Alex Trebek

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Template:Infobox actor television

File:Alextrebek86.jpg
Alex Trebek, with his once-iconic mustache, hosting a 1986 episode of Jeopardy!

George Alexander Trebek (born as Giorgi Suka-Alex Trebek [1] on July 22, 1940) is an Emmy Award-winning Canadian-American television personality and best known as the host of the game show Jeopardy! since September 10, 1984. He has hosted numerous game/quiz shows and has appeared in television series, usually as himself. Though a native of Canada, he is now also a naturalized United States citizen.

Early life

Alex Trebek was born in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, to George Edward Trebek, a Ukrainian immigrant father and Lucille Lagacé, a Franco-Ontarian mother. He was educated by the Jesuits before graduating from Toronto's Malvern Collegiate Institute in 1958, and later the University of Ottawa with a degree in philosophy. Interested in a career in broadcast news, he began his broadcasting career working for the CBC as a newscaster. Specializing in national news and covering a wide range of special events for the CBC's radio and television divisions, Trebek earned a reputation as a broadcaster who maintained his poise and composure in the most difficult settings.

Rise in television

In 1966 he started hosting the high school quiz show Reach for the Top. In 1970 he hosted "Jackpot!". 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). In 1982, Trebek was given the chance to host a pilot episode of Starcade (he was eventually replaced by Mark Richards). He also hosted game shows such as Battlestars and Pitfall before he was chosen to host the revived version of the game show Jeopardy! in 1984. (Art Fleming, the man whom Trebek was replacing, had retired from television.) He has been its host ever since, for the past 23 years. Prior to hosting Jeopardy, he had been hired by Mark Goodson to host the NBC daytime game show, Classic Concentration, which he continued with, and which also proved a success. Trebek was nominated for 4 Daytime Emmy Awards, but didn't win.

In 1991, he became the only host in United States TV history to helm three daily national game shows at once — Jeopardy!, Classic Concentration and To Tell the Truth. He is one of four hosts to emcee a game show in the United States and a game show in Canada at the same time. The other three are Jim Perry (who hosted Card Sharks and Sale of the Century as well as several Canadian shows, including Definition), Geoff Edwards (who pulled off the feat in 1989 by hosting Jackpot and USA's Chain Reaction, which taped in Canada), and Howie Mandel (who hosts both the U.S. and Canadian versions of Deal or No Deal). Trebek and Perry are the only two known hosts in the industry to host three different game shows at once in North American television.

He is divorced from his first wife, Elaine Callei. He has been married to his second wife, Jean Currivan-Trebek, a real estate businesswoman and the mother of his two children, since April 30, 1990.

Trebek was also a celebrity guest at the World Wrestling Federation's annual event Wrestlemania VII, on March 24, 1991, where he served as a special guest announcer, interviewing wrestlers. Most memorable was when he interviewed Jake "The Snake" Roberts and was scared away by Jake's snake, Damien.

Honors and awards

Having skillfully guided the series to years of unprecedented success, Alex Trebek has been personally honored with four Emmy Awards (best television host) and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (located at 6501 Hollywood Boulevard, near those for Ann-Margret and Vincent Price).

Trebek is active with a number of educational organizations and charities, donates a great deal of his free time to touring overseas with the USO, and serves as a spokesman for World Vision. A favorite role of his is to host the annual National Geographic Bee in the U.S. and Canada. He is on the boards of the National Geographic Society Education Foundation and the National Advisory Council for the Literary Volunteers of America. 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 March of 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). He is also one of the few inductees to have stars on both Canada's and Hollywood's walks.

Parodies

Trebek parodies generally emphasize his stoic nature and his penchant for over-pronouncing foreign terms.

  • On Second City Television, Eugene Levy portrayed a game show host named 'Alex Trebel' who hosted a parody version of College Bowl.
  • A popular recurring skit on Saturday Night Live parodied Celebrity Jeopardy! Will Ferrell portrayed Trebek asking humorously simplified versions of Jeopardy! questions to celebrity contestants. Ferrell's Trebek was the straight man in the skits, often making snarky and sarcastic comments about the stupidity of the celebrities. On Ferrell's last episode of Saturday Night Live as a cast member in 2002, Trebek himself appeared alongside his counterpart to congratulate his work on the program's Celebrity Jeopardy! sketches.
  • In an episode of TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes, a fake Alex Trebek fan club, calling themselves "Trebekkies", invited him to one of their gatherings. Alex graciously accepted, and observed the bizarre proceedings for some time before the joke was revealed to him.
  • In the Family Guy episode "I Take Thee Quagmire", while competing on Jeopardy!, Mayor Adam West writes "Kebert Xela" in response to the Final Jeopardy! clue "It was the first spacecraft to land on the surface of Mars". When Trebek reads West's response, he instantly vanishes in a burst of light, after which West declares, "Only saying his name backwards can send him back to the 5th dimension where he belongs". This is a reference to the character Mister Mxyzptlk from DC Comics' Superman comic book series. Alex voices himself in this episode.
  • In Pinky and the Brain, Trebek appeared as Alex Quebec in a spoof called Gyp-Parody.
  • In an episode of Rugrats, Alex Trebek plays the host, named Alan Quebec, of a trivia game show "Super Stumpers" that Didi was a contestant on.
  • In MadTV, actor Ike Barinholtz portayed Alex Trebek.

Other notable events

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 and Emily). He owns and manages Creston Farms, a 700 acre (2.8 km²) ranch near Paso Robles in Creston, California which breeds, trains and provides state-of-the-art care for thoroughbred race horses and until recently he also owned a winery called Creston Vineyards.

