Merv Griffin
Encyclopedia
Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway
. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show
, The Merv Griffin Show
on Group W (Westinghouse) Broadcasting. Griffin created the game show
s Jeopardy!
, Wheel of Fortune
, Click
, and Merv Griffin's Crosswords
with his own "Merv Griffin Enterprises" television production company. During his life Griffin was considered an entertainment business magnate
.
family on July 6, 1925, in San Mateo, California
, to Mervyn Griffin Sr., a stock broker and Rita Griffin (née Robinson), a homemaker. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Griffin started singing in his church choir as a boy, and by his teens was earning extra money as a church organist. This is one of the reasons he got into show business early; he was considered a piano prodigy. He attended San Mateo High School
, class of 1942, and continued to aid in financing the school.
During World War II
, Merv was declared 4F after failing several military physical exams due to having a slight heart murmur
. Drafted for service during the Korean War
, he was then deemed fit for service, but was considered too old as the draft limit was 26 and he had just turned 27.
. Griffin was overweight as a teenager, which disappointed his radio fans. Embarrassed by their reaction, Griffin resolved to lose weight and change his image, losing 80 pounds in four months. Freddy Martin
heard him on the radio show and asked Griffin to tour with his orchestra
, which he did for four years.
He also had an uncredited role as a radio announcer in the 1953 horror/science fiction classic The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
.
By 1945, Griffin earned enough to form his own record label, Panda Records, which produced Songs by Merv Griffin, the first American album ever recorded on magnetic tape. He became increasingly popular with nightclub audiences, and his fame soared among the general public with his 1950 hit I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts
. The song reached the number one spot on the Hit Parade
and sold three million copies.
At one of his nightclub performances, Griffin was discovered by Doris Day
. Day arranged for a screen test
at Warner Brothers
Studios for a role in By the Light of the Silvery Moon
. Griffin didn't get the part, but the screen test led to supporting roles in other musical films such as So This is Love in 1953. The film caused a minor controversy when Griffin shared an open-mouthed kiss
with Kathryn Grayson
. The kiss was a first in Hollywood film history since the introduction of the Production Code
in 1934.
Griffin would go on to film more pictures, namely, The Boy from Oklahoma
and Phantom of the Rue Morgue, but soon became disillusioned with movie making. Griffin bought his contract back from Warner Brothers and decided to focus on a new medium: television.
and Bill Todman
called Play Your Hunch
. The show appeared on all three networks, but primarily on NBC
. He also hosted a prime time game show for ABC
called Keep Talking. In 1963, NBC offered him the opportunity to host a new game show, Word for Word, which Griffin produced. He also produced Let's Play Post Office for NBC in 1965; Reach for the Stars for NBC in 1967; and One in a Million for ABC in 1967.
accidentally emerged onto the set of Play Your Hunch during a live broadcast, and Griffin got him to stay for a spontaneous interview. The interview led to a guest-hosting spot on The Tonight Show
, then hosted by Paar.
While Johnny Carson
finished his CBS contract before taking over Tonight after Paar in October 1962, Griffin was one of the many guest hosts NBC used. He found hosting a live
show very uncomfortable and attempted to quit after only a few minutes on camera. His producer forced him back onto the stage, however, and Griffin was considered the most successful of the guest hosts, with his own daytime talk show on NBC in 1962.
By the mid 1960s, many other big band singers (such as Dinah Shore
and Mike Douglas), had reinvented themselves as talk show hosts. In 1965, Griffin launched a syndicated talk show for Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting
): The Merv Griffin Show
. The show aired in a variety of time slots throughout North America; many stations ran it in the daytime, some broadcast it opposite Johnny Carson
's The Tonight Show
. Griffin's announcer/sidekick was the veteran British character actor Arthur Treacher
, who had been his mentor. After Treacher left the show, Griffin would do the announcing himself, and walk on stage with the phrase: "And now..., here I come!" According to an obituary article on August 24, 2007 in Entertainment Weekly
, The Merv Griffin Show
was on the air for 21 years and won eleven Emmy Award
s during its run.
Griffin was not shy about tackling controversial subjects, especially the Vietnam War
. The guests on the Westinghouse show were an eclectic mix of entertainers, authors, politicians, and "personality" performers like Zsa Zsa Gabor
. Griffin also booked controversial guests like George Carlin
, Dick Gregory
, Richard Pryor
, Norman Mailer
, and Bertrand Russell
. Griffin received critical acclaim for booking such guests, but was also widely criticized for it. When philosopher and anti-war
activist Bertrand Russell used Griffin's show to condemn the war in Vietnam
, Griffin was criticized for letting Russell have his say. Arnold Schwarzenegger
made his talk show debut in the United States on Griffin's talk show in 1974 after moving from Austria
and becoming a bodybuilder.
Griffin dedicated two shows to the topic of Transcendental Meditation
and its founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
, one in 1975, the other in 1977. Griffin himself was an enthusiastic student of the practice.
Griffin would also frequently chat with audience members. One regular audience member, Lillian Miller
, would become a fixture on Griffin's program throughout its run.
