Merv Griffin

Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. (b. July 6 1925, San Mateo, California) is an American talk show host, entertainer, pianist, television personality and executive. He began his career as a singer and also appeared in movies and on Broadway; he later became host of his own TV show, The Merv Griffin Show, and an entertainment business magnate.

A start in song

He started as a singer on radio at age 19, appearing on "San Francisco Sketchbook," a nationally syndicated program based at KFRC. Griffin was slightly overweight as a teenager, which disappointed his radio fans seeing him for the first time. Embarrassed by this rude reaction, Griffin resolved to lose weight and change his image. He was true to his word, and matured into a handsome big-band vocalist. Freddy Martin was a fan of the radio show and asked Griffin to tour with his orchestra, which he did for four years.

Griffin earned enough to form his own record label, Panda Records, and his self-released album Songs by Merv Griffin was the first American album recorded on magnetic tape. He became popular with nightclub audiences as a solo act. He scored a number-one record hit with I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts, which sold over three million copies. During one of his nightclub performances, he was discovered by Doris Day, who arranged for a screen test at Warner Bros. Studios. His open-mouthed kiss with Kathryn Grayson in his debut film, So This Is Love (1953), was the first such shown in theaters.

Meanwhile, he appeared regularly on such television shows as The Arthur Murray Dance Party and The Jack Paar Show. From 1958 to 1962 he hosted a game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman called Play Your Hunch. The show appeared on all three networks, but primarily on NBC. He also hosted a primetime game show for ABC, called Keep Talking.

Fateful encounter

Griffin scored a coup when Jack Paar accidentally emerged onto the set of Play Your Hunch during a live broadcast (Paar was superstitiously trying to avoid the elevators at Rockefeller Center), and Griffin got him to stay for a spontaneous interview. Griffin later substituted for Paar on The Tonight Show, leading NBC to offer him his own daytime talk show in 1962. That program failed, but NBC offered him the opportunity to host a new game show, Word for Word, in 1963, which Griffin produced as well. This led Griffin to produce the far more successful Jeopardy! the following year.

In 1965, Griffin launched a syndicated talk show for Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting). The Merv Griffin 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, and it was carried for many years in prime time on WNEW in New York). Stations had the option of carrying either a 60-minute or a 90-minute version. Merv's announcer-sidekick was the veteran British character actor Arthur Treacher, who had been his mentor.

Griffin was not shy about tackling controversial subjects, especially the Vietnam War.The guests on the Westinghouse show were an eclectic mix: entertainers, authors, politicians, and "personality" performers (like Zsa Zsa Gabor and hippie musician Monti Rock III), Griffin would frequently chat with audience members, one of whom became a regular: Lillian Miller. "Mrs. Miller" haunted all the New York TV studios and would frequently visit with her favorite personalities.

Late night also-ran

Griffin moved to CBS starting August 18, 1969 in a show that aired directly opposite Carson at 11:30 p.m. Always a shrewd businessman, Griffin demanded and got a bigger salary than Carson, but CBS roiled Griffin by constantly interfering with his operation. Griffin stayed there for three years; meanwhile, his role on the Westinghouse show was filled by the British interviewer David Frost, who commuted across the Atlantic as he filled jobs on both sides of the ocean.

Griffin's CBS show was produced in New York for the first year and from Los Angeles thereafter. In 1970, producers at NBC's Today show approached Griffin to co-host the show, but he declined. Griffin's late night show consistently finished behind Carson's in the ratings, and occasionally struggled to compete with Dick Cavett on ABC. CBS pressured Griffin to fire his aged sidekick Treacher, but that did not help.

Sensing that the CBS axe would soon fall, and disenchanted with the network's meddling ways, Griffin put out feelers to television syndicators. Griffin actually had a lucrative new deal all set before CBS let him go. In 1972, the CBS show was canceled and he returned to syndication, via Metromedia. He eventually retired from this most famous version of The Merv Griffin Show in 1986.

