Co-creator, host of ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ dies at 96
Monty Hall, the genial host and co-creator of “Let’s Make a Deal,” the game show on which contestants in outlandish costumes shriek and leap at the chance to see if they will win the big prize or the booby prize behind door No. 3, died at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Saturday. He was 96.
A daughter, Joanna Gleason, confirmed his death. She said the cause was heart failure.
“Let’s Make a Deal” had its premiere in late 1963 and, with some interruptions, has been a television phenomenon ever since.
On the show, would-be deal makers tried to barter their way to a big prize. A woman might sell Hall the contents of her handbag for $150, and then agree to trade that $150 for whatever was behind a curtain, or in a big box, in the hope that it was something valuable — say, a $759 refrigerator-freezer stocked with $25 worth of cottage cheese and a $479 sewing machine.
She could then compound her glee by being smart enough not to trade it all back for the old purse and whatever amount of cash Hall had slipped into it — maybe a hefty amount or maybe a measly $27. If she went for a deal that turned out to be a loser, she was, in the language of the show, zonked.
Hall kept “Let’s Make a Deal” moving for most of almost 5,000 broadcasts on NBC, on ABC and in syndication. The show ended its original daytime run in 1976 on ABC. A concurrent syndicated nighttime version lasted until the next year.
It occasionally resurfaced in subsequent decades and, after being off the air for a while, was revived in October 2009 on CBS, with Wayne Brady as host. That version is still on the air.
The show could give rise to the unexpected.
“You get some strange moments,” Hall said in 2009.
He recalled the day that a contestant was zonked when he chose a curtain behind which he had hoped was a car.
“It was an elephant,” Hall continued. “It freaked — ran backstage, down a ramp and out into the streets of LA. That’s probably the wildest moment.”
Hall had his proud moments as well. In 1973, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1988, Hall, who was born in Canada, was named to the Order of Canada by that country’s government in recognition of the millions he had raised for a host of charities. In 2013, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the Daytime Emmys.
Hall is survived by a show-business family: two daughters, Gleason, a Tony Award-winning actress, and Sharon Hall, a television executive; a son, Richard, a producer who won an Emmy for “The Amazing Race”; a brother, Robert Hall, a lawyer; and five grandchildren. His wife of almost 70 years, the former Marilyn Plottel, an Emmy Award-winning television producer, died in June.
Hall remained involved in “Let’s Make a Deal” to the end, as an owner of the show and an occasional guest. Interviewed in 2013, he gave Brady, his successor as host, his seal of approval.
“He’s making it his show,” he said. “He’s learning the star of the show is the contestant and to make them feel at home, make them feel like they came to your party.”