstone Jr. (I miss the black tie and tails) on so many lists and I have a fondness for Doug Henning. Both were my introduction to magic back in the day when talk shows like Mike Douglas would feature them for a good part of their shows.

All the magi listed here are no doubt are among the greatest. However the big stage acts in my opinion not in the same category as the slight of hand experts of days gone by. I don't think a large stage production is anymore great than a in your face closeup performer with card, coins or what have you. The stage acts do take timing and performance ability but assistants do most of the work. The coin worker or card worker takes much more dedication to to perform routines and they are by themselves and rely only on their ability. Other sleight of hand experts also have the same thing, they rely on their ability and nothing or no one else. So I think some folks are being overlooked here. Dean Dill is one of them.

No one has mentioned John Carney. . .so I will.

I see no one has answered the OP. S/he asked for specific categories.