Game show creator

Griffin created and produced the successful television game show Jeopardy! in 1964; in an Associated Press profile released right before the show premiered, Griffin talked about the show's origins:

My wife Julann just came up with the idea one day when we were in a plane bringing us back to New York from Duluth. I was mulling over game show ideas, when she noted that there had not been a successful 'question and answer' game on the air since the quiz show scandals. Why not do a switch, and give the answers to the contestant and let them come up with the question.

She fired a couple of answers to me: '5,280' and the question of course was how many feet in a mile. Another was '79 Wistful Vista.' That was Fibber and Mollie McGee's address. I loved the idea, went straight to NBC with the idea, and they bought it without even looking at a pilot show.

The show premiered on NBC on March 30, 1964, hosted by Art Fleming, and lasted for 11 years. Merv wrote the 30-second piece of music heard during the show's Final Jeopardy! Round, and which later became the melody of the theme for the show in the Alex Trebek era.

In 1975, NBC canceled Jeopardy! after moving it twice on their daytime schedule and despite having an additional year on its network contract left to fulfill. Griffin produced the show's successor, Wheel of Fortune. Premiering on January 3, 1975, Wheel became a modest hit on daytime television with Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford as host and hostess, which later became a phenomenon when on September 13, 1983, Wheel of Fortune hit the syndication market with Pat Sajak and Vanna White as hosts. Two different revivals of Jeopardy! would be produced: one on NBC that ran for five months in late 1978/early 1979 with Art Fleming returning as host, and the other airing in first-run syndication beginning on September 10, 1984 starring Alex Trebek. Both Jeopardy! and the night version of Wheel of Fortune remain on the air today.

Upon his retirement, Griffin sold his production company, Merv Griffin Enterprises, to Columbia Pictures Television unit for US$250 million, the largest acquisition of an entertainment company owned by a single individual at that time. Following the sale, Forbes named him the richest Hollywood performer in history. He retained the title of creator of both shows.

The two powerhouses spun off numerous programs, and Griffin often would sign on as a creative consultant. The spinoffs included Wheel 2000 on CBS in 1997 and the short lived Jep! on GSN in 1998, both for children; Rock & Roll Jeopardy! on VH1 in 1998 for purveyors of pop music trivia; a teen-oriented game called Click! and in association with Wink Martindale, Headline Chasers in 1985.

In 2007, Griffin's production company, Merv Griffin Entertainment, began pre-production on a new syndicated game show Merv Griffin's Crosswords (originally titled Let's Play Crosswords and Let's Do Crosswords). The show taped in Los Angeles after initial reports that it would be produced at WMAQ-TV in Chicago. The show was produced in association with Program Partners and the William Morris Agency and began airing September 10, 2007. NBC-owned-and-operated stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas carried the show, with many stations airing two episodes per day.

Business ventures

Griffin ventured into real estate, purchasing the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. He also purchased Resorts Hotel and Casino, formerly Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel in Atlantic City from Donald Trump in 1988. An active desert resident, he has been a supporter of the La Quinta Arts Festival and the owner of the Merv Griffin Givenchy Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, now The Parker. He owned a ranch near La Quinta, California where he raised thoroughbred racehorses, as well as St. Clerans Manor, a boutique hotel, set in an eighteen century estate once owned by director John Huston, near Craughwell, County Galway Galway, Ireland. In the 1980s, Griffin purchased Paradise Island in the Bahamas for US$400 million from Donald Trump, but he later sold it for just US$125 million. Merv Griffin sold his empire for $250 million to Coca-Cola in 1986, he then went on a buying spree of hotels and his wealth in 2003 was said to be around $1.2 billion.

In March 2001, Griffin returned to singing with the release of the album It's Like a Dream.

Private life

Griffin kept many details of his personal and business life private. On being wealthy he said that "if people know you're rich they don't talk with you when you walk down the street." He kept his wealth as an open secret amassing media outlets, hotels and casinos with a net worth widely estimated at more than a billion dollars. Griffin stated he didn't really know his worth because it “would keep me from sleeping at night.” He and former First Lady Nancy Reagan exchanged birthday greetings each July 6, for they shared the same birthday. Griffin was also an honorary pallbearer at the funeral of President Ronald Reagan in 2004. He was friends with both of the Reagans for many years.

Sexual orientation

Two same-sex palimony and sexual harassment lawsuits in 1991 brought questions about Griffin's sexuality to national prominence. In 1991, Griffin was hit with both a US$200 million palimony lawsuit by former "secretary/driver/horse-trainer/bodyguard" Brent Plott, and an US$11.3 million sexual harassment lawsuit from Dance Fever host "Denny" Deney Terrio; both suits were ultimately dismissed with prejudice (the Plott claim after Griffin filed a countersuit). A 2006 article in Rolling Stone magazine by John Colapinto stated: "Merv does not refute the underlying implication in both cases: that he is gay. Nor does he admit to it. Instead, he mentions the high-profile relationship that he began with actress Eva Gabor at the time of his legal troubles. They were photographed everywhere: Atlantic City, La Quinta, Hollywood premieres. Griffin says that they discussed marriage, and he parries any direct questions about his sexual orientation. 'You're asking an eighty-year-old man about his sexuality right now!', he cries. 'Get a life!'"
Merv Griffin: a Life in the Closet, which arrived in bookstores in 2009, is a tell-all from Darwin Porter.

Illness and death

Griffin's prostate cancer, treated originally in 1996, returned and he was admitted to Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, where his condition deteriorated leading to his death on August 12, 2007. Griffin is survived by his son, Tony, born in 1959 during Griffin's marriage to Julann Wright from 1958 to 1976. He is also survived by two grandchildren.

Funeral services were held for Griffin in on August 17, 2007 at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. The well attended service included former First Lady and longtime friend Nancy Reagan, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (who gave the eulogy along with Griffin's son Tony), Maria Shriver, actors, television stars, employees and friends including Pat Sajak, Vanna White, Alex Trebek, Dick Van Dyke, Jack Klugman, Dick Van Patten, Ellen de Generes and partner Portia di Rossi, Ryan Seacrest, Catherine Oxenberg and husband Casper Van Dien. Pallbearers included Ron Ward, Vice Chairman of the Griffin Group, Griffin Group President Robert Pritchard, Griffin Group Vice President Michael Eyre, and Griffin's son Tony. His 7-year-old grandson Donovan Mervyn was an honorary pallbearer as was Nancy Reagan. His 12-year-old granddaughter Farah gave a reading. A post-burial reception was held at the Beverly Hilton, a property owned by Griffin from 1987 to 2003. He was buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery and his headstone reads "I will not be right back after this message," an epitaph Griffin announced on, "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."

GSN honored Griffin by airing ten-episode marathons of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! during the weekend of August 18–19, 2007. The Wheel marathon included two episodes with cameos by Griffin: Pat Sajak's departure from the daytime version in 1989 and a 1992–93 episode that ended with Griffin, the MervTones, and Vanna White singing at a dinner club in Orlando, Florida. The Jeopardy! marathon consisted of a rerun of the Jeopardy! Million Dollar Masters Tournament from 2002.