After a protracted, very public battle with pancreatic cancer, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek has died. He was 80 years outdated. In response to a statement given by the official Jeopardy! Twitter, Trebek handed peacefully at house, surrounded by household and pals.
The beloved sport present host, whose sense of worldliness and intelligence turned a trademark of the present since its 1984 revival, succumbed to the illness on Nov. 8. Again in July, Trebek released a memoir he wrote throughout COVID-19 lockdown, titled The Answer Is …: Reflections on My Life.
Trebek was born in Ontario, Canada, and have become a naturalized citizen of america in 1998. He studied philosophy in class and aspired to turn out to be a broadcast journalist. Trebek dabbled in sport present internet hosting very early on in his profession, although, with a number of applications beneath his belt earlier than Jeopardy! together with Canada’s Music Hop, Attain for the Prime, Technique, The Wizard of Odds, CBS’s Double Dare, The $128,000 Query, Excessive Rollers, Battlestars, The New Battlestars, the defunct Pitfall, and NBC’s Fortunate Numbers.
It wasn’t till Merv Griffin revived Jeopardy! (which was beforehand hosted by Art Fleming from 1964-75 and rebooted with Fleming on board from 1978-79 at NBC) that Trebek would discover a everlasting foothold as host and producer. He continued to experiment with different applications all the identical, together with Traditional Focus, which re-teamed him with Mark Goodson after their work collectively on Double Dare, and To Inform the Fact.
Whereas on Jeopardy!, Trebek turned well-known for his knack for accents, his signature mustache, and his encyclopedic data of world historical past and tradition.
In 2014, Alex Trebek turned the Guinness World Record holder for many sport present episodes hosted by the identical presenter as he reached his 6,829th episode of Jeopardy!
Trebek additionally did a little bit of appearing all through the course of his fame, showing as himself — or a parody model of himself — in exhibits like Cheers, Rugrats, Beverly Hills, 90210, The Nanny, The Golden Ladies, How I Met Your Mom, The Simpsons, and Orange is the New Black, to call just a few.Trebek gained a number of Daytime Emmy Awards for his work on Jeopardy! and even collected a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Emmys in 2011. He beforehand earned a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame in 1999.
He was additionally energetic in philanthropy, donating funds to academic establishments together with his alma mater the College of Ottawa, and he additionally traveled with the USO and lent his skills to youngsters’s literacy competitions just like the Nationwide Geographic Bee.
Upon asserting his stage 4 pancreatic most cancers analysis to the world in early 2019, Trebek vowed to combat for his life, regardless of the chances being stacked in opposition to him.
“Usually, the prognosis for this isn’t very encouraging, however I’ll combat this, and I’ll maintain working. And with the love and assist of my household and pals and with the assistance of your prayers additionally, I plan to beat the low survival fee statistics for this illness,” he stated in a video deal with to followers. “Fact [be] advised, I’ve to! As a result of beneath the phrases of my contract, I’ve to host Jeopardy! for 3 extra years! So assist me. Maintain the religion and we’ll win. We’ll get it finished. Thanks.”
Talking about his legacy, Trebek stated, “I hope I have been an affect for good and an affect for the advantages of not minimizing the significance of data in a single’s life. The advantages of data. Regardless that you aren’t going to make use of a selected bit of data, info that you just purchase — even in case you are not going to make use of it in your every day life, your work life or no matter — it turns into a part of you and enriches you and makes you a greater human being and I believe a extra understanding human being.”
Trebek beforehand survived two delicate coronary heart assaults and a subdural hematoma. He’s survived by his spouse Jean Currivan-Trebek and two youngsters, Matthew and Emily.
PHOTOS: Alex Trebek’s Career in Pictures
Alex Trebek, Traditional Focus