Merv's best friend since the sixth grade, Robert (Bob) Murphy, was the producer of The Merv Griffin Show, and eventually became president of Merv Griffin Enterprises.
in 1969, a move which proved disastrous. The network was uncomfortable with the guests Griffin wanted, who often spoke out against the Vietnam War
and on other taboo topics. When political activist Abbie Hoffman
was Griffin's guest in April 1970, CBS blurred the video of Hoffman so viewers at home would not see his trademark American flag pattern shirt even though other guests had worn the same shirt in the past, uncensored. Griffin disliked the censorship imposed by CBS and complained.
Sensing that his time at CBS was ending, and tired of the restrictions imposed by the network, Griffin secretly signed a contract with rival company Metromedia
. The contract with Metromedia would give him a syndicated daytime talk show deal as soon as CBS canceled Griffin's show. Within a few months, Griffin was fired by CBS. His new show began the following Monday and ran until the mid 1980s. By 1986, Griffin was ready to retire and ended his talk show run. Due to profits from his highly successful game shows, Griffin had become one of the world's wealthiest entertainers.
in 1964; in an Associated Press
profile released right before the show premiered, Griffin talked about the show's origins:
The show premiered on NBC on March 30, 1964, hosted by Art Fleming
, and lasted for 11 years. Merv wrote the 30-second piece of music heard during the show's Final Jeopardy! Round, and which later became the melody of the theme for the show in the first part of Alex Trebek
era.
In 1975, NBC canceled Jeopardy! after moving it twice on their daytime schedule and despite having an additional year on its network contract left to fulfill. Griffin produced the show's successor, Wheel of Fortune
. Premiering on January 6, 1975, Wheel became a modest hit on daytime television with Chuck Woolery
and Susan Stafford
as host and hostess, which later became a phenomenon when on September 19, 1983, Wheel of Fortune hit the syndication market with Pat Sajak
and Vanna White
as hosts. Two different revivals of Jeopardy!
would be produced: one on NBC
that ran for five months in late 1978/early 1979 with Art Fleming
returning as host, and the other airing in first-run syndication beginning on September 10, 1984, starring Alex Trebek
. Both Jeopardy! and the night version of Wheel of Fortune remain on the air today in syndication.
In 1990, Griffin had an ambitious but unsuccessful attempt at adapting the venerable board game
Monopoly
into a game show of the same name
. His biggest failure, was a wild game show called Ruckus
, which emanated from the Resorts International Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, which he owned at the time. Involving slapstick stunts, and a somewhat truncated version of his old Reach For the Stars
, the show initially aired locally in New York, with the intent of national syndication early the following year. But, the ratings were abysmal, and the plug was pulled on the show after several weeks. A national audience did get a look at it, via reruns that aired for a time on GSN.
Upon his retirement, Griffin sold his production company, Merv Griffin Enterprises
, to Columbia Pictures Television
unit for US$
250 million on May 6, 1986, the largest acquisition of an entertainment company owned by a single individual at that time. Following the sale, Forbes
named him the richest Hollywood performer in history. He retained the title of creator of both shows.
The two powerhouses spun off numerous programs, and Griffin often would sign on as a creative consultant. The spin-offs included Wheel 2000 on CBS in 1997 and the short lived Jep!
on GSN in 1998, both for children; Rock & Roll Jeopardy!
on VH1 in 1998 for purveyors of pop music trivia; a teen-oriented game called Click!
, which introduced a youngster named Ryan Seacrest
as its host, and in association with Wink Martindale
, Headline Chasers
in 1985.
On May 14, 2003, Griffin was honored with the BMI
President's Award at the annual BMI Film and Television Awards ceremony. Among his other achievements, Griffin created what has to be one of America's best-known melodies: the immortal theme to his game show, "Jeopardy!"
In 2007, Griffin's production company, Merv Griffin Entertainment
, began pre-production on a new syndicated game show Merv Griffin's Crosswords
(originally titled Let's Play Crosswords and Let's Do Crosswords). The show taped in Los Angeles
after initial reports that it would be produced at WMAQ-TV
in Chicago
. The show was produced in association with Program Partners and the William Morris Agency
and began airing September 10, 2007. NBC
-owned-and-operated stations in New York
, Los Angeles
, Chicago
, San Francisco
and Dallas
carried the show, with many stations airing two episodes per day.
, purchasing the Beverly Hilton Hotel
in Beverly Hills. He also purchased Resorts Hotel and Casino, formerly Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel in Atlantic City from Donald Trump
in 1988. An active desert resident, he was a supporter of the La Quinta Arts Festival and the owner of the Merv Griffin Givenchy Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, now The Parker. He owned a ranch near La Quinta, California
where he raised thoroughbred
racehorses, as well as St. Clerans Manor, a boutique hotel, set in an eighteen century estate once owned by director John Huston
, near Craughwell, County Galway Galway, Ireland. In the 1980s, Griffin purchased Paradise Island
in the Bahamas for US$400 million from Donald Trump
, but he later sold it for just US$125 million. Merv Griffin sold his empire for $250 million to Coca-Cola in 1986, he then went on a buying spree of hotels and his wealth in 2003 was said to be around $1.2 billion.
