Alex Trebek

Early life George Alexander Trebek was born on July 22, 1940, in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, the son of George Edward Trebek (born Terebeychuk, ), a chef who had emigrated from Ukraine as a child (and spent a portion of his formative years in Japan) and Lucille Marie Lagacé (April 14, 1921 – 2016), a Franco-Ontarian. Trebek's second nickname, Sai, originated from his father's time in Japan. Trebek grew up in a bilingual French-English household. He was almost expelled from boarding school. Shortly afterwards, Trebek attended a military college in Quebec, but dropped out when he was asked to shave his head. Trebek's first job at age 13 was as a bellhop at the hotel where his father worked as a chef. Trebek attended Sudbury High School and the University of Ottawa. He graduated from the University of Ottawa with a degree in philosophy in 1961. While a university student, Trebek was a member of the English Debating Society. At the time, he was interested in a broadcast news career.

Career CBC Before completing his degree, Trebek began his career in 1961 working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He would eventually read the CBC national radio news and cover a wide range of special events for CBC Radio and CBC Television, including curling and horse racing. In 1966, he hosted a high school quiz show called Reach for the Top. From 1967 to 1970, Trebek was a host for the CBC, introducing classical music programs including performances by Glenn Gould. For one or two seasons, he hosted a weekly skating program. Starting on April 1, 1969, Trebek also hosted Strategy, a weekday afternoon game show.

In 1971, Trebek was one of several to have been shortlisted to succeed Ward Cornell as host of Hockey Night in Canada. Although Trebek was the preferred choice of executive producer Ralph Mellanby, based on his audition and other CBC roles, Mellanby stated in 2020 that he ultimately chose Dave Hodge instead, because his boss did not want someone with a mustache to host Hockey Night.

Game shows

In 1973, Trebek moved to the United States and worked for NBC as host of a new game show, The Wizard of Odds. A year later, Trebek hosted the popular Merrill Heatter-Bob Quigley game show High Rollers, which had two incarnations on NBC (1974–76 and 1978–80) and an accompanying syndicated season (1975–76). In between stints as host of High Rollers, Trebek hosted the short-lived CBS game show Double Dare (not to be confused with the 1986 Nickelodeon game show of the same name). Double Dare turned out to be Trebek's only game show with the CBS network (he returned there in 1994 to host the Pillsbury Bake-Off until 1998), and the first show he hosted for what was then Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, as well as the second season of the syndicated series The $128,000 Question, which was recorded in Toronto.

Since the second incarnation of High Rollers premiered while The $128,000 Question was still airing and taping episodes, Trebek became one of two hosts to emcee shows in both the United States and Canada, joining Jim Perry, who was hosting Definition and Headline Hunters in Canada and Card Sharks, which coincidentally premiered the same day as High Rollers in 1978 in the United States. Trebek's francophone side was put on display in 1978, in a special bilingual edition of Reach for the Top and its Radio-Canada equivalent, Génies en herbe. In this show, Trebek alternated smoothly between French and English throughout.

Like other hosts of the day, Trebek made several guest appearances as a panelist or player on other shows. One of his guest appearances was on a special week of NBC's Card Sharks in 1980. Trebek and several other game show hosts (Allen Ludden, Bill Cullen, Wink Martindale, Jack Clark, Tom Kennedy, Gene Rayburn, and Jim Lange) competed in a three-week-long round-robin tournament for charity. Trebek won the tournament, defeating Cullen in the finals. He also appeared as a celebrity teammate on the NBC game show The Magnificent Marble Machine in 1975, and the Tom Kennedy-hosted NBC word game To Say the Least in 1978. The duo won their match against Dick Gautier and Scatman Crothers. In September 1981, Trebek took the helm of the syndicated Pitfall, which taped in Vancouver and forced him to commute, as Trebek had done while hosting High Rollers and The $128,000 Question in 1978. Pitfall was cancelled after its production company, Catalena Productions, went bankrupt. As a result, Trebek was never paid for that series. After both series ended, he hosted a revival of Battlestars called The New Battlestars that ended after 13 weeks, then shot a series of pilots for other series for producer Merrill Heatter, for whom he had worked hosting High Rollers and Battlestars, and Merv Griffin. The Heatter pilots were Malcolm, an NBC-ordered pilot featuring Trebek with an animated character as his co-host, and Lucky Numbers, an attempt at a revival of High Rollers that failed to sell. For Griffin, (who was ultimately encouraged to hire Trebek by Lucille Ball)

Following Trebek's death, a series of guest hosts filled in for Trebek for the remainder of season 37 of Jeopardy! (his final season). On July 27, 2022, it was announced that Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings would succeed Trebek as the permanent hosts of Jeopardy! after alternating in multi-week stints for the remainder of the show's 38th season after Mike Richards (the show's then-executive producer who briefly succeeded Trebek as host of the program) was let go after taping a week's worth of episodes after various controversies came to light.

In 1987, while still hosting Jeopardy!, Trebek returned to daytime television as host of NBC's Classic Concentration, his second show for Mark Goodson. Trebek hosted both shows simultaneously until September 20, 1991, when Classic Concentration aired its final first-run episode (NBC would air repeats until 1993). In 1991, he made broadcast history by becoming the first person to host three American game shows at the same time, earning this distinction on February 4, 1991, when Trebek took over from Lynn Swann as host of NBC's To Tell the Truth for Goodson-Todman, which Trebek hosted until the end of the series' run on May 31, 1991.

In 1994, Trebek returned to the CBS network for the first time since hosting Double Dare to host the Pillsbury Bake-Off, which he hosted until 1998. Trebek and Pat Sajak, host of Wheel of Fortune, traded places on April Fools' Day 1997. Pat Sajak hosted Jeopardy! and Trebek hosted Wheel of Fortune with Sajak's wife, Lesly, as Trebek's co-host. Sajak and Wheel of Fortune co-host Vanna White played contestants at the wheel, with winnings going toward charities. Trebek appeared on Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2005 and came in second place in his qualifying game, losing to Cheryl Hines.

On June 24, 2018, Trebek returned as a panelist on the ABC revival of To Tell the Truth. He hosted a Jeopardy! primetime special event titled The Greatest of All Time on ABC in January 2020, pitting the highest money winners in the show's history, Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings, and James Holzhauer, against each other.

Other appearances

Trebek made multiple guest appearances on other television shows, ranging from Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2008 and 2011 to The Colbert Report series finale. In August 1995, during a return to his broadcast-news roots, Trebek filled in for Charles Gibson for a week on Good Morning America. Trebek was also a guest star in season 3 of The X-Files, playing one of two "Men in Black" (human agents charged with the supervision of extraterrestrial lifeforms on Earth, hiding their existence from other humans) opposite Jesse Ventura, in the episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space", which first aired on April 12, 1996. On June 13, 2014, Guinness World Records presented Trebek with the world record for most episodes of a game show hosted, with 6,829 episodes at the time. He has also appeared in multiple television commercials.

On October 1, 2018, Trebek moderated the only debate in the Pennsylvania governor's race, between Democrat Tom Wolf and Republican Scott Wagner. According to news outlets, he wanted to change the flow of the debate to be more conversational instead of the more traditional format. Trebek dominated the debate and talked for 41% of it, often talking about himself without giving candidates time to discuss their stances on political issues. Trebek also made remarks regarding the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. He later apologized for his performance, stating that he was "naive" and "misunderstood" the role of a moderator, stating: "I offer my sincere apologies to the people of Pennsylvania, a state I dearly love."

Trebek was interviewed by Michael Strahan for an ABC special chronicling Jeopardy! and his career (produced to promote Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time), which aired on January 2, 2020.

On October 6, 2020, Trebek made a cameo appearance in the 2020 NHL entry draft, announcing the Ottawa Senators' third-overall draft pick, Tim Stützle, in the style of a Jeopardy! question.

Personal life

Trebek married broadcaster Elaine Callei in 1974. They had no children, although he adopted Callei's daughter Nicky. The couple divorced in 1981. In 1990, Trebek married Jean Currivan, a real estate project manager from New York. They had two children, Matthew and Emily.

In 1996, Trebek ran the Olympic torch in Jacksonville, Florida, through a leg of its journey to Atlanta. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States two years later.

On January 30, 2004, Trebek escaped major injury after falling asleep behind the wheel of his pickup truck while driving alone on a rural road in the Central Coast town of Templeton, California, returning from a family home in Lake Nacimiento. The truck sideswiped a string of mailboxes, flew over an embankment, and came to rest against a utility pole in a ditch. Trebek was not cited for the accident and returned to work taping Jeopardy! four days later.

Trebek owned and managed a 700-acre (280 ha) ranch near Paso Robles in Creston, California, known as Creston Farms, where he bred and trained thoroughbred racehorses. He sold the operation in 2008, and the property is now an event center called Windfall Farms. In May 2011, Trebek was invited to visit the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad in Cumberland, Maryland, where he served as the engineer of steam locomotive No. 734, fulfilling a long-term wish of driving one.

In a 2018 interview with Vulture, Trebek said that he was a political moderate and registered independent, neither conservative nor liberal, with some libertarian leanings. Trebek stated that he believed in God as a Christian. During a 2018 gubernatorial debate, Trebek said that he was raised Catholic during his childhood and adolescence.

Philanthropy and activism

Trebek was a longtime philanthropist and activist. He was active with multiple charities, including World Vision Canada, and the United Negro College Fund. For World Vision, Trebek travelled to many developing countries with World Vision projects, taping reports on the group's efforts on behalf of children around the world. He and the Jeopardy! crew became involved with the United Service Organizations in 1995, appearing on several military bases throughout the world, both in an attempt to find contestants and as a morale booster for the troops.

Trebek also donated of open land in the Hollywood Hills to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy in 1998. He was later awarded one of the American Foundation for the Blind's six yearly Access Awards for his role in accommodating Jeopardy! champion Eddie Timanus. Trebek hosted the annual The Great Canadian Geography Challenge in Canada. He hosted the National Geographic Bee in the United States for 25 years, stepping down in 2013. Trebek also served on the advisory board of U.S. English, an organization that supports making English the official language of the United States.

In 2016, Trebek donated $5 million to the University of Ottawa to fund the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue, the objective of which is "to expose students to a wide range of diverse views, through speeches, public panels, events and lectures by University of Ottawa researchers, senior government officials and guests speakers from around the world." His gifts to the university, which at the time totaled $7.5 million, also fund a Distinguished Speaker Series, which has included a presentation by Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee, introduced by Trebek. By October 2020, Trebek's contributions to the University of Ottawa totaled around $10 million. It was subsequently named the Trebek Center.

Trebek owned his own wardrobe, consisting of dozens of outfits and hundreds of neckties. In February 2021, Trebek's son, Matthew, donated the wardrobe to The Doe Fund, in keeping with a statement Trebek had made on his last day of taping.

Health On December 10, 2007, Trebek experienced a minor heart attack at his home, but returned to work as scheduled in January 2008. Early in the morning on July 26, 2011, Trebek injured his Achilles tendon while chasing a burglar who had entered his San Francisco hotel room, requiring six weeks in a cast. Trebek experienced another mild heart attack on June 23, 2012, but was able to return to work the following month.

On December 15, 2017, over the winter break of Jeopardy! taping, Trebek was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after reportedly experiencing complications from a fall in October of that year. The incident resulted in a subdural hematoma. Trebek underwent surgery to remove blood clots from his brain the following day. On January 4, 2018, the verified Twitter account of Jeopardy! announced that Trebek had been suffering from the fall. He required a short medical leave and returned to regular hosting duty in mid-January 2018.

In 2018, while being interviewed by Harvey Levin on Fox News, Trebek floated the idea of retirement, saying the odds of his leaving Jeopardy! in 2020 were 50/50 "and a little less". Trebek added that he might continue if he is "not making too many mistakes" but would make an "intelligent decision" as to when he should give up the emcee role. In October 2018, Trebek signed a new contract to continue as host through 2022,

Pancreatic cancer and death Trebek (left) with Don McLean (right) in December 2019, nine months after his diagnosis On March 6, 2019, aged 78, Trebek announced that he had been diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Trebek had been experiencing a persistent stomach ache before the diagnosis, but he did not recognize it as a symptom of the disease. In a prepared video announcement of the diagnosis, Trebek noted that his prognosis was poor, but stated that he would aggressively fight the cancer in hopes of beating the odds, and continue hosting Jeopardy! for as long as he was able, joking that his contract obligated him to do so for three more years. Trebek updated the situation two months later, stating that he was responding exceptionally well to treatment, and some of the tumors had shrunk to half their previously observed size; Trebek credited the prayers and well wishes of his fans for the better-than-usual results and planned to undergo several more rounds of chemotherapy. He finished that round of chemotherapy treatments in time to resume taping of the show in August 2019. Follow-up immunotherapy was ineffective, and Trebek resumed chemotherapy in September.

On October4, 2019, in an interview with CTV chief anchor and senior editor Lisa LaFlamme, Trebek said: "I'm not afraid of dying" and "I've lived a good life, a full life, and I'm nearing the end of that life... f it happens, why should I be afraid [of] that?" In the same interview, Trebek noted that sores in his mouth, a side effect from the chemotherapy, were interfering with his ability to speak, noting that "there will come a point when they (fans and producers) will no longer be able to say, 'It's okay.'" In a December 2019 interview with ABC News, Trebek stated that he would begin looking at experimental treatments and chemotherapies, and, despite periods of severe pain and depression, he was still in good enough physical condition to handle construction projects. Trebek also stated that he had already prepared an on-air farewell statement before his cancer diagnosis. As a precautionary measure, Jeopardy! initially taped episodes without a studio audience, as protection from the COVID-19 pandemic; Trebek, because of both his age and health condition, was particularly at risk of death from the particular variant of SARS-CoV-2 circulating. Soon afterward, production of the show was suspended altogether. The show resumed taping in August, in time for the season 37 premiere.

On July 16, 2020, Trebek gave an update regarding his cancer by saying that while he still felt fatigued, the chemotherapy was "paying off". Trebek also stated that he was looking forward to taping again. Five days later, Trebek published his memoir: The Answer Is...: Reflections on My Life.

Trebek underwent surgery related to his cancer treatment in October. Two weeks after the surgery, Trebek returned to the show, but was unable to handle his full workload due to pain from the surgery, and had to split his usual five-episode taping session over two days; these five episodes would be Trebek's last. He taped his final episode on October 29, 2020, just 10 days before his death. On November 8, Ken Jennings was called in to substitute host for Trebek for what was initially expected to be a temporary replacement, while Trebek recovered from the surgery; that same day, Trebek died at his home in Los Angeles at age 80, Trebek's death became major headlines around the world, which also led some of the Big Three networks to break their regular programming for special report coverage in the United States, as well as many news reports remembering his career and life on Canada's CBC, CTV, Global Television, and other major broadcasters in his birth nation. Trebek was cremated and his ashes were given to his wife. Trebek's estate was liquidated in an estate sale in April 2022 as his daughter prepared to sell his home in Studio City.

Legacy Shortly after Trebek's death, Jeopardy! contestant and future host Ken Jennings, then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Wheel of Fortune hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White were among those who paid tribute.

On the November 9, 2020, episode of Jeopardy!, as a tribute to Trebek, then-executive producer of both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, Mike Richards, visibly emotional, opened the show with the following statement:

The lights on the set then dimmed blue in remembrance. After each posthumous episode in season 37, a screen read, "Dedicated to Alex Trebek. Forever in our hearts. Always our inspiration." On the first anniversary of Trebek's death, which was also the day that the first episode Ken Jennings hosted in season 38 was aired, a different title card read, "Alex Trebek, July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020. You are missed every day." On the second anniversary of his death, Trebek was honored in a category entitled "Remembering Alex Trebek" during the Jeopardy! round of the 2022 Tournament of Champions special exhibition episode of Jeopardy!

Since Trebek's death, various television networks aired their own tributes to him such as MeTV (which played "What Is... Cliff Clavin?" and "Mama on Jeopardy!", two episodes of the classic 1980s sitcoms Cheers and Mama's Family respectively in which Jeopardy! was a plot device), Buzzr (which aired episodes of shows Trebek guest starred in such as Card Sharks or hosted such as Classic Concentration and To Tell the Truth in the Fremantle library) and Game Show Network (which aired a Jeopardy! marathon). On the premiere episode of the rebooted American version of The Chase, where Jeopardy! champions James Holzhauer, Brad Rutter, and Ken Jennings were chasers, host Sara Haines paid tribute to Trebek at the start of the show.

Trebek's final episode of Jeopardy! aired on January 8, 2021, concluding with a 90-second tribute to Trebek.

On August 19, 2021, the Jeopardy! stage was renamed "The Alex Trebek Stage", with his family present at the dedication.

The United States Postal Service honored Trebek with a commemorative stamp honoring both the 60th anniversary of the Jeopardy! franchise and Trebek's naturalized American citizenship, with the stamp officially released on July 22, 2024, on what would have been his 84th birthday.

Work Filmography Shows hosted 1963–1964: Music Hop (CBC) 1964: Vacation Time – co-host (CBC) 1966–1970: CBC Championship Curling – announcer (CBC) 1966–1973: Reach for the Top (CBC) 1969: Barris & Company – co-host/announcer (pilot) (CBC) 1969: Strategy (CBC) 1972: Outside/Inside (CBC) 1973: TGIF – announcer (CBC) 1973: The Wizard of Odds (NBC) 1976–1977: Double Dare (CBS) 1976–1980: Stars on Ice (CTV) 1977–1978: The $128,000 Question 1980–1981: Wall $treet 1981–1982: Pitfall 1981–1983: Battlestars 1983: Malcolm (pilot) 1983: Starcade (pilot) 1984–2021: Jeopardy! (posthumous, November 9, 2020, to January 8, 2021, episodes) 1985: Lucky Numbers (pilot) 1987: Second Guess (unsold pilot) 1987: VTV-Value Television – co-host with Meredith MacRae 1990: Super Jeopardy! 1996–1998: The Pillsbury Bake-Off 1997: Wheel of Fortune – April Fools' Day episode (also a substitute host in August 1980) 1999: Live from the Hollywood Bowl – annual live broadcast 2017: Game Changers – host and executive producer 2020: Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time 1988: Rain Man – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! 1990: The Earth Day Special – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! 1991: WrestleMania VII – as himself, a ring announcer and interviewer 1992: The Golden Girls – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! (episode 7.16 – "Questions and Answers") 1993: Groundhog Day – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! show #1656 1993: The Larry Sanders Show – as himself, the minister who marries Hank Kingsley (episode 2.15 – "Hank's Wedding") 1995: The Nanny – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! (episode 3.2 – "Franny and the Professor") 1995: Beverly Hills, 90210 – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! 1995: Blossom – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! (episode 5.14 – "Who's Not on First") 1996: The X-Files – as a Man in Black who Agent Mulder thought looked "incredibly" like himself (episode: "Jose Chung's From Outer Space") 1996: Seinfeld – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! (episode 8.9 – "The Abstinence") 1996: The Magic School Bus – Announcer (voice) (episode 2.6 – "Shows and Tells") 1996: Ellen's Energy Adventure – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! 1997: Ned and Stacey – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! 1997: The Simpsons – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! in "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" (Voice) 2000: Arthur – as Alex Lebek, the host of Riddle Quest 2001: Pepper Ann – as himself (2 episodes) 2002: Saturday Night Live – himself 2014: Delta Air Lines – as himself, seen raising hand after being asked if the passengers have any questions toward the end of a Delta safety video. 2014: The Colbert Report (series finale) – as himself, "the man who knows all the answers", in Santa's sleigh 2015: The Amazing Race Canada 3 – as himself/Sudbury Pit Stop greeter 2018: Orange Is the New Black – as himself 2018: RuPaul's Drag Race – as himself 2020: Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? - as himself, the host of Jeopardy! in "Total Jeopardy" (voice, posthumous release) 2021: Free Guy – as himself, the host of Jeopardy! (final film role, posthumous)