Monty Hall

Monty Hall
The handprints of Monty Hall in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
Born	Monte Halperin
Occupation(s)	Game show host, actor, producer, singer, sportscaster
Years active	1953–present
Spouse	Marilyn Hall (1947-present)
Children	Joanna Gleason, actress Sharon Hall, TV director/writer Richard Hall, TV producer

Monte Halperin, OC, OM (born August 25, 1921 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), better known by the stage name Monty Hall, is a Canadian-born emcee, producer, actor, singer and sportscaster, best known as host of the television game show Let's Make a Deal.

Biography

Hall was the host of the game show Let's Make a Deal, which he developed and produced with partner Stefan Hatos. Let's Make a Deal aired on NBC daytime from December 30, 1963 to December 27, 1968 and on ABC daytime from December 30, 1968 to July 9, 1976, along with two primetime runs. It also aired in syndication from 1971 to 1977, from 1980 to 1981, from 1984 to 1986, and again on NBC briefly from 1990 to 1991. He was producer or executive producer of the show through most of its runs. During the show's initial run, Hall became well known alongside model Carol Merrill and announcer Jay Stewart.

Monty Hall started his career in Toronto in radio. Early in his career, Hall hosted such game shows as Bingo At Home and guest-hosted more established game shows such as Strike It Rich before hosting the first show of his own, Keep Talking in 1958. He succeeded Jack Narz as host of a well-received and unique game show called Video Village, which ran in 1960-1962 on CBS. On Video Village, contestants played on a giant game board consisting of three sections: Money Street, Bridge Street and Magic Mile. Players advanced with the roll of a large die. The further contestants advanced along the board, the better the prizes that were offered. A spinoff called Video Village Junior, featuring youngsters, was hosted by Hall and ran during the 1961-1962 regular television season. The first show he ever hosted was Bingo At Home. In 1962, with co-producer Art Stark, Hall sold his first game show to NBC, Your First Teeth, which ran for two years. Stefan Hatos was the Producer of that show, and eventually, he and Hall formed a production company which is still running. Hatos died in 1999. Besides Let's Make a Deal, the game show Split Second which originally ran on ABC from 1972-75, and again in syndication in 1987 (with Hall also hosting that version) was the only other successful program from Hatos-Hall Productions. Other game shows from their production company included Chain Letter in 1966; a revival of the venerable 1950s-era panel quiz, Masquerade Party in 1974; 3 For the Money in 1975; It's Anybody's Guess in 1977, which reunited Let's Make a Deal announcer Jay Stewart with Hall, who also hosted the show, and the Canadian-based The Joke's on Us in 1983. Hall filled in as guest host on several daytime game shows while Let's Make a Deal was on NBC, most notably What's This Song? and PDQ. In 1979, Hall hosted the only game show since Video Village which he did not produce — Goodson-Todman's All-New Beat the Clock.

Hall received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 24, 1973, a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Fame in 2000, and in 2002, he was also inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Hall is one of only two game show hosts on both Hollywood's and Canada's Walks of Fame, the other being Alex Trebek. In May 1988, the Government of Canada bestowed on him the prestigious Order of Canada for his humanitarian work in Canada and other nations of the world. For many years, he has been associated with Variety, the Children's Charity, helping to raise millions of dollars through their telethons and other related fund-raisers.

Hall was the recipient of the 2005 Ralph Edwards Service Award from Game Show Congress, in recognition of all the work the emcee-producer has done for charity through the years.

Hall graduated from the University of Manitoba, where he majored in chemistry and zoology, receiving his Bachelor of Science degree.

He has been married for many years to his wife, Marilyn, and has two daughters — actress and Tony Award winner Joanna Gleason and Sharon Hall, a television executive — and one son, Richard Hall, a television producer.

In addition to his work on game shows, Hall was a radio analyst for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League during the 1958-60 season. Between 1956 and 1960, Hall worked as a host of NBC Radio's "Monitor" weekend broadcast. At least one recording of Hall on "Monitor" is known to exist.

Although retired, Hall still makes occasional television appearances. He played the host of a beauty pageant who schemed to become "the world's most powerful game show host" in the Disney animated series American Dragon: Jake Long. Monty appeared on GSN Live on March 14, 2008, and hosted a game of Let's Make a Deal for Good Morning America on August 18, 2008 as part of Game Show Reunion week.

Monty Hall problem

Main article: Monty Hall problem

Because of his work on Let's Make a Deal, Hall's name is used in a probability puzzle known as the Monty Hall problem which examines the counter-intuitive effect of switching one's choice of doors, one of which hides a prize, if "Monty" reveals an unwanted item behind a door the player didn't choose. Hall himself gave an explanation of the solution to that problem, and why the solution did not apply to the case of the actual show, in an interview with The New York Times reporter John Tierney in 1991. Because Hall had control over the way the game progressed, he played on the psychology of the contestant. The puzzle was mentioned in an episode of the first season of the CBS drama Numb3rs, in the 2008 movie 21, and also in the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.

External links

• Monty Hall at IMDb
• Monty's Bio at letsmakeadeal.com

Multimedia

• CBC Television Archives profile of Monty Hall (1970)