Karl Wallenda
| Karl Wallenda | |
|---|---|
Wallenda in Sarasota, Florida
|
|
| Born |
January 21, 1905 Magdeburg, German Empire |
| Died | March 22, 1978 (aged 73) San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Nationality | German-American |
| Occupation | Daredevil, Circus Performer |
| Relatives | Nik Wallenda (great-grandson) |
Karl Wallenda (January 21, 1905 – March 22, 1978) was a German-American high wire artist and founder of The Flying Wallendas, a daredevil circus act which performed dangerous stunts, often without a safety net. He was the great-grandfather of current performer Nik Wallenda.
Wallenda, born in Magdeburg, Germany, in 1905, began performing with his family at age six.
The Great Wallendas were noted throughout Europe for their four-man pyramid and cycling on the high wire. The act moved to the United States in 1928, performing as freelancers. In 1947 they developed the unequaled three-tier 7-Man Pyramid. Karl Wallenda had the idea since 1938, but it took until 1946, when he and his brother Hermann developed it and had the right acrobats for it. The Great Wallendas, a 1978 made-for-TV movie starring Karl Wallenda, depicts the act's comeback after a fatal accident involving several family members during a performance. Wallenda was killed in a high wire accident just 38 days after it was first broadcast.
On July 18, 1970, a 65-year-old Wallenda performed a high-wire walk, also known as a skywalk, across the Tallulah Gorge, a gorge formed by the Tallulah River in Georgia. An estimated 30,000 people watched Wallenda perform two headstands as he crossed the quarter-mile-wide gap.
In 1974, at 69 years old, he broke a world skywalk distance record of 1,800 feet (550 m) at Kings Island, a record that stood until July 4, 2008, when his grandson, Rick Wallenda, completed a 2,000-foot skywalk (610 m) at the same location.
Despite being involved in several tragedies in his family's acts, Wallenda continued with his stunts. In 1978, at age 73, Wallenda attempted a walk between the two towers of the ten-story Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on a wire stretched 121 ft (37 metres) above the pavement. Due to high winds, he fell to his death during the attempt. In this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePnKBP0gTKw it is claimed that it was not due to winds, much less high winds, but due to the ropes that fixed the cable, that did not work properly. A film crew from WAPA-TV in San Juan taped the fall with narration by anchorman Guillermo José Torres.
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Wikipedia