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Alex Trebek, Host of ‘Jeopardy!’ for Nearly 37 Seasons, Dies at 80
Mr. Trebek was one of the longest-running television game-show host
‘Jeopardy!’ host Alex Trebek taping 25th anniversary shows during the International Consumer Electronics Show in January 2009
PHOTO: TOM THEOBALD/ZUMA PRESS
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Updated Nov. 8, 2020 4:20 pm ET
Alex Trebek, the Canadian-American quizmaster who stumped generations of trivia fanatics as host of the long-running syndicated game show “Jeopardy!,” died Sunday morning, the show said in a statement on social media. He was 80 years old.
“Jeopardy!” did not specify a cause of death in its statement. Mr. Trebek had been receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer. “Jeopardy” said it had no immediate plans to announce a new host. Episodes hosted by Mr. Trebek will continue to air through Dec. 25.
On Sunday, prominent figures paid tribute to Mr. Trebek. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the world had “lost an icon.” Bob Iger, executive chairman of Walt Disney Co., said that Mr. Trebek graced viewers “with his kindness, warmth, wit and pure elegance.”
‘Jeopardy!’ Host Alex Trebek Dies at 80
‘Jeopardy!’ Host Alex Trebek Dies at 80
Alex Trebek, the Canadian-American host who led the long-running syndicated game show “Jeopardy!,” died Sunday morning, the show said in a statement on social media. He was 80 years old. Photo: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
Over the years, “Jeopardy!”—and its mild-mannered host—became a cultural touchstone, in part because of Mr. Trebek’s acerbic wit and the ease with which he rattled off minutiae from wide-ranging categories. “Jeopardy!” has become a fixture on local TV stations across the U.S., making Mr. Trebek a household name and drawing big audiences and profits for its producer, Sony Pictures Television.
The show catapulted Mr. Trebek to fame far beyond his regular time slots, earning the host guest-spots in more than 150 movies, TV shows and games, according to the International Movie Database. In “White Men Can’t Jump,” Mr. Trebek rattled off answers in categories like “natural disasters,” “sports” and “foods that start with the letter Q” during a pivotal scene. He was also occasionally a subject of parody, including on shows such as “Family Guy” and “Saturday Night Live.”
Mr. Trebek announced his pancreatic cancer diagnosis on social media in March 2019. Looking unflinchingly into the camera, Mr. Trebek joked that he had to survive because he still had three years left on his “Jeopardy!” contract. The video drew a deluge of support from well-wishers. Within 24 hours, Mr. Trebek’s video was retweeted more than 150,000 times and garnered more than 200,000 reactions from viewers on Facebook.
Alex Trebek with his wife, Jean Currivan, in July 1990 in New York.PHOTO: ED BAILEY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hosting a syndicated game show wasn’t the first or even second round of Mr. Trebek’s winding career, which began with a stint as a radio announcer in his home country of Canada and ended with TV hosting gigs in glamorous Hollywood.
George Alexander Trebek, born in the city of Sudbury, Ontario, on July 22, 1940, didn’t initially aspire to a career as a TV host. In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in 2008, Mr. Trebek said he studied philosophy at the University of Ottawa, in part because he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do.
But when he realized he didn’t have money for his junior or senior years of college, Mr. Trebek auditioned for a job as a radio announcer at two nearby radio stations. He was rejected from the first station—Ottawa’s former CKOY—due to a lack of experience, but successfully applied for a job as a summer relief announcer at the CBC shortly after.
The facilities were modest—Mr. Trebek would later describe one studio as “an enlarged closet”—but Mr. Trebek and his colleagues didn’t mind. It was a start.
“We thought that was paradise!” Mr. Trebek told the CBC. “But we had no idea what things would be like, years ahead.”
Mr. Trebek hosting ‘The Wizard of Odds’ in the early 1970s.PHOTO: NBC/EVERETT COLLECTION
Mr. Trebek’s debut on American game shows came in 1973, when he was hired to host “The Wizard of Odds.” The game show, which ran on NBC, was canceled after one year. But Mr. Trebek replaced himself in the same time slot on the network, hosting a game show called “High Rollers.”
Mr. Trebek found his most enduring gig in 1984, with a relaunch of “Jeopardy!” following a decadelong run under previous host Art Fleming. Mr. Trebek, who had also hosted game shows like “To Tell the Truth,” “Classic Concentration,” and “Double Dare,” felt the more cerebral game fit naturally with his interests.
“I like shows that require the contestants to make money the old-fashioned way,” Mr. Trebek said during the interview with the CBC. “Earning it. They have to be bright.”