King of the game shows

In 1975, NBC canceled Jeopardy! after moving it twice on their daytime schedule, despite having an additional year on its network contract left to fulfill. Griffin was allowed to produce the show's successor, Wheel of Fortune. A modest hit on daytime television with Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford as host and hostess, it became a phenomenon in 1983 in the syndication market with Pat Sajak and Vanna White in the same respective roles. Two different revivals of Jeopardy! would be produced, too -- one being a revival on NBC that ran for 5 months in late 1978/early 1979, and the other airing in first-run syndication beginning in 1984 and continuing today. These shows made him an extremely wealthy man.

Other game shows produced by Merv Griffin included spinoffs of Wheel and Jeopardy! for children, Wheel 2000, and Jep! respectively; along with Rock & Roll Jeopardy! for purveyors of pop music trivia; a teen-oriented game called Click! and in association with Wink Martindale, Headline Chasers. He also produced Let's Play Post Office for NBC in 1965; Reach For the Stars for NBC in 1967; One In a Million for ABC in 1967, and in 1990, an ambitious but unsuccessful attempt at making a game show out of the venerable board-game, Monopoly.

Arguably, Griffin's biggest game show failure, was Ruckus, with magician-comedian The Amazing Johnathan as host of a wild, slapstick affair that took stunts and questions-and-answers to a bizarre level. The show eminated from Griffin's Resorts Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. Originally intended to be shown locally in New York City and Philadelphia, with the prospect of national syndication, it lasted only a few weeks; it would appear in rerun form for a time on GSN when it was known as Game Show Network.

Upon his retirement, he sold his production company, Merv Griffin Enterprises, to Columbia Pictures Television unit for $250 million, which was 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 executive producer of both shows.

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). The show plans to tape in Los Angeles after initial reports that it would be produced at WMAQ-TV in Chicago. The show will be produced in association with Program Partners and the William Morris Agency and is expected to air beginning in September 2007. NBC-owned-and-operated stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas will carry the show, which should ensure its launch.

Business magnate

Griffin ventured into real estate, 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. He still owns a ranch near Carmel, California where he raises thoroughbred racehorses, as well as St. Clerans Manor, a boutique hotel, set in an 18th 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 $400 million from Donald Trump, but he later sold it for just $125 million.

In March 2001, Merv returned to singing with the release of the album It's Like a Dream.

Griffin has a son, Tony, by ex-wife Julann Griffin, and two grandchildren.

Cancer relapse

On July 19 2007 it was publicized that Griffin's prostate cancer, treated originally in 1996, had returned and that he was admitted to Cedars Sinai Hospital.

Trivia

Nephew of tennis player, US Open doubles champion Clarence Griffin.
Member of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity and the Catholic Actors Guild of America.
Lost his sister Barbara to cancer at the same time that he was first battling prostate cancer.
Is an alumnus of San Mateo High School, which dedicated its newly constructed amphitheatre in his name on February 10, 2006.
Made a cameo appearance in The Man with Two Brains, playing himself. Although appearing only briefly, he played a key role in the film's plot.
He played himself in the 1969 movie Hello Down There, which featured Richard Dreyfuss.
He also played himself in an episode of Sanford and Son where Fred Sanford meets him at a Vegas casino.
Griffin preferred to wear suits tailored by Botany 500, and many game show hosts followed his lead.
Griffin was an honorary pallbearer at the funeral of President Ronald Reagan. [1]
In 1991, Griffin was hit with both a $200 million palimony lawsuit by former "secretary/driver/horse-trainer/bodyguard" Brent Plott, and an $11.5 million sexual harassment lawsuit from Dance Fever host "Denny" Deney Terrio; both suits were ultimately dismissed (the Plott claim after Griffin filed a countersuit).

Hit Songs

I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts
Wilhelmina
Never Been Kissed

External links

References

Terry, Nicholas E. "Biography for Merv Griffin". IMDB. Retrieved 2006-06-01. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
"Merv Griffin". NNDB. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
"Complete Biography". Merv Griffin Entertainment. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
Colapinto, John. "Dear Mister Fantasy". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-07-19.

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