Queer Places:
705 S Eldorado St, San Mateo, CA 94402
81345 Avenue 54, La Quinta, CA 92253
Westwood Memorial Park
Westwood, Los Angeles County, California, USA
Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul.[2] He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 he hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show. He also created the game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune through his production companies, Merv Griffin Enterprises and Merv Griffin Entertainment.
Griffin was born July 6, 1925, in San Mateo, California, to Mervyn Edward Griffin Sr., a stockbroker, and Rita Elizabeth Griffin (née Robinson),[3] a homemaker. He had an older sister, Barbara.[4] When he was a child, Griffin used to play Hangman games with his sister during family road trips. It was these games which inspired him to create the game shows Jeopardy! in 1964 and specifically, Wheel of Fortune in 1975.[5] The family was Irish American. Raised as a Catholic, Griffin started singing in his church choir as a boy, and by his teens was earning extra money as a church organist. His abilities as a pianist played a part in his early entry into show business.[citation needed] He attended San Mateo High School, graduating in 1942, and continued to aid in financing the school. He attended San Mateo Junior College and then the University of San Francisco.[6] He was a member of the international fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon.[7] During World War II, Griffin was declared 4F after failing several military physical examinations due to a slight heart murmur.[8] During the Korean War several years later, he was examined and deemed healthy enough to serve, but by that time was above age 26 and exempt from the draft.
Griffin was married to the former Julann Wright from 1958 to 1976; they remained friends after their divorce. They had one son, Tony Griffin, born in 1959; who had two children of his own.[41] In an interview with The New York Times published on May 26, 2005, Griffin recalled a quip he frequently used when asked about his private life: "I tell everybody that I'm a quarter-sexual. I will do anything with anybody for a quarter."[42] He was otherwise secretive about his business and personal lives. In 1991, Deney Terrio, host of the Griffin-created Dance Fever, sued Griffin, alleging sexual harassment, but the suit was dismissed. That year, Brent Plott, a longtime employee who worked as a bodyguard, horse trainer and driver, filed a $200 million palimony lawsuit, which was also dismissed. Griffin characterized both lawsuits as extortion. His Los Angeles Times obituary repeated a 1991 statement he had made regarding Plott's lawsuit: "This is a shameless attempt to extort money from me. This former bodyguard and horse trainer was paid $250 a week, lived in one of two apartments underneath my former house as part of his security function, and left my payroll six or seven years ago. His charges are ridiculous and untrue."[43] After Griffin's death, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that he had been a closeted gay man.[44] On being wealthy, Griffin said, "when you walk down the street and everybody knows you're rich, they don't talk to you." He kept his wealth an open secret, amassing media outlets, hotels and casinos with a net worth estimated at more than $1 billion. He said that he did not know his actual worth because it "would keep me from sleeping at night".[6] Griffin and First Lady Nancy Reagan exchanged birthday greetings each July 6 for their shared birthday. This continued after her two terms as First Lady. Griffin was also an honorary pallbearer at the funeral of President Ronald Reagan in 2004, having been the Reagans' friends for many years.[45]
Darwin Porter, author of Merv Griffin: a Life in the Closet, said: “We met in ’59 when he sang for my senior prom and the student committee paid him $500. What he made then was a far cry from the billionaire he was at the end. He lost his virginity, to a female, that is, when Judy Garland seduced him. His first crush was Errol Flynn, whom he saw passed out naked on a couch. His roommate a year and a half was Montgomery Clift. He lived with Roddy McDowall at the Dakota, where he introduced Eddie Fisher to Elizabeth Taylor. He maintained a virtual male harem and a pimp who supplied porn stars. He dated Rock Hudson, whom he met through Henry Wilson, Rock’s agent, and who advised him to keep his sexuality quiet. And there was a young James Dean selling his sex for cash. Plus Judy Garland’s ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ boy next door, Tom Drake, who ended up a used car salesman. There was Peter Lawford, Robert Walker, Gordon Scott, the then-Tarzan. And lots about Merv’s prolonged sexual tryst with Marlon Brando. There are his experiences at Liberace’s all-male orgies. His first encounter, a boyhood friend he grew up with, later tried writing a book about Merv. This being an era when male actors felt homosexuality was a danger to their career, lawyers shot down that book fast.”
My published books:
