Merv Griffin, longtime TV host, dies at 82

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Merv Griffin, the big band-era crooner turned impresario who parlayed his “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune” game shows into a multimillion-dollar empire, died yesterday. He was 82.

Mr. Griffin died of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his family that was released by Marcia Newberger, spokeswoman for The Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment.

From his beginnings as a $100-a-week San Francisco radio singer, Mr. Griffin moved on as a vocalist for Freddy Martin’s band, a film actor and a TV game-show and talk-show host, and he made Forbes’ list of richest Americans several times.

“The Merv Griffin Show” lasted more than 20 years, and Mr. Griffin said his capacity to listen contributed to his success.

“If the host is sitting there thinking about his next joke, he isn’t listening,” Mr. Griffin reasoned in a recent interview.

But his biggest break financially came from inventing and producing “Jeopardy” in the 1960s and “Wheel of Fortune” in the 1970s. After they had become the hottest game shows on television, Mr. Griffin sold the rights to Coca Cola's Columbia Pictures Television Unit for $250 million in 1986, retaining a share of the profits.

“My father was a visionary,” Mr. Griffin’s son, Tony Griffin, said in a statement issued yesterday. “He loved business and continued his many projects and holdings even while hospitalized.”

When Mr. Griffin entered a hospital a month ago, he was working on the first week of production of a new syndicated game show, “Merv Griffin’s Crosswords,” his son said.

Mr. Griffin was also a longtime friend of former President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy.

“This is heartbreaking, not just for those of us who loved Merv personally, but for everyone around the world who has known Merv through his music, his television shows and his business,” Mrs. Reagan said in a statement.

She said Mr. Griffin “was there for me every day after Ronnie died” in 2004.

“Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak said he had lost “a dear friend.”

“He meant so much to my life,” Mr. Sajak said.

Mr. Griffin started putting the proceeds from selling “Jeopardy” and “Wheel” in Treasury bonds, stocks and other investments, but went into real estate and other ventures because, he said, “I was never so bored in my life.”

In recent years, Mr. Griffin also rated frequent mentions in the sports pages as a successful racehorse owner. His colt Stevie Wonderboy, named for entertainer Stevie Wonder, won the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2005.

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