Merv Griffin, 82, television icon

Merv Griffin, a veteran talk-show host who created an empire of entertainment businesses, most notably as producer of the long-running game shows "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune," died of prostate cancer Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 82.

Mr. Griffin was one of the most unlikely but enduring show-business figures of his generation. A serviceable baritone who once had a novelty recording hit with "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts," he parlayed his chatty personality and astute business sense into almost unparalleled TV success. Eventually, he leapt beyond television hosting and production to amass such holdings as casinos, hotels, radio stations and Thoroughbred racehorses, making him a billionaire.

After serving as emcee of talk and quiz programs, he became a national face as host of "The Merv Griffin Show," which ended its 23-year run in 1986. The popular program featured celebrity interviews and performances.

Merv Griffin Enterprises — responsible for producing such shows as "Jeopardy!" (launched in 1964), "Wheel of Fortune" (1975) and the disco dance program "Dance Fever" (1979) — proved his most influential contribution to pop culture.

"I have to say that the ongoing success of 'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel' is my biggest thrill," Mr. Griffin told the Hollywood Reporter in 2005. "... They're timeless and ageless, and in the history of TV there has never been anything like them."

Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr., whose father was a stockbroker, was born July 6, 1925, in San Mateo, Calif.

An aunt taught him piano, and by age 10 he was playing the pipe organ and singing in churches. At 19, he abandoned college studies to enter show business.

In 1952, Warner Bros. star Doris Day saw Mr. Griffin singing in a Las Vegas hotel and a screen test was arranged for him at the studio, which signed him to a long-term contract. But after two lackluster years, Mr. Griffin bought out the remainder of his contract and moved to New York.

When Jack Paar retired as host of "The Tonight Show" in 1962, Mr. Griffin was considered a prime candidate to replace him, but Johnny Carson was chosen instead. Westinghouse Broadcasting introduced "The Merv Griffin Show" in 1965 on syndicated TV. Mr. Griffin never underestimated the intelligence of his audience, offering such figures as philosopher Bertrand Russell, cellist Pablo Casals and Pulitzer Prize-winning writers-philosophers-historians Will and Ariel Durant, as well as movie stars.

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.

He also invested in real estate. He bought the Beverly Hilton Hotel in 1987 for $100.2 million. The next year, he paid $365 million to Donald Trump for the Resorts International casino company in Atlantic City. He later sold the casino.

His holdings also included radio stations and closed-circuit TV systems at dozens of racetracks nationwide. He also bred racehorses and had a winery at his ranch in California's Monterey Peninsula.

His marriage to Julann Wright Griffin ended in divorce in the mid-1970s. Survivors include a son, Anthony Griffin, and two grandchildren.

Mr. Griffin, long the escort of "Green Acres" actress Eva Gabor, refrained from discussing his personal relationships in any real detail, even in two autobiographies. In the early 1990s, he was sued for $200 million by a former male employee, Brent Plott, on palimony charges, and for $11.5 million by former "Dance Fever" host Deney Terrio for sexual harassment. Both cases were dismissed.

Compiled from The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and

The Associated Press