‘Hollywood Squares’ host and Broadway star Peter Marshall dies at 98
Peter Marshall, who played straight man to the stars for 16 years as host of “The Hollywood Squares,” has died at 98
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Peter Marshall, the actor and singer turned game show host who played straight man to the stars for 16 years on “The Hollywood Squares,” has died. He was 98.
He died Thursday of kidney failure at his home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, publicist Harlan Boll said.
Marshall helped define the form of the smooth, professional, but never-too-serious modern game show host on more than 5,000 episodes of the series that ran on NBC from 1966 to 1981.
But he was often closer to a talk show host, and the tic-tac-toe game the contestants played, while real, was all an excuse for a good time. The questions Marshall posed to regulars like Paul Lynde, George Gobel and Joan Rivers were designed to be set-ups for joke answers before the real ones followed.
