Monty Hall

not-so-brief biography

Monty Hall (born Monte Halperin), was a Canadian-born emcee, producer, actor, singer and sportscaster, best known as host of the television game show Let's Make a Deal.

He attended the University of Manitoba, where he performed in college musical and dramatic productions and served as emcee of Canadian Army shows during the war, and was elected President of the Student Body.

After earning his Bachelor of Science degree, he moved to Toronto where he resumed his career as actor, singer, emcee and sportscaster.

In 1955, he went to New York to do a five-year run of NBC's Monitor. In 1960, he became emcee of CBS's Video Village which brought him to Hollywood. It was in Hollywood while doing Video Village that his packaging career commenced as he sold his first production, Your First Impression, to the National Broadcasting Company.

Monty teamed with writer-producer Stefan Hatos in 1963 to create Let's Make a Deal which ran until August 1986.

Their next production, Split Second, starring Tom Kennedy, aired on ABC in the 1970's. Monty took the helm as emcee for a syndicated version of the popular quiz show in 1986. In 1990 Monty returned to do Let's Make A Deal for another cycle.

Monty has headlined the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas and starred in his own variety show specials at the ABC network; and on August 24, 1973, he was honored by having his star placed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He has appeared as guest star on The Odd Couple, Love American Style, The Flip Wilson Show, The Dean Martin Show, The Love Boat, The Wonder Years, Love and War, Arlis, The Nanny, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Today Show, Hollywood Squares (2002), Providence, That 70's Show, The Surreal Life, the TV movie The Courage and the Passion and A&E Biography.

Monty's life away from television has been as important as that on the stage. He has traveled the United States, Canada and Europe extensively, speaking and performing for countless charities. He is currently on the boards of many charitable organizations. His philanthropic activities have brought him over 500 awards. In April 1975 he was elected President of Variety Clubs International, the world's largest children's charity; and in 1981 was honored with the lifetime title of International Chairman. In 1983 he received the prestigious Variety Clubs International Humanitarian Award.

On May 1988 the Government of Canada bestowed on him the highest award that Canada can offer - the prestigious Order of Canada - for his humanitarian works in Canada and other nations of the world. And in 2002 Monty was inducted into the Order of Manitoba. For the past 35 years, Monty has hosted the annual Monty Hall/Cedars-Sinai Tennis Tournament to benefit the Diabetes Center and Pancreatic Cancer Program.

He has received three honorary doctorates from the University of Manitoba, Haifa University and Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia. He has the children's wings named for him at Hahnemann Hospital, UCLA Medical Center, Mount Sinai in Toronto and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. He has streets named for him in Cathedral City (California) and Winnipeg.

In August, 2005, he was honored by his peers who presented him with the Game Show Congress Award for Career Community Service.

Monty is married to Marilyn, a writer-producer and winner of an Emmy Award as Co-Executive Producer of Do You Remember Love, a drama concerning Alzheimer's disease. The Halls have three children - Joanna Gleason, a Tony-award winning actress who recently appeared on Broadway in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; Richard Hall, an Emmy-award winning television producer; and Sharon Hall, who is a television executive – and five grandchildren.

notes

distant cousin of his wife

links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall