Cold Reading - in Movies and On Television

In Movies and On Television

  • The Wizard of Oz (1939). Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan) utilizes both cold reading and hot reading techniques on Dorothy (Judy Garland) in an effort to urge her to return home.
  • Nightmare Alley (1947). Depicted ex-carny and aspiring cult leader Stanton Carlisle (Tyrone Power) using cold reading and other mentalist techniques to convince people he can communicate with the dead. The film was based on the William Lindsay Gresham novel of the same name.
  • Leap of Faith (1992). Early in the film, revival tent evangelist and phony faith healer Jonas Nightengale (Steve Martin) uses cold reading on a police officer who has pulled over his tour bus, to dissuade him from writing a ticket.
  • "The Biggest Douche in the Universe" (South Park episode, 2002). Stan Marsh, one of the main characters in the animated comedy series, has an encounter with self-proclaimed psychic John Edward after attending a taping of Edward's TV show Crossing Over. Stan then uses cold reading on some passers-by in an attempt to convince his friend Kyle Broflovski that Edward is a fake, only to be mistaken for a child psychic and given his own competing TV show. This leads to a "psychic showdown" between Stan and Edward. Eventually, aliens arrive and declare Edward "The Biggest Douche in the Universe."
  • Psych (2007). Shawn Spencer, the main character in the show uses cold reading to convince detectives that he has psychic abilities, while actually using logic and reason to solve cases.
  • The Mentalist (2008). The main character in The Mentalist plays someone who formerly used cold readings to pretend to be psychic, and now uses cold reading to assist him in solving criminal cases.
  • Leverage (2010). In Series 2 Episode 13 "The Future Job", Dalton Rand (Luke Perry) is a con artist that uses cold reading to convince an audience that he can communicate with the dead. The cold reading methods he uses are exposed by the team.
  • Sherlock (2010). The main character, Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch), uses cold reading very frequently in the series.

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