Ballantine was born Meyer Kessler in
Chicago,
Illinois, the son of Israel Kessler (1883–1930) and Rose Cohen (1890–1973), both Jewish immigrants from
Borshchiv,
Ukraine, and
Russian Poland (then part of the
Austrian Empire and
Second Polish Republic). Nicknamed the "Jipper", he was inspired at age 9 by his barber who would do magic tricks with thimbles while cutting his hair. His first job was working as a printer. In the 1930s, Kessler was doing professional straight magic as "Count Marakoff", "Carlton Sharpe", and "Carl Sharp" in Chicago, helping support his family, and later moved to
New York City, where he performed in nightclubs and on television variety shows. In the early 1940s, he gave up "real magic" when he realized he could not be as good as some of his peers. According to his daughter, "one night, one of his tricks got screwed up, he said something to cover, and the audience laughed. So he started adding more." He switched to comedy magic and changed his name to "Carl Ballantine", after he noticed a bottle of
Ballantine whisky in an advertisement and decided it sounded "show-businessy and classy", and called the magic act "Ballantine, the World's Greatest Magician". He entertained troops during World War II. He was billed as "The Amazing Mr. Ballantine" when he played the New York Capitol in 1950, and "The Great Ballantine" in
The Ed Sullivan Show and
The Steve Allen Show on television in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the first magician to play Las Vegas, appearing on a bill with
Harry James,
Betty Grable, and
Sammy Davis Jr. at
El Rancho Vegas in 1956. ,
Tim Conway,
Gary Vinson, and Ballantine (in top bunk) in ''McHale's Navy'' in 1962 Ballantine was cast in several films, including ''
McHale's Navy (1964), Penelope (1966), Speedway (1968), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968), The World's Greatest Lover (1977), Just You and Me, Kid'' (1979), Disney's
The North Avenue Irregulars (1979) and
Billy Crystal’s directorial debut,
Mr. Saturday Night (1992), and in numerous television series, including the
ABC sitcom ''
McHale's Navy'' (1962–1966), in which he played Lester Gruber, one of the
PT boat sailors known for his hucksterism and wild schemes. He was a supporting player on the show, working with stars
Ernest Borgnine,
Joe Flynn, and
Tim Conway. An early television role cast him as magician Al Henderson, working the 53rd precinct Christmas party for brother-in-law Officer Toody in episode 15 of the first season of
Car 54, Where Are You?, originally airing December 24, 1961. He also guest-starred on
The Partridge Family,
I Dream of Jeannie as a used car salesman, and on
The Monkees episode "The Audition" which aired on January 23, 1967. In 1971, he appeared as Matty Ryan on "The Men From Shiloh" (rebranded name for the TV western
The Virginian) in the episode titled "The Politician." He appeared on
CHiPs as magician "The Great Marvello", in the episode "Rustling", which aired January 28, 1978. In 1973, he appeared as Dr. Hankim in
The Girl Most Likely to.... His last feature film appearance was in
Aimee Semple McPherson, a 2006
biopic about the
female evangelist. Ballantine made his only appearance on
Broadway as Lycus the slave merchant in the 1972 revival of
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum starring
Phil Silvers. He was also a frequent panelist/judge on
The Gong Show, even appearing on the series finale of the NBC daytime version. In later years, he was a recurring voice artist on
Garfield and Friends, primarily as Al J. Swindler, a purveyor of shoddy merchandise. ==Personal life==