The famous inventor of "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel
of Fortune", Merv Griffin, has died of prostate cancer, according to a
statement released today by Marcia Newberger, spokeswoman for The Griffin
Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment. Griffin.
Earlier this week Merv Griffin was hospitalized for
recurrence of prostate cancer and
his spokeswoman said that the recurrence of the illness was
discovered during a routine medical check-up.
Merv Griffin was treated for the prostate cancer in July at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
He was initially diagnosed with cancer in 1996.
During his recovery in July he remained optimistic:
"I'd rather play 'Jeopardy!' than live it. I was ready for a vacation;
however, this wasn't the destination I had in mind."
During that period the inventor and producer of
"Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" that all his
well-wishers in lieu of flowers, to donate to the Young Musicians Foundation,
whose chairman he is.
Young Musicians Foundation provides performance
opportunities, financial assistance, and music education programs to thousands
of young musicians at all stages of development each year, many of whom go on
to play in the finest orchestras in the world.
Griffin was born on July 6,
1925, in San Mateo, Calif, and before his TV caree,r he was a bandleader, singer and actor. He was seen in films such as "Cattle
Town" (1952), "The Phantom of the Rue Morgue" (1954), "The
Beast From 20,000 Fathoms".
In 1950, Merv's pseudo-Cockney rendition of "I've Got a
Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" was #1 on the Hit Parade for many weeks and sold
3 million recordings.
From 1962 to 1986 he hosted and produced "The Merv
Griffin Show" on CBS but that wasn’t his sole experience in television.
The best-known game shows "Jeopardy!" (which began in 1964) and
"Wheel of Fortune" (1975) were followed in 1979 by the disco show
"Dance Fever".
In 1986, Columbia Pictures Entertainment, then a subsidiary
of The Coca-Cola Company, purchased his production company, Merv Griffin
Enterprises, for a total of $250 million. That year, Forbes Magazine named him
the richest Hollywood performer in history on its annual list of the 400
wealthiest people in America.
In his role on the talkshow that bore his name, he hosted
25,000 guests over 23 years. Multiple winner of Daytime Emmys, he received the
award three times for "The Merv Griffin Show" and one for producing
"Jeopardy!" and one impressive Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement
Award in 2003.