“Jeopardy!” is perhaps the most enduring quiz show among the wave of programs that emerged in the U.S. after World War II, said Adam Nedeff, an author who has written several books about the history of game shows.
As a new generation of Americans were pursuing college degrees in unprecedented numbers thanks to rising wages and funding through the GI Bill, quiz shows like “Twenty-One,” “Tic-Tac-Dough” and “Jeopardy!” sprang up to test their mettle, Mr. Nedeff said.
Mr. Trebek with ‘Jeopardy!’ contestants, circa 1985.PHOTO: COLUMBIA TRISTAR PICTURES/EVERETT COLLECTION
“ ‘Jeopardy!’ was one of the first indicators for this generation of Americans that there was real financial reward for being smart,” Mr. Nedeff said.
“Twenty-One” and “Tic-Tac-Dough” were canceled after they were implicated in the quiz-show-rigging scandal of the 1950s.
The original version of “Jeopardy!,” which made its debut in 1964, was designed to be insulated from cheating scandals from the start, according to “Merv,” the autobiography of “Jeopardy!” creator Merv Griffin.
In 1963, Mr. Griffin lamented to his wife that quiz shows had waned in popularity since the answer-rigging scandal of the 1950s. In response, Ms. Griffin suggested a twist on the traditional question-and-answers format: Why not give contestants the answers and have them deliver their responses in the form of a question?
A novel new game show format was born, and the original program was soon picked up by NBC.
Mr. Trebek attributed his show’s longevity, in part, to his “inoffensive” nature, and his ability to establish a rapport with viewers who tuned in to watch him quiz contestants five or six times a week.
“People feel comfortable with me,” Mr. Trebek told the CBC. “They know my weird sense of humor. They know that I’m on the side of the contestants.”
Mr. Trebek congratulating ‘Jeopardy!’ contestant Ken Jennings in mid-2004 after his earnings from a record-breaking streak on the show surpassed $1 million.PHOTO: JEOPARDY PRODUCTIONS/GETTY IMAGES
But Mr. Trebek had an edge, too. His polished voice was ideal for deadpan banter, and he deployed it frequently during conversational segments with unwitting contestants.
During one episode, he quipped that a contestant “has obviously had much more experience than I” after she gave an incorrect answer that referenced group sex. In another back-and-forth, he called creators of nerdcore music—songs about videogames, science fiction and difficulty meeting romantic partners—“losers.”
Over time, Mr. Trebek even won over the contestants he grilled relentlessly on his show. In a column for the New York Times, “Jeopardy” champion Ken Jennings—who won 74 consecutive games of the quiz show—called Mr. Trebek “our generation’s Cronkite,” adding that two generations of Americans grew up on the quizmaster’s “clipped syllables.”
“He takes it seriously, being the face of ‘Jeopardy!,’ the voice of facts in a post-fact world,” Mr. Jennings wrote. “I’ve seen him with the beaming tourists who sit in his studio audiences and the awe-struck, bookish kids for whom he was the host of the National Geographic Bee for 25 years.”
Mr. Jennings joined “Jeopardy!” as a consulting producer in the show’s most recent season, presenting his own special video categories and serving as an ambassador for the show.
One of “Jeopardy!” ’s biggest triumphs came late in Mr. Trebek’s run. After he was diagnosed with cancer, Mr. Trebek hosted “The Greatest of All Time” tournament featuring the best players in the game’s history: Mr. Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter. The tournament was a ratings bonanza for “Jeopardy!,” pulling in more than 16 million viewers each of the four nights it aired.
On ‘Saturday Night Live’ in May 2002, Will Ferrell, left, played Alex Trebek with Mr. Trebek as himself during a ‘Jeopardy!’ skit.PHOTO: MARY ELLEN MATTHEWS/NBC/GETTY IMAGES
When he wasn’t cracking wise on “Jeopardy!,” Mr. Trebek could be reflective about its enduring appeal, connecting the show to the fundamental human yearning for self-improvement.
“The viewers are tough,” Mr. Trebek told the CBC. “They want to compete against the contestants themselves. We want to aspire to the better things in life.”
When asked to reflect upon his years as a game show host, and what they taught him about human nature, Mr. Trebek—the former philosophy student—replied that people are mostly the same: Everyone wants to make a mark and be noted “for the right reasons.”
The interviewer asked Mr. Trebek: Did he make a mark in his own life?
“Oh, I think so,” Mr. Trebek said. “I think I’ve made my mark, and I don’t have anything left to prove.”
Mr. Trebek is survived by his wife, Jean Currivan Trebek, and his three children, Matthew Trebek, Emily Trebek and Nicky Trebek.
Write to Benjamin Mullin at Benjamin.Mullin@wsj.com |