In March 2001, Griffin returned to singing with the release of the album It's Like a Dream.
Nancy Reagan
exchanged birthday greetings each July 6, for they shared the same birthday. Griffin was also an honorary pallbearer
at the funeral of President Ronald Reagan
in 2004. He was friends with both of the Reagans for many years. He remained friends with his ex-wife, whom he credited with creating the premise of Jeopardy!.
, treated originally in 1996, returned and he was admitted to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where his condition deteriorated, leading to his death on August 12, 2007. Griffin is survived by his son, Tony, born in 1959 during Griffin's marriage to Julann Wright from 1958 to 1976. He is also survived by two grandchildren.
Funeral services were held for Griffin on August 17, 2007 at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. The well attended service included former First Lady and longtime friend Nancy Reagan
, California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
(who gave the eulogy along with Griffin's son Tony), Maria Shriver
, actors, television stars, employees and friends including Pat Sajak
, Vanna White
, Alex Trebek
, Dick Van Dyke
, Jack Klugman
, Dick Van Patten
, Ellen DeGeneres
and partner Portia de Rossi
, Ryan Seacrest
, and Catherine Oxenberg
and husband Casper Van Dien
. Pallbearers included Ron Ward, Vice Chairman of the Griffin Group, Griffin Group President Robert Pritchard, Griffin Group Vice President Michael Eyre, and Griffin's son Tony. His 7-year-old grandson Donovan Mervyn was an honorary pallbearer as was Nancy Reagan. His 12-year-old granddaughter Farah gave a reading. A post-burial reception was held at the Beverly Hilton
, a property owned by Griffin from 1987 to 2003. He was buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
and his headstone epitaph (even though in his book "Merv", written with David Bender in 2003, states it would be "Stay Tuned") reads "I will not be right back after this message," an epitaph Griffin announced on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
.
Game Show Network
(GSN) honored Griffin by airing ten-episode marathons of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! during the weekend of August 18–19, 2007. The Wheel marathon included two episodes with cameo appearances by Griffin: Pat Sajak
's departure from the daytime version in 1989 and a 1992–93 episode that ended with Griffin, the MervTones, and Vanna White
singing at a dinner club in Orlando, Florida
. The Jeopardy! marathon consisted of a rerun of the Jeopardy! Million Dollar Masters Tournament from 2002.
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
, The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to September 26, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in...
on Group W (Westinghouse) Broadcasting. Griffin created the game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
s Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
, Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
, Click
Click (game show)
Click is an American television game show based around computers and the then-relatively novel medium of the Internet. The youth-oriented series was created by Merv Griffin and hosted by Ryan Seacrest....
, and Merv Griffin's Crosswords
Merv Griffin's Crosswords
Merv Griffin's Crosswords is an American game show based on crossword puzzles. The show was created by its namesake, Merv Griffin, who died shortly after beginning production on the series...
with his own "Merv Griffin Enterprises" television production company. During his life Griffin was considered an entertainment business magnate
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...
.
Early life
Griffin was born into an Irish-AmericanIrish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
family on July 6, 1925, in San Mateo, California
San Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
, to Mervyn Griffin Sr., a stock broker and Rita Griffin (née Robinson), a homemaker. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Griffin started singing in his church choir as a boy, and by his teens was earning extra money as a church organist. This is one of the reasons he got into show business early; he was considered a piano prodigy. He attended San Mateo High School
San Mateo High School
San Mateo High School is an American National Blue Ribbon comprehensive four-year public high school in San Mateo, California serving grades 9–12 as part of the San Mateo Union High School District....
, class of 1942, and continued to aid in financing the school.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Merv was declared 4F after failing several military physical exams due to having a slight heart murmur
Heart murmur
Murmurs are extra heart sounds that are produced as a result of turbulent blood flow that is sufficient to produce audible noise. Most murmurs can only be heard with the assistance of a stethoscope ....
. Drafted for service during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, he was then deemed fit for service, but was considered too old as the draft limit was 26 and he had just turned 27.
Singing at 19
Griffin started as a singer on radio at age 19, appearing on San Francisco Sketchbook, a nationally syndicated program based at KFRCKFRC (defunct)
KFRC was a radio station in San Francisco, California in the United States, which made its first broadcast on Wednesday, September 24, 1924, from studios in the Hotel Whitcomb 1231 Market Street. KFRC originally broadcast with 50 watts on the 270 meter wavelength , then moved to 660 kHz. in...
. Griffin was overweight as a teenager, which disappointed his radio fans. Embarrassed by their reaction, Griffin resolved to lose weight and change his image, losing 80 pounds in four months. Freddy Martin
Freddy Martin
Frederick Alfred Martin was an American bandleader and tenor saxophonist.-Early life:Martin was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Raised largely in an orphanage and with various relatives, Martin started out playing drums, then switched to C-melody saxophone and later tenor saxophone, the latter the one...
heard him on the radio show and asked Griffin to tour with his orchestra
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
, which he did for four years.
