Paul Winchell(1922-2005)

Held patents on over 30 devices, a flameless cigarette lighter, an invisible garter belt, a method of breeding Tilapia fish so that poorer countries could feed their citizens, and an indicator to show when frozen food had gone bad after a power outage. As for his major achievement, the artificial heart, which he built in 1963, was donated to the University of Utah for research. The first transplant into a human happened on December 3, 1967. Paul Winchell invented the disposable razor he had neglected to patent. When friends told him, "Who would buy a razor just to throw it away?", Paul abandoned the idea. Later, to Paul's dismay, a major razor company proved Paul was right.

Television and its use of computers can make everything talk, so there's no need for the art of ventriloquism anymore. I don't think young kids today would even understand it.