In an interview with a talk show host, Trebek complained that "I had only been a citizen for two weeks when I received a summons to appear for jury duty!"

After tinting his graying hair for several years, Trebek stopped tinting his hair in the late '80s after fellow game show host Bob Barker renounced hair-dye in 1987. Monty Hall would also follow suit.

Trebek hosted the 1996 & 1998 Pillsbury Bake-Off. In the 1996 Bake-Off (held in Dallas, Texas), Trebek witnessed history in the making, when Kurt Wait became the first man ever to win a Pillsbury Bake-Off. His creation was a fudge macadamian torte. Pillsbury raised the grand prize from $50,000 to $1,000,000 starting in 1996.

In late 2001, during Jeopardy!'s 18th season, Trebek shaved his famous mustache that he had had for over 30 years. A screen saver from the official Web site gives a clue based on this fact.

In 1995, During Operation Joint Endeavour, Trebek was included in the USO tour giving troops mock Jeparody rounds, and allowing them to take the Pre-test for getting on the show.

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[2] 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.[3][4]

Trebek appeared on Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2005. He came in second place in his qualifying game, losing to Cheryl Hines.

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

TV and film appearances

File:Tv jeopardy jerome.jpg
Brad Rutter is congratulated for his first place victory by Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, at the Ultimate Tournament of Champions

Shows hosted

Cameos

  • The X-Files: In the tongue-in-cheek X-Files episode entitled "Jose Chung's From Outer Space", Trebek appeared as himself in a character's flashback sequence. In that brief scene he appeared to lead a double life as a man in black in a government conspiracy to intimidate and ridicule UFO witnesses. Any UFO witness who claimed to have been intimidated from testifying by Alex Trebek, "the game show host?!" would appear to be hallucinating.
  • The Simpsons: In the Christmas episode Miracle on Evergreen Terrace, Bart burns down his family's Christmas tree and presents, and the whole town chips in to give them a worthwhile Christmas. The town soon finds out that Bart lied, and thinks that the family had supported this, so they demand their money back. The family had already spent all of the money on a new car, but it gets destroyed by the snow. To get the town's money back, Marge decides to go onto Jeopardy! but finishes well in the negative. Trebek meets up with Marge backstage after the filming and says to her, "You were down fifty-two hundred dollars, Marge" and makes a hand-it-over motion. As Marge tries to defend herself, Alex interrupts "I asked you before the game if you knew the rules and you said you did". Marge runs away as two burly "judges" seem to chase after Lisa and her. One of the judges remarks "She ain't gettin' the home version." He is later seen among the looters at the end with arms full of stolen goods.
  • White Men Can't Jump: Alex appears as himself hosting Jeopardy in this basketball-themed film, when the character Gloria goes on the program.
  • Family Guy: Alex appears as himself on an episode of Jeopardy! featuring Mayor Adam West. In the final Jeopardy round, West tricks Alex to say his name backwards (Kebert Xela) sending him into the fifth dimension, a parody of Superman enemy Mr. Mxyzptlk.
  • Cheers: In the episode "What is...Cliff Clavin?" Cliff Clavin appears on Jeopardy! and Trebek appears as host. Cliff's answer ('Who are three people who have never been in my kitchen?'), is one of the most famous scenes in sitcom history.
  • Arthur: In the episode "Arthur and the Big Riddle" Alex Trebek did a voice appearance as "Alex Lebeck", the host of a kids game show called "Riddle Quest", both parodies to his name and his game show.
  • Rugrats: In one episode, Didi appears on an episode of the fictional game show "Super Stumpers." Trebek provided the voice for the host of the show, "Alan Quebec."
  • Universe of Energy: In the Universe of Energy ride at Walt Disney World's Epcot, Ellen DeGeneres' dream involves her appearing on Jeopardy! hosted by Alex Trebek
  • S.W.A.T.: In the movie S.W.A.T., the main criminal is at one time arrested while laying on top of Alex Trebek's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  • Golden Girls: In one episode, Dorothy Zbornak auditioned to be on Jeopardy; Alex appears as himself.
  • Mama's Family: Thelma "Mama" Harper appears on Jeopardy and Trebek appears as Host.
  • Charlie's Angels: Trebek appears as himself at the beginning of this movie, congratulating Cameron Diaz's character Natalie for being a 5-day Jeopardy champion.
  • Pepper Ann: Alex cameos in the final episode of Pepper Ann as Lydia Pearson's husband.
  • Appeared as himself in the 1993 Robert Altman film Short Cuts.

Trivia

  • Trebek has a tendency to pronounce years prior to 1910, such as 1895, in a traditional manner as "eighteen hundred and ninety-five" rather than the contemporary pronunciation of "eighteen ninety-five".
  • Has used his game show success to acquire substantial real estate holdings in California.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ Profile on tvguide.com
  2. ^ "J! Archive - Show #5012 - Tuesday, May 30, 2006". 2006-05-30. Retrieved 2006-12-29. I got you beat. When I fell asleep at the wheel, my pickup flew 45 feet.
  3. ^ "'Jeopardy!' host Trebek in car crash". Associated Press. 2004-01-31. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
  4. ^ "'Jeopardy!' host hopes to return Tuesday". Associated Press. 2004-02-02. Retrieved 2006-12-29.

External links

Preceded by Host of To Tell The Truth
1991 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Art Fleming 1964-1975, 1978-1979
 Host of Jeopardy!
1984-Present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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