Peter Marshall (game show host)
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Peter Marshall (born Ralph Pierre LaCock on March 30, c 1927, in Huntington, West Virginia, USA) is an actor, singer and television personality. Although he has almost fifty television, movie and Broadway credits, he is best known as the original host and "The Master" of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 to 1981. His stage name, Marshall, came from the name of the college in his home town (Marshall College became Marshall University in 1961).
Marshall came from a show business family, moving to New York City at the age of 12 after his father's death to be with his mother, an aspiring costume designer and later the president of the Motion Picture Mothers.
His elder sister, Joanne Dru, was a successful actress who made a number of westerns in the 1950s.
Marshall started his career at 15 as a singer with big bands. In the 1950s, Marshall earned his living as part of a comedy act with Tommy Noonan, and they appeared in night clubs and on television variety shows. Although Marshall occasionally worked in film and television, he could not find regular work in the industry until his friend Morey Amsterdam recommended him to Bert Parks to host the game show Hollywood Squares in 1966.
The show had a long run on daytime TV and in syndication, making Marshall as familiar to viewers as the celebrities who appeared on the show. The easy-going and unflappable Marshall was a perfect foil for the wicked wit of such panelists as Amsterdam and his Dick Van Dyke Show castmate Rose Marie, Paul Lynde, Jan Murray, and Wally Cox. The Hollywood Squares was cancelled by NBC in 1980, but daily production continued for syndication into 1981.
After the demise of Hollywood Squares, Marshall continued to work on the game shows Fantasy (with cohost Leslie Uggams), All Star Blitz, Yahtzee, and The Reel to Reel Picture Show. However, none of these met with the success of the original Squares. He stayed in television and movies playing character parts. One of his memorable post-Squares roles was a cameo in the 1982 musical Annie playing radio personality Bert Healy.
His last film credit was the 1993 film Sista Dansen (The Last Dance), but he continued to work in television after that. He wrote a book about his experience, Backstage with the Original Hollywood Square.
In the quarter century since Marshall hosted the original Hollywood Squares the program has refused to leave the public consciousness. Two attempts to revive it in the 1980s (the first, a short-lived version hosted by Jon "Bowzer" Bauman from Sha-Na-Na; the second, a better-received edition emceed by John Davidson), met with mixed results, but a parody version in In Living Color hosted by Marshall showed a glimpse of the magic displayed in the original (since then, another attempt at reviving the game show, this time emceed by Tom Bergeron, reflected the success rate of the Davidson edition). Despite the various different versions between 1980 and 2004, Hollywood Squares remains most strongly identified with Marshall.
As of 2000, Marshall was back on the travelling circuit, this time as a singer with big bands. His website actively promotes his CDs.
In 2002, Marshall came back to the show as a panelist during a Game Show Week on the Tom Bergeron version, even hosting it for one day.
He is currently married to his third wife, Laurie Stewart, and has four children and two stepchildren from his previous marriages. He is also currently a host on the Music Of Your Life radio network.
His son, Pete LaCock, is a former Major League Baseball player. The retired first baseman spent nine years playing for the Kansas City Royals and Chicago Cubs before finishing up his career in Japan.
In 2006, Peter Marshall, who had already won an Emmy for Best Game Show Host, was the recipient of the annual Bill Cullen Award for Lifetime Achievement, from the non-profit organization, Game Show Congress.
| Preceded by: None |
Host of The Hollywood Squares 1966 – 1981 |
Succeeded by: Jon Bauman in the Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour |
