Merv Griffin

At 82 years old, Merv Griffin physical status not available right now. We will update Merv Griffin's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Career

Griffin started on radio at 19 years old, appearing on San Francisco Sketchbook, a nationally syndicated service based at KFRC. He was overweight as an adolescent and a young man when some radio listeners first saw him live. He wrote years later in his autobiography that there was a deliberate attempt to discourage the general public from knowing how he looked. He made a vow to change his appearance, but he lost 80 pounds in four months.

Freddy Martin heard him on the radio show and invited him to tour with his orchestra, something he did for four years.

Griffin had enough money to start Panda Records, which produced Merv Griffin's Songs, the first American album to be released on magnetic tape, by 1945. On KFRC in San Francisco, he had a 15-minute Monday-to-Friday singing program.

With his 1950 hit "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts," he became increasingly popular with nightclub audiences, and his fame among the general public soared. The song debuted on the Hit Parade and has sold three million copies.

Griffin was discovered by Doris Day at one of his nightclub appearances. The Warner Bros. Studios was scheduled for a screen test for a role in By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953). Griffin did not get the role, but the screen test resulted in supporting roles in other musical films, including So This Is Love (also 1953), which sparked minor controversy when Griffin posted an open-mouthed kiss with Kathryn Grayson. The kiss was the first in Hollywood film history since the introduction of the Production Code in 1934. In the horror/science fiction film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), he had also played an uncredited part as a radio announcer.

Griffin appeared in both The Boy from Oklahoma and Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954), but later disillusioned with film-making, he was disillusioned with movie-making. He resigned from Warner Bros. and decided to devote his attention to a new medium: television.

Griffin appeared in several Cinécraft Productions supported films, including a musical, Milestones of Motoring with Joe E. Brown and Rita Farrell in 1954.

He decided to spend the summer of 1954 in New York City. He landed a job as the host of CBS-TV's Summer Holiday, a summer replacement for Jane Froman's U.S. Canteen and Jo Stafford's The Jo Stafford Exhibition, which he co-hosted with Betty Ann Grove. Byron Paul, the owner of U.S. Canteen, and Irving Mansfield, the Summer Holiday's producer, brought Griffin and Grove together. When simulating a trip to various destinations around the world, the new show mimicked live music with two singers. Griffin appeared in Grace Moore's "This Is Love" and "I've Got a Beautiful Bunch of Coconuts," Mansfield remembered. Paul had already signed Grove for the show and was looking for a male co-host. It lasted for one summer.

Griffin became acquainted with music publisher Loring Buzzell in the summer. Griffin wanted a place to stay, and as his first roommate, Buzzell, was able to move in with Buzzell. They had a lot in common and became instant friends, and Buzzell introduced Griffin to several of New York City's most popular musicians and music executives. Buzzell married Lu Ann Simms, the country's most popular musician, on July 24, 1954. Griffin later claimed in interviews that he was the best man at their wedding, but he was really one of the four ushers. Griffin migrated into a new apartment two months after arriving in the city, but in the same building, and maintained lifelong acquaintances with Buzzell and Simms. When Griffin had their first child, Cynthia Leigh Buzzell, was named her godfather on September 11, 1955. Buzzell died of a heart attack in 1959, but Griffin stayed close to Simms for the remainder of her life, and she had her appear on his talk show several times.

Griffin hosted Play Your Hunch, a game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman from 1958 to 1962. It appeared on all three networks, but it was mostly NBC. Keep Talking, a primetime ABC game show hosted by Dave. Bill Cullen on The Price Is Correct was the most popular vacation on the island, and Bud Collyer on To Tell the Truth was the truth. Griffin produced Word for Word, NBC's 1963 offering him the opportunity to host a new game show. In 1965, he created Let's Play Post Office for NBC, Reach for the Stars for NBC in 1967, and One in a Million for ABC in 1967.

Griffin earned a coup when Tonight Show host Jack Paar mistakenly appeared on the set of Play Your Hunch during a live broadcast, and Griffin requested that he sit down for a spontaneous interview. At the time, Studio 6B at NBC's Rockefeller Center complex was shared by both groups, with Play Your Hunch being broadcast live in the morning and Tonight taped later in the day. After Paar left The Tonight Show, but before Johnny Carson took over (Carson was still hosting) Who Do You Trust? Griffin was one of many guest hosts on Tonight in the interim, according to ABC's Theory of Tonight. Griffin was ranked as one of the most popular guest hosts of the daytime talk show on NBC in 1962, and he was rewarded with his own daytime talk show on NBC. The live 55-minute program was not popular, however, and was cancelled in 1963.

Griffin introduced The Merv Griffin Show, a syndicated talk show for Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting) in 1965. Several time slots throughout North America were broadcast; several stations carried it in the daytime, others aired it in primetime, and a few broadcast it opposite Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Arthur Treacher, a veteran British character actor who had been his mentor, was Griffin's announcer/sidekick. Griffin did the announcing himself and walked on stage with the phrase "And now... Here I come!" when Treacher performed on stage in 1970. According to an obituary published in Entertainment Weekly on August 24, 2007, the Merv Griffin Show ran for 21 years and received eleven Emmy Awards.

Griffin was not shy about discussing controversial topics, particularly the Vietnam War. The Westinghouse show featured an eclectic mix of entertainers, writers, politicians, and "personality" artists such as Zsa Zsa Gabor. George Carlin, Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor, Norman Mailer, and Bertrand Russell were among the many memorable guests on Griffin's list. He was lauded for booking such guests but he was also chastised for doing so. Griffin was chastised for allowing Russell to have his voice when he used the show to condemn the war in Vietnam. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's later 38th governor, made his U.S. talk show debut on Griffin's show in 1974 after immigrating from Austria.

In 1975 and 1977, Griffin dedicated two shows to Transcendental Meditation and its founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In some countries, such as Canada, the second show aired as a special. Griffin himself was a vivacious mediator.

Griffin used to engage with audience members on a daily basis. Lillian Miller, a regular attendee, became a fixture on the show throughout its run.

Griffin's best friend since sixth grade, Robert (Bob) Murphy, was the exhibitor of The Merv Griffin Exhibition and later became president of Merv Griffin Enterprises.

In 1969, CBS gave Griffin a late-night show opposite Carson. Griffin's three-year tenure at CBS was contentious; the network was uneasy with the guests he adored, who often spoke out against the Vietnam War and other controversial topics. Even though other guests had worn the same shirt in the past, CBS blurred the video of Hoffman so viewers at home would not see his trademark American flag pattern shirt. Griffin reacted angrily to CBS' censorship and blasted the program.

Griffin, who was claiming that his time with CBS was coming to an end and frustrated with the network's limitations, signed a deal with rival company Metromedia that gave him a syndicated daytime talk show contract even before CBS cancelled their program. His new show, which was scheduled a few months later, began the following Monday and continued until the mid-1980s. Griffin was set to retire by 1986. His lucrative game shows have made him one of the world's richest entertainers.

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