Ronald Pellar is an American hypnotist and fraudster who performed under the stage names Ronald Dante and Dr. Dante, and who was briefly married to actress Lana Turner. He has been convicted of or pled guilty to several criminal offenses, including mail fraud in connection with his operation of the diploma mill Columbia State University and attempted murder for trying to contract for the murder of another hypnotist and entertainer. As of 2006, he had been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for 20 years for having been paid the highest-ever lecture fee.[1] He has been known by as many as 40 aliases, including Phil Harris, Earl Clevenger, and Bonnie Ritchie.[2]
In a 2006 interview, Pellar said he was born in 1920,[1] but in 2003 he was reported to be 73 years old[3] and in 2004 he was reported to be 74 years old,[2] indicating a birth date in 1929 or 1930.
In 1997 Pellar was convicted of ten counts of criminal contempt for violating an earlier injunction against making false representations, issued in connection with a "permanent makeup" business and a paralegal training academy, and in 1998 he was sentenced to 67 months in prison for the contempt conviction.[4] He fled before the last day of his trial,[4] but was later captured in Mexico and sent to prison. In 2004, while still serving his 1998 contempt sentence, he pled guilty to nine counts of mail fraud associated with the Columbia State University diploma mill operation.[5] For that guilty plea he received a sentence of eight months in prison and was ordered to pay restitution of $45,835 and forfeit a $1.5 million yacht.[6][7] For the charges he faced, he could have been sentenced to up to 45 years in federal prison and fined as much as $2.25 million.[3]
In 2006, Pellar was living in a mobile home in Pauma Valley, California, and said he had cancer.[1]
Pellar is the subject of a short documentary film entitled Mr. Hypnotism that was released in 2010.[8]