TV Legend and Icon Merv Griffin Dies

The world has lost an icon. The Griffin Group announced that Merv Griffin has lost his fight with prostate cancer at the age of 82. Griffin had spent the last month of his life in the hospital after suffering multiple organ involvement from complications of a recurrence of prostate cancer. Mr. Griffin had battled prostate cancer over a decade ago when a recurrence returned with a vengeance this past year. Mr. Griffin was involved in the first week of production in his new syndicated game show to be aired this fall called Merv Griffin's Crosswords when he was taken ill and hospitalized.

Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. was born on July 6, 1925 in San Francisco, California. When young Merv was 4 years of age he started down the road to becoming a world famous entertainer as well as entrepreneur playing the piano and selling magazines door to door. Two years later Griffin began selling his own two penny newspaper that scooped all of the local neighborhood news. When Merv was 19, he got his first professional job singing on a nationally syndicated radio show called, San Francisco Sketchbook. Young Griffin sang on Friday night and by Monday The San Francisco Sketchbook, became known as The Merv GriffinShow. The young entrepreneur was soon earning $1,100 a week. Merv Griffin was fast becoming a national celebrity.

Merv Griffin was spotted by Freddy Martin and was offered a chance to tour with his band The Freddy Martin Orchestra. Though Griffin took a huge cut in pay, he got the chance to perform at many glamorous venues throughout the United States including the popular "Cocoanut Grove Club", in Hollywood where he became a favorite of many famous people including Howard Hughes.

Griffin was an enigma changing his talents as many would change a coat. In 1950 Merv launched his singing career with a wacky, Cockney accented song called, I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts. The song was a hit and placed #1 on Hit Parade for many weeks. Three million copies of his hit were sold nation-wide. Merv also had two other hits in the 50's, Wilhelmina and Never Been Kissed.

Griffin's brief film career began when seen by Doris Day, who expressed interest in starring with in a film. Griffin appeared with Kathryn Grayson in "So This is Love". The kiss that Griffin and Grayson shared in the movie became the first open mouth kiss ever seen in theaters.

Merv continued the pursuit of his destiny by appearing routinely on The Jack Parr Show along with appearing also on The Arthur Murray Show. In 1958 Griffin began hosting a show called Play Your Hunch where he was required to sing, dance, lead an orchestra, ad-lib and perform in skits with the likes of Bob Hope and Arthur Treacher. Treacher would become Griffin's co-host on The Merv Griffin Show. Griffin often substituted for Jack Paar and was so popular that he was soon given his own hourly show on NBC. The Merv Griffin Show logged in an incredible 5,500 shows, while Griffin interviewed more than 25,000 guests over the 23 year span that the show ran. The Merv Griffin Show won 17 Emmy's and received 32 nominations during its TV run.

In 1964 Griffin found the time to create and launch Jeopardy which would become one of the world's most famous syndicated game shows. Griffin also created and launched Wheel of Fortune. Griffin also wrote the theme songs for both of his hit syndicated TV shows. The shows are still wildly popular on TV today.

Griffin became interested in real estate and in 1987 Merv got into the hotel hospitality business with his purchase of the landmark Beverly Hilton Hotel. Griffin sold the hotel in 2003. He has bought and sold some 22 Hotels , Casinos and Riverboats throughout the United States. He owned and operated Worldwide Real Estate Inc. In October 2000, Griffin donated 1 of his favorite hotel properties worth more than 10 million dollars to Child-help USA, for a haven for abused and neglected children.

Merv Griffin is survived by his son Tony, daughter-in-Law Tricia and his grandchildren Farah and Donovon. He will miss his beloved Sharpei dog, Charlie Chan, his Thoroughbred race horses, and his many friends through-out the world. Griffin was noted as telling everyone that he wanted to have his own unique brand of humor on his grave saying, "I will not be back after this message."

Funeral services for Griffin will be next week at The Church of The Good Sheperd in Beverly Hills, California by invitation only.

Sources used in this article are as follows: http://www.merv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=27www.wikipedia.org