A Great Legend

You may have already heard, Show business legend (and one of my mentors) Merv Griffin passed away on Sunday afternoon at the age of 82, due to complications from a long battle with prostate cancer.

The Impresario Hollywood Mogul
Winner of 17 Emmy Awards, host of a TV talk show that ran for 23 years, and ultimately one of Hollywood's richest impresarios with a production company (Merv Griffin Enterprises) that sold for $250 million in 1986 to Coca-Cola's Columbia Pictures Television.

Born the son of a stockbroker in San Mateo, California, Merv Griffin's illustrious career began as a singer in San Francisco and progressed to roles on TV shows and in movies. Later Merv went on to host the syndicated daytime talk show, The Merv Griffin Show (Westinghouse Broadcasting) in 1965. After several decades, 5,500 episodes, and 25,000 interviews later (including the late John Lennon and Dr. Martin Luther King), the show eventually went off the air in 1986 when Griffin retired.

A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts...Merv also had a formidable real estate empire, he bought and sold the Beverly Hills Hilton in 1987, as well as 17 radio stations, six casinos and 22 hotels. He also bred racehorses and had a winery at his ranch in California's Monterey Peninsula and in 1986, when he sold his production company, Forbes magazine named him the richest performer in Hollywood history.

What is Jeopardy?

Although, I did not have the pleasure of watching Merv during his career as talk show host of The Merv Griffin Show - I grew up watching his shows Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and Dance Fever and we continue to see his shows each and everyday on television.

Under Merv Griffin Enterprises, it is said that Merv came up with the idea of Jeopardy (Asking the questions, rather than giving the answers) while taking a flight with his wife at the time, Juliann Elizabeth Wright, in the early 1960's.

Jeopardy has been the longest-running, most award-winning show is game show history and debuted on NBC in 1964 with then host Art Fleming (Alex Trebek replaced Fleming in 1984).

Wheel of Fortune is considered to be the second longest-running game show, and originally debuted in 1975 with then host Chuck Woolery (Love Connection) and Susan Stafford (Pat Sajak an L.A. TV Weatherman and Vanna White came along in 1982).

Lastly, the pop-culture music show, Dance Fever with Deney Terrio (Whatever happened to that guy, anyway?) in 1979.

A Lifetime....

Watching these great shows in my childhood is where I first discovered Sony through the credits at the end of the show, "Taped at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California". Now a few decades later as a grown adult, Sony is right down the street and still part of my life. It's amazing and the first time I saw the studios in person - I felt gleeful just as a child in a magical place.

Not much has changed and to this day, at the end of every show, you will still notice Merv's name listed as the Executive Producer along with long-time sponsor and Merv's favorite tailored suit maker, Botany 500, and of course Merv continued to earn royalties every time the "Jeopardy!" theme, which he composed, was played. In 2006, he estimated those royalties for the 30-second "Final Jeopardy!" theme at $70 million.

This year Merv Griffin Entertainment began pre-production on a new game show, Merv Griffin's Crosswords, a new syndicated game show set to debut Sept. 10 on NBC stations in New York, Los Angeles and several other large cities.

Griffin told The Desert Sun in 2006 a little bit about his success secret: "You have to be constantly turning the page, which prevents me from getting caught up in any negativity. I just keep moving and enjoy the ride," he said.

We will all be watching Merv...