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==Personal life== ==Personal life==
Divorced from his first wife, Elaine Callei, who was married to Trebek from 1974–1981, he has been married to Jean Currivan-Trebek, a real estate businesswoman and the mother of his two children, since April 30, 1990.<ref></ref> Divorced from his first wife, Elaine Callei, who was married to Trebek from 1974–1981, he has been married to Jean Currivan Trebek, a real estate businesswoman and the mother of his two children, since April 30, 1990.<ref></ref>


{{Wikinewspar|Alex Trebek, host of US TV game show 'Jeopardy!' suffers heart attack}} {{Wikinewspar|Alex Trebek, host of US TV game show 'Jeopardy!' suffers heart attack}}

Revision as of 00:02, 10 May 2011

Alex Trebek
Alex Trebek, April 2009
BornGeorge Alexander Trebek
(1940-07-22) July 22, 1940 (age 84)
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Occupation(s)Television personality
Game show host
Years active1963–present
Spouse(s)Elaine Callei (1974-1984)
Jean Currivan-Trebek (1990-present)

George Alexander "Alex" Trebek (pronounced /trɨˈbɛk/; born July 22, 1940) has been the host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, and prior to that, he hosted game shows such as Pitfall and High Rollers. He has appeared in numerous television series, usually as himself. A native of Canada, he became a naturalized United States citizen in 1998.

Early life

Trebek was born in Sudbury, Ontario, the son of Lucille (née Lagacé, which was the name of the street he grew up on), a Franco-Ontarian, and George Edward Trebek, a Ukrainian-Canadian immigrant. He was educated at a Jesuit school before graduating from Toronto's Malvern Collegiate Institute in 1958, and later the University of Ottawa with a degree in philosophy. As a student at the University of Ottawa, he was a member of the English Debating Society. Interested in a career in broadcast news, he began his broadcasting career working for the CBC as a newscaster and sportscaster. Trebek specialized in national news and covering a wide range of special events for the CBC's radio and television divisions, including curling and horse racing.

Trebek once attended Collège Militaire Royal de Saint-Jean, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec, Canada, but for only six days. Trebek briefly talked about his military school experiences in a 2003 interview in Esquire magazine.

Rise in television

Trebek's first hosting job was on a Canadian music program called Music Hop in 1963. In 1966, he hosted high school quiz show Reach for the Top. In 1973, he 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), which turned out to be both the only CBS network show Trebek hosted 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 taped 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.

Unlike other hosts of the day, Trebek did not make many guest appearances as panelist or player on other shows; one of his two guest appearances was on a special week of NBC's Card Sharks, in 1980, where he and several other game show hosts (including Allen Ludden, Bill Cullen, Wink Martindale, Jack Clark, Gene Rayburn, and Jim Lange) competed in a week-long round robin tournament for charity. Trebek won the tournament, defeating Bill Cullen in the finals.

After High Rollers was cancelled in 1980, Trebek moved on to Battlestars for NBC. The series debuted in October 1981 and was canceled in April 1982 after only seven months on the air. In September 1981 Trebek took the helm of the syndicated Pitfall, which taped in Vancouver and forced him to commute as he had while hosting High Rollers and The $128,000 Question in 1978. After both series ended, Trebek hosted a revival of Battlestars called The New Battlestars that ended after thirteen weeks, then shot a series of pilots for other series for producers Merrill Heatter (who he had worked for on 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 didn't sell. For Griffin he shot two pilots for a revival of Jeopardy!, which he began hosting in 1984 and has done ever since.

In 1987, while still hosting Jeopardy!, Trebek returned to daytime television as host of NBC's Classic Concentration, his second show for Mark Goodson. He hosted both shows simultaneously until September 20, 1991, when Classic Concentration aired its final episode. In 1991 Trebek 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 he took over for Lynn Swann as host of NBC's To Tell the Truth, which he hosted until the end of the series' run on May 31, 1991.

Trebek also appears in many Colonial Penn Life Insurance commercials, and reprises his role as host of To Tell the Truth in a 2010 advertisement for DirecTV.

In December 2010, Trebek guest-starred on How I Met Your Mother.

Personal life

Divorced from his first wife, Elaine Callei, who was married to Trebek from 1974–1981, he has been married to Jean Currivan Trebek, a real estate businesswoman and the mother of his two children, since April 30, 1990.

Trebek became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1998. He now lives in Studio City, California with his wife, Jean, and two children, Matthew (born 1990) and Emily (born 1993). In an interview with a talk show host, Trebek joked that "I had only been a citizen for two weeks when I received a summons to appear for jury duty!"

In 1996, Trebek ran the Olympic Torch in Jacksonville, Florida, through a leg of its journey to Atlanta.

In late 2001, during Jeopardy!'s 18th season, Trebek shaved the mustache that he had worn for over 30 years. He wore a fake mustache for the first half of the April 1, 2008 episode as an April Fools' joke.

Trebek and Pat Sajak, host of Wheel of Fortune, traded places on April Fools' Day 1997. 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.

On Friday, 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 45 feet 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! the following Tuesday.

Trebek appeared on Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2005. He came in second place in his qualifying game, losing to Cheryl Hines. On May 9, 2008, Trebek was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live, on which he discussed his 24-year career as the host of Jeopardy! Kimmel's other guest was Kelsey Grammer, who had won an episode of Celebrity Jeopardy 17 years earlier. The segment included a video clip from that episode.

Trebek formerly owned and managed a 700-acred (2.8 km²) ranch near Paso Robles in Creston, California previously owned by Fred and Helen Sahadi, parents of trainer Jenine Sahadi. The property was known as Cardiff Stud Farm but Trebek renamed it Creston Farms where he bred, trained and provided state-of-the-art care for Thoroughbred race horses. Among Thoroughbreds raced by Trebek, his colt, Reba's Gold, is a stakes-winning son of Slew O'Gold.

Health problems

On December 11, 2007, Trebek was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after suffering a minor heart attack in his home. He was released on December 15, 2007. Trebek returned to the production of Jeopardy! as scheduled on January 14, 2008 to tape the Teen Tournament.

Honors and awards

File:Trebek.JPG
The handprints of Alex Trebek in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park

Alex Trebek has been awarded five Outstanding Game Show Host Emmy Awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (located at 6501 Hollywood Boulevard, near those for Ann-Margret and Vincent Price).

He hosts the annual National Geographic Bee in the U.S. and The Great Canadian Geography Challenge in Canada. Active with the World Vision charitable organization, he has traveled to many Third World countries with World Vision projects, taping reports on the group's efforts on behalf of children around the world.

In 1995, Trebek and the entire Jeopardy! crew became involved with the USO, and have appeared on several military bases throughout the world, both in an attempt to find contestants, and as a morale booster for the troops.

The American Federation for the Blind in 2001 awarded Trebek with one of six Access Awards for his role in accommodating notable Jeopardy! champion Eddie Timanus.

In March 2006, it was announced that he would receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame. He is the second game show host to be inducted (the first being Monty Hall of Let's Make a Deal and the third being Howie Mandel of Deal or No Deal). His star is located on King Street West near those of the Crazy Canucks and Eugene Levy.

On November 4, 2010, Trebek received the Royal Canadian Geographical Society's Gold Medal, for his contribution to geographic education and the popular study of geography. Previous recipients of this award include the author and anthropologist Wade Davis (2009), Peter Gzowski (1997), and Mary May Simon (1998), among others.

In 2011, it was announced that Trebek would be one of the recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmy Awards.