He also had an uncredited role as a radio announcer in the 1953 horror/science fiction classic The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is a 1953 science fiction film directed by Eugène Lourié and stars Paul Christian, Paula Raymond and Cecil Kellaway with visual effects by Ray Harryhausen. The film is about an atomic bomb test in the Arctic Circle that unfreezes a hibernating fictional dinosaur, a...
.
By 1945, Griffin earned enough to form his own record label, Panda Records, which produced Songs by Merv Griffin, the first American album ever recorded on magnetic tape. He became increasingly popular with nightclub audiences, and his fame soared among the general public with his 1950 hit I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts
I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts
"I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" is a novelty song composed in 1944 by Fred Heatherton, an English songwriter. It celebrates the coconut shy at funfairs....
. The song reached the number one spot on the Hit Parade
Hit parade
A hit parade is a ranked list of the most popular recordings at a given point in time, usually determined by sales and/or airplay. The term originated in the 1930s; Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade on January 4, 1936...
and sold three million copies.
At one of his nightclub performances, Griffin was discovered by Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
. Day arranged for a screen test
Screen test
A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film and/or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a camera to see if they are suitable...
at Warner Brothers
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Studios for a role in By the Light of the Silvery Moon
By the Light of the Silvery Moon (film)
By the Light of the Silvery Moon is a 1953 musical film. It is the sequel to On Moonlight Bay. Like its predecessor, the movie is based loosely on the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington.-Plot:...
. Griffin didn't get the part, but the screen test led to supporting roles in other musical films such as So This is Love in 1953. The film caused a minor controversy when Griffin shared an open-mouthed kiss
Kiss
A kiss is the act of pressing one's lips against the lips or other body parts of another person or of an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, affection, respect, greeting, friendship, and good...
with Kathryn Grayson
Kathryn Grayson
Kathryn Grayson was an American actress and operatic soprano singer.From the age of twelve, Grayson trained as an opera singer. She was under contract to MGM by the early 1940s, soon establishing a career principally through her work in musicals...
. The kiss was a first in Hollywood film history since the introduction of the Production Code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
in 1934.
Griffin would go on to film more pictures, namely, The Boy from Oklahoma
The Boy from Oklahoma
The Boy from Oklahoma is a 1954 Western movie directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Will Rogers, Jr. The film became the basis for the 1957 Warner Bros. television series Sugarfoot, in which Will Hutchins replaced Rogers as lead character Tom Brewster. The movie features Lon Chaney, Jr. and...
and Phantom of the Rue Morgue, but soon became disillusioned with movie making. Griffin bought his contract back from Warner Brothers and decided to focus on a new medium: television.
Game show host
From 1958 to 1962, Griffin hosted a game show produced by Mark GoodsonMark Goodson
Mark Goodson was an American television producer who specialized in game shows.-Life and early career:...
and Bill Todman
Bill Todman
William S. "Bill" Todman was an American television producer born in New York City. He produced many of television's longest running shows with business partner Mark Goodson.-Early life:...
called Play Your Hunch
Play Your Hunch
Play Your Hunch was an American game show first hosted by Merv Griffin from 1958 to 1962, and was then hosted by Robert Q. Lewis until 1963. The announcers for the show were, respectively, Johnny Olson, Wayne Howell and Roger Tuttle...
. The show appeared on all three networks, but primarily on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. He also hosted a prime time game show for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
called Keep Talking. In 1963, NBC offered him the opportunity to host a new game show, Word for Word, which Griffin produced. He also produced Let's Play Post Office for NBC in 1965; Reach for the Stars for NBC in 1967; and One in a Million for ABC in 1967.
Talk show host
Griffin scored a coup when Jack PaarJack Paar
Jack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
accidentally emerged onto the set of Play Your Hunch during a live broadcast, and Griffin got him to stay for a spontaneous interview. The interview led to a guest-hosting spot on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
, then hosted by Paar.
While Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
finished his CBS contract before taking over Tonight after Paar in October 1962, Griffin was one of the many guest hosts NBC used. He found hosting a live
Live television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
show very uncomfortable and attempted to quit after only a few minutes on camera. His producer forced him back onto the stage, however, and Griffin was considered the most successful of the guest hosts, with his own daytime talk show on NBC in 1962.
By the mid 1960s, many other big band singers (such as Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
and Mike Douglas), had reinvented themselves as talk show hosts. In 1965, Griffin launched a syndicated talk show for Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting
Westinghouse Broadcasting
The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication....
): The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to September 26, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in...
. The show aired in a variety of time slots throughout North America; many stations ran it in the daytime, some broadcast it opposite Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
's The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
. Griffin's announcer/sidekick was the veteran British character actor Arthur Treacher
Arthur Treacher
Arthur Veary Treacher was an English actor born in Brighton, East Sussex, England.Treacher was a veteran of World War I. After the war, he established a stage career and in 1928, he went to America as part of a musical-comedy revue called Great Temptations...
