Peter Marshall, Emmy Award Winners host “Hollywood Squares” passed away. He was 98.
Marshall He died of kidney failure at his home in Los Angeles on Thursday, his publicist Harlan Boll said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.
Marshall hosted “The Hollywood Squares” for 15 years from 1966 to 1981.
Peter Marshall hosted this iconic game show for fifteen years. (Getty Images)
“It was the easiest thing I ever had in show business,” Marshall said in a 2010 interview with the Archive of American Television, according to the Associated Press. “I walked in, said ‘Hello stars,’ I read the questions and laughed. And I got paid very well for that.”
“It was the easiest job I ever had in show business.”
Born on March 30, 1926, in Huntington, West Virginia, Marshall began his career in show business as a teenager, landing a job as an NBC radio page and an usher at New York City’s Paramount Theater. After graduating from high school, Marshall was drafted into the Army in 1944 and began working as a disc jockey for Armed Forces Radio.
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By the late 1940s, Marshall and comedian and filmmaker Tommy Noonan began performing regularly at major nightclubs and theaters across the country. After appearing in several films in the ’60s, Marshall’s first major role on Broadway was in 1965’s “Skyscraper” with Julie Harris.
Marshall died of kidney failure. (Getty Images)
In 2021, Marshall spoke to Fox News Digital about the show’s abrupt end.
“(Fred Silverman), when he was the head of CBS, turned down ‘Hollywood Squares,'” he said. “He always hated the show! And then he came to NBC and he kept changing our timeslot, trying to get us out. And finally, they brought in David Letterman for an hour and a half. And then they canceled it. But it wouldn’t work! David Letterman doesn’t come on daytime. David Letterman comes on late night. And I was right . . . . We were doing great. And then they canceled it to bring in David Letterman, which didn’t work. But then they put him on late night, and he was wonderful.”
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Though the game show’s ending caused a major change in Marshall’s schedule, he had no time to be sad.
The TV host has appeared in various TV shows and movies throughout his career. (Getty Images)
“Well, I had a career besides that,” he said at the time. “I used to work 26 weeks a year in Vegas. I used to do theater. So after I did ‘Square,’ I did another show called ‘Fantasy Island’ for two years. . . . And I just kept busy. You grow in this business. It’s a great adventure. I’ve always worked. I’ve been one of the lucky ones.”
Three years before his death, he and his wife of 35 years, Laurie, were diagnosed with the disease. COVID-19 On January 12, 2021. In a statement sent to Fox News by Marshall’s spouse, it was revealed that the star was initially treated at home but later hospitalization necessary,
‘Hollywood Squares’ host Peter Marshall explains why the iconic game show ended
“In mid-January my wife started feeling dizzy, so she went and got tested,” Marshall told Fox News Digital at the time. “When we were waiting 48 hours for her results to come back, I knew we were both dizzy, because I realized I was dizzy too. I got both a rapid test and a 48-hour test. The rapid test showed I wasn’t dizzy, so we were very relieved, but the 48-hour test came back positive.”
Laurie explained that hospital staff were “overwhelmed and under-resourced” so the family decided to bring her husband home where he could spend his final days with his family and animals “rather than die alone in hospital.” However, Laurie was warned that Marshall would not be able to survive at home without the “high flow oxygen therapy the hospital was providing.” Laurie claimed she was then advised to make final arrangements.
Peter and Laurie remained married for 35 years. (Getty Images)
Marshall was discharged from the hospital on February 12, after he had feared being readmitted to the hospital.
“From the moment I went to the hospital, I was worried that I wouldn’t survive because so many people were dying from it and I knew I was at a high risk because of my age,” Marshall said. “Then my condition worsened in the hospital. I knew I was dying in the hospital. Whenever I spoke to my wife, I thought it might be the last time we would speak.”
“The medical team my wife put together for me after she brought me home saved my life,” Marshall said at the time. “Mind you, I wasn’t sure it was a good thing. I was in very bad physical condition at the time, and I didn’t want to stay there for fear of leaving the world, which seemed like a real possibility.”
“I recovered from the virus pretty easily, but my system was weakened and I developed pneumonia,” Marshall said. “It also turned into sepsis. Any one of these three conditions alone is enough to kill someone my age. It took a lot of medical expertise to fix it. It was miraculous, to say the least.”
Peter is survived by his wife Laurie, daughters Suzanne Browning and Jaime DiMarco, and son Pete LaCock, who died in 2021.
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Stephanie Nolasco of The Associated Press and Fox News Digital contributed to this post.