Television and film appearances

Shows hosted

Cameo appearances

References

  1. "Who Is Alex Trebek?", CBS Los Angeles biography, Apr 20, 2007. URL retrieved September 21, 2007
  2. TVArchive.ca - CBC Championship Curling
  3. NewspaperARCHIVE.com - Search old newspaper articles online
  4. CBC Podcast, "Q" with Jian Ghomeshi, Interview originally broadcast 2008-05-28 (relevant content is at end of interview), URL retrieved October 10, 2008.
  5. A. J. Jacobs (March 2003). "What I've Learned: Alex Trebek". Esquire. Retrieved 2009-11-15. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. CBC News http://archives.cbc.ca/programs/2089/. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. "Exclusive: Alex Trebek to Guest Star on How I Met Your Mother". TVGuide.com. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
  8. Alex Trebek : Television Newscaster Biography
  9. "J! Archive - Show #5365, aired Friday, December 28, 2007 - Contestant interveiew". 2007-12-28. Retrieved 2007-12-31. I'm sure there were as many heartwarming stories as there were wacky adventures associated with the carrying of the torch. I carried it in Florida.
  10. "J! Archive - Show #5012, aired Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - Contestant interview". 2006-05-30. Retrieved 2006-12-29. I got you beat. When I fell asleep at the wheel, my pickup flew 45 feet.
  11. "'Jeopardy!' host Trebek in car crash". Associated Press. 2004-01-31. Archived from the original on 2007-03-22. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
  12. "'Jeopardy!' host hopes to return Tuesday". Associated Press. 2004-02-02. Archived from the original on 2006-11-29. Retrieved 2006-12-29. See also .
  13. CBC Radio program "Q", interview with Jian Ghomeshi, 2008-05-28
  14. Jenine Sahadi - NTRA
  15. http://www.ctba.com/farms01/CRESTONFRMS.pdf
  16. Rebas Gold Horse Pedigree
  17. Albiniak, Paige (2007-12-16). "Alex Trebek Released from Hospital: Jeopardy! Host Heads Home to Recuperate from Heart Attack". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2008-02-12. Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek was released from Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Hospital Saturday ...
  18. "Jeopardy! official web site Alex Trebek announcement". 2007-12-11. Archived from the original on 2007-12-13. Retrieved 2007-12-11. Alex Trebek, host of Jeopardy!, has had a minor heart attack. He is resting comfortably in a Los Angeles hospital, and he will be back in the studio for the next scheduled tapings in January.
  19. Jablon, Robert (2007-12-11). "Trebek Hospitalized With Heart Attack". Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-12-11.
  20. "Interview with Alex Trebek". The Ellen DeGeneres Show. 2008-01-18. We've got our Teen Tournament coming up in two weeks. We just taped that. I went back to work, felt great doing it. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  21. World Vision's website says Trebek has been a sponsor of the charity since the early 1980s ("Bid on the Jeopardy set!", World Vision website, 2002). His travels publicizing the charity's work include trips to Zambia ("Alex Trebek to Visit Zambia with World Vision" World Vision website, June 21, 2007) and Uganda ("Celebrities Supporting World Vision", World Vision Canada website). World Vision's website says that Trebek "been regularly involved with World Vision and is often seen on the organization's television shows" (World Vision Canada website, ibid)
  22. "2010 Royal Canadian Geographical Society Gold Medal". rcgs.org. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
  23. "All winners of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society Gold Medal". rcgs.org. Retrieved 2011-05-03.

External links

Media offices
Preceded byN/A Host of High Rollers
1974-1976, 1978-1980
Succeeded byWink Martindale in 1987
Preceded byLynn Swann Host of To Tell The Truth
1991
Succeeded byJohn O'Hurley in 2000
Preceded byJack Narz Host of Concentration
1987-1991
Succeeded byDefunct
Preceded byArt Fleming 1964-1975, 1978-1979 Host of Jeopardy!
1984-Present
Succeeded byIncumbent
Awards
Preceded byBob Barker Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host
1989 – 1990
tie with Bob Barker in 1990
Succeeded byBob Barker
Preceded byBob Barker Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host
2003
Succeeded byBob Barker
Preceded byMeredith Vieira Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host
2006
Succeeded byBob Barker
Preceded byBob Barker Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host
2008
Succeeded byMeredith Vieira
Preceded byAgnes Nixon Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys
2011
with Pat Sajak
Succeeded byIncumbent
Jeopardy!
Concepts
Tournaments
Hosts
Notable contestants
Franchise
In popular culture

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