, who had been his mentor. After Treacher left the show, Griffin would do the announcing himself, and walk on stage with the phrase: "And now..., here I come!" According to an obituary article on August 24, 2007 in Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to September 26, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in...
was on the air for 21 years and won eleven Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s during its run.
Griffin was not shy about tackling controversial subjects, especially the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The guests on the Westinghouse show were an eclectic mix of entertainers, authors, politicians, and "personality" performers like Zsa Zsa Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian-born American stage, film and television actress.She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria, in 1932, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style", with a personality that...
. Griffin also booked controversial guests like George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
, Dick Gregory
Dick Gregory
Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory is an American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur....
, Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
, Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
, and Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
. Griffin received critical acclaim for booking such guests, but was also widely criticized for it. When philosopher and anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
activist Bertrand Russell used Griffin's show to condemn the war in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Griffin was criticized for letting Russell have his say. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
made his talk show debut in the United States on Griffin's talk show in 1974 after moving from Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and becoming a bodybuilder.
Griffin dedicated two shows to the topic of Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation refers to the Transcendental Meditation technique, a specific form of mantra meditation, and to the Transcendental Meditation movement, a spiritual movement...
and its founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
, one in 1975, the other in 1977. Griffin himself was an enthusiastic student of the practice.
Griffin would also frequently chat with audience members. One regular audience member, Lillian Miller
Lillian Miller
Lillian Dorothy Miller , better known as Miss Miller, was a regular audience member of various American television variety shows from the 1950s to the 1980s....
, would become a fixture on Griffin's program throughout its run.
Merv's best friend since the sixth grade, Robert (Bob) Murphy, was the producer of The Merv Griffin Show, and eventually became president of Merv Griffin Enterprises.
Late-night host
CBS gave Griffin a late-night show opposite Johnny CarsonJohnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
in 1969, a move which proved disastrous. The network was uncomfortable with the guests Griffin wanted, who often spoke out against the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and on other taboo topics. When political activist Abbie Hoffman
Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was a political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ....
was Griffin's guest in April 1970, CBS blurred the video of Hoffman so viewers at home would not see his trademark American flag pattern shirt even though other guests had worn the same shirt in the past, uncensored. Griffin disliked the censorship imposed by CBS and complained.
Sensing that his time at CBS was ending, and tired of the restrictions imposed by the network, Griffin secretly signed a contract with rival company Metromedia
Metromedia
Metromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :...
. The contract with Metromedia would give him a syndicated daytime talk show deal as soon as CBS canceled Griffin's show. Within a few months, Griffin was fired by CBS. His new show began the following Monday and ran until the mid 1980s. By 1986, Griffin was ready to retire and ended his talk show run. Due to profits from his highly successful game shows, Griffin had become one of the world's wealthiest entertainers.
Game show creator
Griffin created and produced the successful television game show Jeopardy!Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
in 1964; in an Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
profile released right before the show premiered, Griffin talked about the show's origins:
- My wife Julann just came up with the idea one day when we were in a plane bringing us back to New York from Duluth. I was mulling over game show ideas, when she noted that there had not been a successful 'question and answer' game on the air since the quiz show scandalsQuiz show scandalsThe American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition....
. Why not do a switch, and give the answers to the contestant and let them come up with the question. - She fired a couple of answers to me: '5,280' and the question of course was how many feet in a mile. Another was '79 Wistful Vista.' That was Fibber and Mollie McGee'sFibber McGee and MollyFibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series which maintained its popularity over decades. It premiered on NBC in 1935 and continued until its demise in 1959, long after radio had ceased to be the dominant form of entertainment in American popular culture.-Husband and wife in real...
address. I loved the idea, went straight to NBC with the idea, and they bought it without even looking at a pilot showTelevision pilotA "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
.
The show premiered on NBC on March 30, 1964, hosted by Art Fleming
Art Fleming
Art Fleming was an American television host, most notably the original host of the TV game show Jeopardy!.-Early life:...
, and lasted for 11 years. Merv wrote the 30-second piece of music heard during the show's Final Jeopardy! Round, and which later became the melody of the theme for the show in the first part of Alex Trebek
Alex Trebek
George Alexander "Alex" Trebek is a Canadian American game show host who has been the host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, and prior to that, he hosted game shows such as Pitfall and High Rollers. He has appeared in numerous television series, usually as himself...
era.
