stevearino
07-27-2020, 06:20 PM
This...Is...The Story of Jeopardy!: The E! True Hollywood Story.
And The Answer Is: As "Jeopardy!" host for 36 years, he's become a National Treasure.
The Question Is: Who Is Alex Trebek?
George Alexander "Alex" Trebek was born on July 22, 1940 in Sudbury, Canada to Immigrant parents George Edward Trebek, a Russian Chef, and French immigrant Lucille Lagasse (who died in 2016 at age 95); Alex was the older of their 2 children (including a younger sister, Barbara, who died of Breast Cancer in 2007 at age 65) growing up in Canada.
When Alex was a young teenager, his parents (mom Lucy having been just 19 years old and barely out of high school when Alex was born) split up and eventually Divorced.
As his parents were divorcing, his mom Lucy had a brief fling that resulted in her getting Pregnant--a Pregnancy that resulted in her giving Alex and Barbara a younger half-brother, Mike, whom Lucy gave up for adoption--and whom Alex had been unaware of Mike's existence until Alex was in his 40s, after he began hosting "Jeopardy!"
Meanwhile, TV talk show host Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. (born on July 6, 1925 in San Mateo, California; died on August 12, 2007 in Los Angeles, California of Prostate Cancer at age 82) was in the process in 1963 of creating a new TV Game Show originally titled "What's the Question?," its original Pilot (with Merv himself as host) filmed in 1963 at NBC
Studios in New York City, New York; after the Pilot sold, the show was renamed "Jeopardy!," and Merv soon hired Actor Art Fleming to become "Jeopardy!" host.
The son of Austrian Jewish Immigrant parents Bill and Mary Fazzin, Arthur Fleming Fazzin was born on May 1, 1924 in New York City, New York, the elder of 2 children (including a younger sister) born to Bill and Mary; after graduating High School at age 17 in 1941, Art voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Navy, after which he began pursuing a career as an Actor.
Art was "Jeopardy!" host for 11 years on NBC from March 30, 1964 - January 3, 1975 of 2753 shows, as well as a brief revival on NBC from October 2, 1978 - March 2, 1979, with Don Pardo serving as Art's announcer originally before being succeeded in 1978 by John Harlan upon its initial revival.
By 1983, after some years off the air, fresh from his success on his OTHER Game Show Creation, "Wheel of Fortune" (which later that year, in addition to airing on NBC, also began airing in nighttime Syndication), Merv decided to revive "Jeopardy!," this time hiring Alex Trebek to host--a role he's done ever since starting on September 10, 1984 for 36 years.
So far, "Jeopardy!" has little changed since Alex became host--although in 2003, the show eliminated its 5-time Champion rule, allowing players to stay on as long as they kept winning, eventually leading the 2 All-Time "Jeopardy!" champions (Ken Jennings and Jamie Holzhauser, respectively) to become over $2 million richer--Ken playing 74 regular games in 15 weeks, earning $2 1/2 million in the process, in 2004, while Jamie, 15 years later, fell just short of succeeding Ken in all-time regular winnings, earning just over $2 million in regular games until being defeated by Emma Boetcher at the end of his 33rd regular game, winning 32 games in just under 2 months not counting a 2-week break for Tournament games in 2019.
On March 4, 2019, at age 78, Alex Trebek announced via "Jeopardy!"'s official YouTube channel that he had just been diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, acknowledging that the numbers aren't very encouraging for him to survive it, but the following year, Alex announced that he had become one of 18% to survive 1 year after Confirmed Diagnosis.
Last week, on the eve of his 80th Birthday, Alex released a memoir titled "The Answer Is..." that was written in March, shortly after "Jeopardy!" shut down production due to the COVID-19 Pandemic; thankfully, in August, "Jeopardy!" will begin taping Season 37 with Contestants further apart from Alex, as well as no audience allowed during taping.
And The Answer Is: As "Jeopardy!" host for 36 years, he's become a National Treasure.
The Question Is: Who Is Alex Trebek?
George Alexander "Alex" Trebek was born on July 22, 1940 in Sudbury, Canada to Immigrant parents George Edward Trebek, a Russian Chef, and French immigrant Lucille Lagasse (who died in 2016 at age 95); Alex was the older of their 2 children (including a younger sister, Barbara, who died of Breast Cancer in 2007 at age 65) growing up in Canada.
When Alex was a young teenager, his parents (mom Lucy having been just 19 years old and barely out of high school when Alex was born) split up and eventually Divorced.
As his parents were divorcing, his mom Lucy had a brief fling that resulted in her getting Pregnant--a Pregnancy that resulted in her giving Alex and Barbara a younger half-brother, Mike, whom Lucy gave up for adoption--and whom Alex had been unaware of Mike's existence until Alex was in his 40s, after he began hosting "Jeopardy!"
Meanwhile, TV talk show host Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. (born on July 6, 1925 in San Mateo, California; died on August 12, 2007 in Los Angeles, California of Prostate Cancer at age 82) was in the process in 1963 of creating a new TV Game Show originally titled "What's the Question?," its original Pilot (with Merv himself as host) filmed in 1963 at NBC
Studios in New York City, New York; after the Pilot sold, the show was renamed "Jeopardy!," and Merv soon hired Actor Art Fleming to become "Jeopardy!" host.
The son of Austrian Jewish Immigrant parents Bill and Mary Fazzin, Arthur Fleming Fazzin was born on May 1, 1924 in New York City, New York, the elder of 2 children (including a younger sister) born to Bill and Mary; after graduating High School at age 17 in 1941, Art voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Navy, after which he began pursuing a career as an Actor.
Art was "Jeopardy!" host for 11 years on NBC from March 30, 1964 - January 3, 1975 of 2753 shows, as well as a brief revival on NBC from October 2, 1978 - March 2, 1979, with Don Pardo serving as Art's announcer originally before being succeeded in 1978 by John Harlan upon its initial revival.
By 1983, after some years off the air, fresh from his success on his OTHER Game Show Creation, "Wheel of Fortune" (which later that year, in addition to airing on NBC, also began airing in nighttime Syndication), Merv decided to revive "Jeopardy!," this time hiring Alex Trebek to host--a role he's done ever since starting on September 10, 1984 for 36 years.
So far, "Jeopardy!" has little changed since Alex became host--although in 2003, the show eliminated its 5-time Champion rule, allowing players to stay on as long as they kept winning, eventually leading the 2 All-Time "Jeopardy!" champions (Ken Jennings and Jamie Holzhauser, respectively) to become over $2 million richer--Ken playing 74 regular games in 15 weeks, earning $2 1/2 million in the process, in 2004, while Jamie, 15 years later, fell just short of succeeding Ken in all-time regular winnings, earning just over $2 million in regular games until being defeated by Emma Boetcher at the end of his 33rd regular game, winning 32 games in just under 2 months not counting a 2-week break for Tournament games in 2019.
On March 4, 2019, at age 78, Alex Trebek announced via "Jeopardy!"'s official YouTube channel that he had just been diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, acknowledging that the numbers aren't very encouraging for him to survive it, but the following year, Alex announced that he had become one of 18% to survive 1 year after Confirmed Diagnosis.
Last week, on the eve of his 80th Birthday, Alex released a memoir titled "The Answer Is..." that was written in March, shortly after "Jeopardy!" shut down production due to the COVID-19 Pandemic; thankfully, in August, "Jeopardy!" will begin taping Season 37 with Contestants further apart from Alex, as well as no audience allowed during taping.