By Will Dunham
(Reuters) – Peter Marshall, the cheery actor, singer and nightclub comic who turned one in all America’s best-known sport present hosts on the long-running program “The Hollywood Squares” from 1966 to 1981, died on Thursday. He was 98.
Marshall, who hosted greater than 5,000 episodes of “The Hollywood Squares” and gained 5 Emmy Awards, died of kidney failure at his Encino dwelling within the Los Angeles space, in line with a press release from his household.
The present featured 9 superstar company – seated contained in the squares of an enormous tic-tac-toe board – answering questions, usually with double entendre meanings and written with the intent of eliciting humorous responses. Two contestants then judged the accuracy of the responses with a view to win the sport.
Marshall’s job was to be the straight man and arrange the celebrities for the punch line. Actor Paul Lynde, recognized for his snarky persona and for making thinly veiled sexual and homosexual references, was the present’s hottest superstar, making over 700 appearances.
Marshall’s inquiries to Lynde usually led to outrageous solutions, such because the time he requested, “It is considered in bad taste to discuss two subjects at nudist camps. One is politics. What is the other?” Lynde answered, “Tape measures.”
Marshall wrote in his 2002 memoir that he signed on as host to spite comic Dan Rowan, who was additionally within the operating for the job and who he detested over his shunning of comedian Tommy Noonan when Noonan was hospitalized with terminal mind most cancers. Noonan had labored for years as Marshall’s comedy companion.
“They were looking for someone who could play straight man to nine celebrities,” Marshall wrote in “Backstage with the Original Hollywood Square.” “My background was in musical comedy but I had also been part of the successful comedy team of Noonan and Marshall. I was the Dean Martin – just not as good – to Tommy Noonan’s Jerry Lewis.
“So I flew dwelling to L.A. to screw Dan Rowan out of a job, and that is how I started my 16-year journey on ‘The Hollywood Squares,'” he wrote.
Rowan went on to co-host the groundbreaking sketch comedy TV show “Rowan & Martin’s Giggle-In” from 1967 to 1973.
Rose Marie, Wally Cox and Charley Weaver were among the other regulars along with Lynde on “The Hollywood Squares.”
Many big-name stars also made appearances, including Burt Reynolds, George C. Scott, Groucho Marx, Sammy Davis Jr., Ginger Rogers (NYSE:), Cher, Mel Brooks, and sports stars George Foreman and Mark Spitz.
Born Ralph Pierre LaCock on March 30, 1926, in Huntington, West Virginia, his father died when he was 10 and two years later his mother moved the family to New York, where his sister, Joanne Dru, got work as a model and actress.
Her film career caught fire. She starred opposite John Wayne in director John Ford (NYSE:)’s Western “She Wore a Yellow (OTC:) Ribbon” (1949), the political drama “All of the King’s Males” (also 1949) and numerous other movies. Later she appeared several times as a celebrity guest on “The Hollywood Squares.”
Marshall worked as a singer in big bands as a teenager then joined Noonan in a comedy team that worked nightclubs and made appearances on TV shows like “The Ed Sullivan Present.” He starred in films including “The Rookie” (1960) and war drama “The Cavern” (1964) but put his movie career on hold for “The Hollywood Squares.”
Marshall was married 3 times. He’s survived by his spouse of 35 years, Laurie, and three youngsters, together with Pete LaCock who performed Main League Baseball participant for 9 seasons with the Chicago Cubs and Kansas Metropolis Royals. He was the grandfather of 12 and great-grandfather of 9.