In 1975, NBC canceled Jeopardy! after moving it twice on their daytime schedule and despite having an additional year on its network contract left to fulfill. Griffin produced the show's successor, Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
. Premiering on January 6, 1975, Wheel became a modest hit on daytime television with Chuck Woolery
Chuck Woolery
Charles Herbert "Chuck" Woolery is an American game show host. He has had long-running tenures hosting several different game shows. He was the original host of Wheel of Fortune from 1975–81, the original incarnation of Love Connection from 1983–94, and Scrabble from 1984–90...
and Susan Stafford
Susan Stafford
Susan Stafford was the original hostess of the game show Wheel of Fortune from January 6, 1975 until she left on October 22, 1982...
as host and hostess, which later became a phenomenon when on September 19, 1983, Wheel of Fortune hit the syndication market with Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak is a television personality, former weatherman, actor and talk show host, best known as the host of the American television game show Wheel of Fortune.-Early life:...
and Vanna White
Vanna White
Vanna White is an American television personality and film actress best known as the hostess of Wheel of Fortune since 1982.-Early life:...
as hosts. Two different revivals of Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
would be produced: one on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
that ran for five months in late 1978/early 1979 with Art Fleming
Art Fleming
Art Fleming was an American television host, most notably the original host of the TV game show Jeopardy!.-Early life:...
returning as host, and the other airing in first-run syndication beginning on September 10, 1984, starring Alex Trebek
Alex Trebek
George Alexander "Alex" Trebek is a Canadian American game show host who has been the host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, and prior to that, he hosted game shows such as Pitfall and High Rollers. He has appeared in numerous television series, usually as himself...
. Both Jeopardy! and the night version of Wheel of Fortune remain on the air today in syndication.
In 1990, Griffin had an ambitious but unsuccessful attempt at adapting the venerable board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
into a game show of the same name
Monopoly (game show)
Monopoly is an American television game show based on the board game of the same name. It aired on ABC from June 16 to September 1, 1990. Mike Reilly, a former Jeopardy! contestant, hosted while Charlie O'Donnell announced....
. His biggest failure, was a wild game show called Ruckus
Ruckus
- Business and Organizations:*Ruckus Network, formerly a provider of digital entertainment services for all American colleges and universities*Ruckus Society, an organization that provides training in techniques of political activism...
, which emanated from the Resorts International Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, which he owned at the time. Involving slapstick stunts, and a somewhat truncated version of his old Reach For the Stars
Reach for the Stars
Reach for the Stars is a science fiction strategy video game. It is the earliest known commercially published example of the 4X games genre. It was written by Roger Keating and Ian Trout of SSG of Australia and published in 1983 for the Commodore 64 and then the Apple II in 1985...
, the show initially aired locally in New York, with the intent of national syndication early the following year. But, the ratings were abysmal, and the plug was pulled on the show after several weeks. A national audience did get a look at it, via reruns that aired for a time on GSN.
Upon his retirement, Griffin sold his production company, Merv Griffin Enterprises
Merv Griffin Enterprises
Merv Griffin Enterprises was a television production company founded by Merv Griffin, in business from 1964 to 1994.-History:The company was first established as Merv Griffin Productions in 1964 and Griffin's first production was Jeopardy! In 1965, his talk show The Merv Griffin Show returned to...
, to Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television was the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gems . The studio changed its name on September 4, 1974.-1974-1982:...
unit for US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
250 million on May 6, 1986, the largest acquisition of an entertainment company owned by a single individual at that time. Following the sale, Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
named him the richest Hollywood performer in history. He retained the title of creator of both shows.
The two powerhouses spun off numerous programs, and Griffin often would sign on as a creative consultant. The spin-offs included Wheel 2000 on CBS in 1997 and the short lived Jep!
Jep!
Jep! is a children's version of the American quiz show Jeopardy!, hosted by Bob Bergen. The program premiered on January 30, 1998 on GSN and lasted for one season...
on GSN in 1998, both for children; Rock & Roll Jeopardy!
Rock & Roll Jeopardy!
Rock & Roll Jeopardy! is a variant of the quiz show Jeopardy! which centered entirely around popular music. The series was hosted by Jeff Probst and ran on VH1 from August 8, 1998 to May 12, 2001. Loretta Fox was the show's announcer for the first two seasons...
on VH1 in 1998 for purveyors of pop music trivia; a teen-oriented game called Click!
Click (game show)
Click is an American television game show based around computers and the then-relatively novel medium of the Internet. The youth-oriented series was created by Merv Griffin and hosted by Ryan Seacrest....
, which introduced a youngster named Ryan Seacrest
Ryan Seacrest
Ryan John Seacrest is an American radio personality, television host, network producer and voice actor. He is the host of On Air with Ryan Seacrest, a nationally syndicated Top 40 radio show that airs on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and throughout the United States and Canada on Premiere Radio Networks,...
as its host, and in association with Wink Martindale
Wink Martindale
Winston Conrad Martindale , known professionally as Wink Martindale, is an American disc jockey and television game show host.-Radio:...
, Headline Chasers
Headline Chasers
Headline Chasers is a syndicated game show that ran daily from September 9, 1985 to September 5, 1986. The series was created, hosted, and produced by Wink Martindale with Johnny Gilbert as announcer...
in 1985.
On May 14, 2003, Griffin was honored with the BMI
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
President's Award at the annual BMI Film and Television Awards ceremony. Among his other achievements, Griffin created what has to be one of America's best-known melodies: the immortal theme to his game show, "Jeopardy!"
In 2007, Griffin's production company, Merv Griffin Entertainment
Merv Griffin Entertainment
Merv Griffin Entertainment is a production company founded by entertainer Merv Griffin in December 1995. Its productions include revivals of recent franchises . Griffin's company is part of The Griffin Group...
