Merv Griffin

Aug 14 2007 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

THE US entertainer, Merv Griffin, who has died from prostate cancer, created the internationally successful TV game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

Griffin was known for his eponymous US TV chat show series, which ran for more than 5,500 editions over 23 years up to 1986, and attracted guests such as First Lady Nancy Reagan, to whom he has been latterly close. A friend of Ronald Reagan since their acting days, he was a pallbearer at the President’s state funeral.

Jeopardy was first broadcast on US television in 1964, while Wheel of Fortune made its debut 11 years later and was later franchised all over the world, with the British version launching the career of Carol Smillie.

Griffin’s wife Julann (whom he divorced in 1973) invented Jeopardy.

He said: “Her idea was to give the contestants the answer, and they had to come up with the appropriate question.”

Devising these shows ensured that the wheel of fortune profitably spun in his direction, particularly after he also sold the rights to Columbia Pictures for $250m in 1986, plus profit sharing.

Griffin bought a hotel when he tired of trying to invest his money, having been “so bored” spreading his fortune across bonds and stocks.

The hotel entrepreneur Barron Hilton asked him if he would like to buy the Beverly Hilton. He acquired the property for $100m (£49m), and then spent millions more dollars completely refurbishing it.

After buying a casino and hotel company, he told Life magazine that the “gamesmanship” in such business deals “parallels the game shows I've been involved in”.

Griffin's first job was as a radio singer in his San Francisco hometown and he claimed that within weeks he was making $1,000 (£490) a week.

He had a hit with the comic song I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.

Doris Day saw Griffin perform in Las Vegas and recommended him to Warner Bros.

He later performed with Day in a film musical.

His entertainment empire took him into Forbes magazine’s richest Americans list several time.

Merv Griffin, US TV game creator; born, July 6, 1925, died, August 12, 2007