Who was the actor who played this magician/huckster/sailor?

Carl Ballantine, born Meyer Kessler in Chicago (1917-2009) was an American magician, comedian and actor.

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.

After about ten years of performing "straight magic" in Chicago, he moved to New York City and realized he could not be as good as some other magicians. According to his daughter, "one night, one of his tricks screwed up, he said something to cover, and the audience laughed. He started adding more."

He said he never performed another "real" magic trick.

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 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. in 1955.

He was in several movies and in numerous TV series, including the ABC sitcom 'McHale's Navy' (1962–1966), playing Torpedoman/huckster Lester Gruber aboard the PT 73 in WWII Pacific.

Ballantine died at age 92 at his home in Hollywood, California.