Merv Griffin built an empire on games people loved to play, but the man behind Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune spent a lifetime playing a different kind of game, one built on secrecy and the careful management of his public image. When he died of prostate cancer in 2007 at the age of eighty-two, the conversation around his legacy turned not only to his staggering wealth and television successes but also to the rumors about his private life that had followed him for decades. Observers noted that Griffin did not take his secrets to the grave because by then enough had come to light, through lawsuits, memoirs, and the quiet knowledge of Hollywood insiders, that the public could finally piece together the truth.
Many believed that if Griffin had spoken openly about his sexuality while alive, it could have made a meaningful difference for countless people, but he never did. Born in San Mateo, California, in 1925, Griffin grew up in a family that encouraged his musical gifts. His aunt taught him piano, and as a child he leaned toward classical pieces even as he performed the pop songs that audiences seemed to enjoy more. He earned small sums playing at gatherings and parties, and as a teenager he sang in the choir of his local Catholic parish.
His natural talent and outgoing personality made him a familiar figure in his neighborhood, someone other kids looked to when it came to local entertainment, and he showed an early knack for organizing others around a project. He left his university studies behind, driven by the desire to become an entertainer, though his father, who worked in financial services, urged him toward a stable career in banking. Griffin reportedly quit that bank job on the very day he started it, fed up after learning how long-serving employees were being treated. His instincts paid off quickly.
He landed a piano performance at KRFC radio in San Francisco, and his San Francisco Sketchbook program proved so popular that it was renamed The Merv Griffin Show. Still in his twenties, Griffin recorded the hit song I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts, and his rising fame led him to think seriously about how to invest in the industry. When NBC gave him a daytime version of his show, it was cancelled in less than a year despite its popularity, but the disappointment did not slow him down. NBC allowed him to set up his own production company, and from there he created his own question-and-answer program.
That show would eventually make him one of the most recognizable names in American television. Jeopardy! occupied his attention for eleven years before he developed Wheel of Fortune, and both programs became cultural institutions. In 1986, his production empire, Merv Griffin Enterprises, was acquired by the Coca-Cola Company for a reported 250 million dollars.
Before that deal, Griffin had set his sights on other media ventures. He bought Teleview Racing Patrol, turned it into a substantial operation for televising horse races and betting, and created special venues where people could wager on the races. He also moved into casinos and hotels, taking over properties formerly tied to Donald Trump, including Resorts International in Atlantic City. These moves made him extraordinarily wealthy, but they did nothing to quiet the questions about his personal life.
His associations with notable Hollywood figures were a source of endless speculation, and the rumors stretched back to his earliest years in the business. Reports claimed he lost his virginity to Judy Garland after the young actress seduced him, yet he seemed unsatisfied with conventional relationships. His earliest known same-sex encounter, according to various accounts, involved Errol Flynn, whom Griffin reportedly saw unclothed while the actor slept on a couch. He was said to have lived with Montgomery Clift for over a year, and other names linked to him over the years included Roddy McDowall, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Tom Drake, Robert Walker, Peter Lawford, and Golden Scott.
A critic once wrote that Griffin kept what amounted to a male harem, with a procurer who brought unconventional men to him for financial reward. His connection with Marlon Brando was described as lasting. He never confirmed any of it publicly. Griffin had long been typed in Hollywood as one of them, despite his regular public companionship with the actress Eva Gabor.
When pressed about his feelings toward people, he deflected with humor. He once said that asking an eighty-year-old man about his feelings was absurd, then joked that he was “quarter-sexual,” meaning he would do anything with anybody for a quarter. The joke was a signature move, a way to disarm a question he had no intention of answering. He was friendly and outgoing in public, but he did not discuss that part of himself, and for most of his career the media went along with the silence.
The rumors stayed whispers until the early 1990s, when his private life was forced into the open by legal action. Dance Fever host Deney Terrio and Griffin’s former assistant Brent Plotkin both filed lawsuits against him, each claiming they had been in a relationship with Griffin and that he owed them money. The claims totaled around two hundred million dollars. Because of Griffin’s considerable influence, the lawsuits were thrown out by the judges, which burnished his reputation in the wider society.
In Hollywood, however, people quietly knew the truth about his behavior, and many believed that the men who had been used and then discarded felt powerless against him. There were also reports that he treated gay men unfairly within his own company, firing employees who lived openly rather than hiding their orientation, perhaps because their visibility put pressure on him to do the same. His friendship with Eva Gabor was both real and imagined. They were genuinely close and were often seen together until her death, but they were never lovers.
In the late 1980s, they appeared together in The Return of Green Acres, and afterward Griffin said they loved each other even while dating other people. They traveled the world together, and there was talk that they planned to marry. Nancy Reagan was allegedly picked to serve as matron of honor, and Eva’s sister Zsa Zsa Gabor publicly mentioned that the couple might tie the knot after a vacation in the Bahamas. Griffin was connected to Eva for about seventeen years, and their relationship became his most enduring public romance.
He later said they never married because they disagreed about where they should live and on other matters. Before any wedding could take place, Eva fell ill and died from breathing problems. Looking back, many saw the friendship as a convenient cover, a way to deflect nosy reporters while Griffin kept his true feelings hidden. Griffin had in fact been married once, to Julann Wright.
The couple stayed together for nearly seventeen years and had a son, Anthony, before divorcing in 1976. They had worked together and reportedly brainstormed the concept for his famous question-and-answer show. He also counted Nancy Reagan among his close acquaintances and was said to have introduced her to the astrologer Joan Quigley. Yet even as he moved in these powerful circles, he allowed secrecy and internalized prejudice to shape his actions, punishing those within the queer community whom he should have protected.
He manufactured stories about his personal life and presented them as truth, while the real facts remained hidden. One story from the early days of his fame suggested that fans had no idea what he looked like. The Merv Griffin Show had attracted devoted fan clubs, and audiences particularly loved his voice, but when a young female fan burst into the studio and asked where she could find Merv Griffin, he told her he was the man himself. She expressed surprise, asked incredulously if he really was Merv Griffin, and then ran out of the studio in disappointment.
Reports said the encounter prompted him to lose weight, though how it shaped his attitude toward women remained unclear. By the time of his death, his shows had secured his place in television history. In 2001, TV Guide ranked Jeopardy! second on its list of the fifty greatest game shows of all time, and Wheel of Fortune had become the longest-running syndicated game show in American television history.
Both programs continued to find new audiences long after his death. He was described by those who knew him as an astute businessman who never missed a beat, and his achievements were numerous. But critics noted how remarkable it was that he had stayed closeted his entire life despite his influence over major media channels and his access to the highest levels of power. Some argued that if a man of his standing could not reshape public perception of gay men, there seemed to be little hope for future generations.
In the end, the confirmation of what many had long suspected came only after he was gone.