, began pre-production on a new syndicated game show Merv Griffin's Crosswords
Merv Griffin's Crosswords
Merv Griffin's Crosswords is an American game show based on crossword puzzles. The show was created by its namesake, Merv Griffin, who died shortly after beginning production on the series...
(originally titled Let's Play Crosswords and Let's Do Crosswords). The show taped in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
after initial reports that it would be produced at WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Chicago, Illinois. WMAQ-TV's main studios and offices are located within the NBC Tower in the Streeterville neighborhood, with an auxiliary street-level studio on the Magnificent Mile at 401...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. The show was produced in association with Program Partners and the William Morris Agency
William Morris Agency
WME is the largest talent agency in the world, with offices in Beverly Hills, New York City, Nashville, London, and Miami. WME represents elite artists from all facets of the entertainment industry, including motion pictures, television, music, theatre, publishing, and physical production...
and began airing September 10, 2007. NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
-owned-and-operated stations in New York
WNBC
WNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...
, Los Angeles
KNBC
KNBC, channel 4, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KNBC's studios and offices are located within the NBC Studios complex in Burbank, California, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson...
, Chicago
WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Chicago, Illinois. WMAQ-TV's main studios and offices are located within the NBC Tower in the Streeterville neighborhood, with an auxiliary street-level studio on the Magnificent Mile at 401...
, San Francisco
KNTV
KNTV, channel 11, is the NBC owned-and-operated television station in the Bay Area market. It is licensed to San Jose, with its transmitter located on San Bruno Mountain, just south of San Francisco. It shares facilities in San Jose with NBC Universal sister station KSTS and CNBC's Silicon...
and Dallas
KXAS-TV
KXAS-TV, virtual channel 5 , is the NBC television station for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The station was Texas' first television station when the station made its debut on September 28, 1948. Its transmitter is located in Cedar Hill...
carried the show, with many stations airing two episodes per day.
Business ventures
Griffin ventured into real estateReal estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
, purchasing the Beverly Hilton Hotel
Beverly Hilton Hotel
The Beverly Hilton is a hotel located on an property at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards in Beverly Hills, California, USA...
in Beverly Hills. He also purchased Resorts Hotel and Casino, formerly Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel in Atlantic City from Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
in 1988. An active desert resident, he was a supporter of the La Quinta Arts Festival and the owner of the Merv Griffin Givenchy Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, now The Parker. He owned a ranch near La Quinta, California
La Quinta, California
La Quinta is a resort city in Riverside County, California, USA, specifically in the Coachella Valley between Indian Wells and Indio. The population was 37,467 at the 2010 census, up from 23,694 at the 2000 census. The Robb Report credits La Quinta as the nation's leading golf destination...
where he raised thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
racehorses, as well as St. Clerans Manor, a boutique hotel, set in an eighteen century estate once owned by director John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
, near Craughwell, County Galway Galway, Ireland. In the 1980s, Griffin purchased Paradise Island
Paradise Island
Paradise Island is an island in the Bahamas formerly known as Hog Island. The island is located just off the shore of the city of Nassau, which is itself located on the northern edge of the island of New Providence. It is best known for the sprawling 'Vegas-by-the-sea resort' Atlantis.Paradise...
in the Bahamas for US$400 million from Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
, but he later sold it for just US$125 million. Merv Griffin sold his empire for $250 million to Coca-Cola in 1986, he then went on a buying spree of hotels and his wealth in 2003 was said to be around $1.2 billion.
In March 2001, Griffin returned to singing with the release of the album It's Like a Dream.
Personal life
Griffin kept many details of his personal and business life private. On being wealthy he said that "if people know you're rich they don't talk with you when you walk down the street." He kept his wealth as an open secret, amassing media outlets, hotels and casinos with a net worth widely estimated at more than a billion dollars. Griffin stated he didn't really know his worth because it “would keep me from sleeping at night.” He and former First LadyFirst Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
Nancy Reagan
Nancy Reagan
Nancy Davis Reagan is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989....
exchanged birthday greetings each July 6, for they shared the same birthday. Griffin was also an honorary pallbearer
Pallbearer
A pall-bearer is one of several funeral participants who helps carry the casket of a deceased person from a religious or memorial service or viewing either directly to a cemetery or mausoleum, or to and from the hearse which carries the coffin....
at the funeral of President Ronald Reagan
Death and state funeral of Ronald Reagan
On June 5, 2004, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, died after having suffered from Alzheimer's disease for nearly a decade. His seven-day state funeral followed, spanning June 5–11...
in 2004. He was friends with both of the Reagans for many years. He remained friends with his ex-wife, whom he credited with creating the premise of Jeopardy!.
Illness and death
Griffin's prostate cancerProstate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
, treated originally in 1996, returned and he was admitted to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where his condition deteriorated, leading to his death on August 12, 2007. Griffin is survived by his son, Tony, born in 1959 during Griffin's marriage to Julann Wright from 1958 to 1976. He is also survived by two grandchildren.
