Monty Hall, Co-Creator and Host of ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’ Dies at 96
by By DENNIS HEVESI, NYTimes.com
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| Monty Hall with a contestant on the game show “Let’s Make a Deal” in 1968. Credit ABC Photo Archives, via Getty Images |
Monty Hall, the genial host and co-creator of “Let’s Make a Deal,” the game show on which contestants in outlandish costumes shriek and leap at the chance to see if they will win the big prize or the booby prize behind door No. 3, died at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Saturday. He was 96.
A daughter, Joanna Gleason, confirmed his death. She said the cause was heart failure.
“Let’s Make a Deal” had its premiere in late 1963 and, with some interruptions, has been a television phenomenon ever since.
When Mr. Hall first roamed among the audience members who filled the “trading floor” in an NBC studio in Burbank, Calif., there was nothing zany about them.
“They came to the show in the first week in suits and dresses,” Mr. Hall told The Los Angeles Times in 2013.
Within weeks, however, things had changed.
By one account, the turning point came when a woman in the audience, vying for Mr. Hall’s attention with hopes of being chosen as a contestant, wore a bizarre-looking hat.
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Mr. Hall recalled it somewhat differently in 2013: The game changer, he said, was a woman carrying a sign that said, “Roses are red, violets are blue, I came here to deal with you.”
Whatever it was that opened the floodgates, would-be deal makers were soon showing up wearing live-bird hats, Tom Sawyer costumes or boxes resembling refrigerators. Some simply waved signs pleading, “Pick Me.”
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| Mr. Hall with contestants on “Let’s Make a Deal” in 1969. Credit ABC Photo Archives, via Getty Images |
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