Funeral services were held for Griffin on August 17, 2007 at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. The well attended service included former First Lady and longtime friend Nancy Reagan
Nancy Reagan
Nancy Davis Reagan is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989....
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
(who gave the eulogy along with Griffin's son Tony), Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver is an American journalist and author of six best-selling books. She has received a Peabody Award, and was co-anchor for NBC's Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics. As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of...
, actors, television stars, employees and friends including Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak is a television personality, former weatherman, actor and talk show host, best known as the host of the American television game show Wheel of Fortune.-Early life:...
, Vanna White
Vanna White
Vanna White is an American television personality and film actress best known as the hostess of Wheel of Fortune since 1982.-Early life:...
, Alex Trebek
Alex Trebek
George Alexander "Alex" Trebek is a Canadian American game show host who has been the host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, and prior to that, he hosted game shows such as Pitfall and High Rollers. He has appeared in numerous television series, usually as himself...
, Dick Van Dyke
Dick Van Dyke
Richard Wayne "Dick" Van Dyke is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer with a career spanning six decades. He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke, and father of Barry Van Dyke...
, Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman
Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman is an American stage, film and television actor known for his roles in sitcoms, movies, and television and on Broadway...
, Dick Van Patten
Dick Van Patten
Richard Vincent "Dick" Van Patten is an American actor, best known for his role as patriarch Tom Bradford on the television sitcom Eight is Enough. He began work as a child actor and was successful on the [New York] stage, appearing in more than a dozen plays as a teenager...
, Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American stand-up comedienne, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was also a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season....
and partner Portia de Rossi
Portia de Rossi
Portia Lee James DeGeneres , known professionally as Portia de Rossi , is an Australian-American actress, best known for her roles as lawyer Nelle Porter on the television series Ally McBeal and Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the sitcom Arrested Development...
, Ryan Seacrest
Ryan Seacrest
Ryan John Seacrest is an American radio personality, television host, network producer and voice actor. He is the host of On Air with Ryan Seacrest, a nationally syndicated Top 40 radio show that airs on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and throughout the United States and Canada on Premiere Radio Networks,...
, and Catherine Oxenberg
Catherine Oxenberg
Catherine Oxenberg is an American actress known for her performance as Amanda Carrington on the 1980s American prime time soap opera Dynasty. The daughter of HRH Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, Oxenberg is a descendant of the Serbian Karađorđević dynasty.-Early life:Though born in New York City,...
and husband Casper Van Dien
Casper Van Dien
-Early life:Van Dien was born and grew up in Milton, Florida, the son of Diane , a retired nursery school teacher, and Casper Robert Van Dien, Sr., a retired U.S. Navy Commander and fighter pilot. There is a long military tradition in Van Dien's family. Aside from his father, his grandfather was a...
. Pallbearers included Ron Ward, Vice Chairman of the Griffin Group, Griffin Group President Robert Pritchard, Griffin Group Vice President Michael Eyre, and Griffin's son Tony. His 7-year-old grandson Donovan Mervyn was an honorary pallbearer as was Nancy Reagan. His 12-year-old granddaughter Farah gave a reading. A post-burial reception was held at the Beverly Hilton
Hilton Hotels
Hilton Hotels & Resorts is an international chain of full-service hotels and resorts founded by Conrad Hilton and now owned by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton hotels are either owned by, managed by, or franchised to independent operators by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Hotels became the first coast-to-coast...
, a property owned by Griffin from 1987 to 2003. He was buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery is a cemetery in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles, California. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood....
and his headstone epitaph (even though in his book "Merv", written with David Bender in 2003, states it would be "Stay Tuned") reads "I will not be right back after this message," an epitaph Griffin announced on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson, the third regular host of the Late Late Show franchise, follows Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup...
.
Game Show Network
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
(GSN) honored Griffin by airing ten-episode marathons of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! during the weekend of August 18–19, 2007. The Wheel marathon included two episodes with cameo appearances by Griffin: Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak is a television personality, former weatherman, actor and talk show host, best known as the host of the American television game show Wheel of Fortune.-Early life:...
's departure from the daytime version in 1989 and a 1992–93 episode that ended with Griffin, the MervTones, and Vanna White
Vanna White
Vanna White is an American television personality and film actress best known as the hostess of Wheel of Fortune since 1982.-Early life:...
singing at a dinner club in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
. The Jeopardy! marathon consisted of a rerun of the Jeopardy! Million Dollar Masters Tournament from 2002.
Selected popular songs
- "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of CoconutsI've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts"I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" is a novelty song composed in 1944 by Fred Heatherton, an English songwriter. It celebrates the coconut shy at funfairs....
" - "Wilhelmina"
- "Never Been Kissed"
- "The Charanga" (#69, Pop Charts, 1961)
- "Happy To Know You" (Radio Hit, 1973)
- "Jeopardy! theme music"
- "Changing Keys" (the Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
Theme)
External links
- He Had a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts at the Wall Street Journal
- Merv Griffin tribute from ABC, from YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....