‘Hollywood Squares’ Host Dies of Kidney Failure: Peter Marshall Was 98

Peter Marshall, best known as the original host of Hollywood Squares, has died. Marshall, who began hosting the iconic NBC series in 1966, passed away of kidney failure at his home in Encino, California on Thursday, his publicist Harlan Boll told the Associated Press. Marshall’s wife, Laurie, also confirmed his passing to Variety. He was 98.

Born Ralph Pierre LaCock in Huntington, West Virginia on March 30, 1926, Marshall got his start in show business as a teenager when he landed jobs as an NBC Radio page, where he helped with the Ralph Edwards-hosted show Truth or Consequences, and an usher at Paramount Theater in New York City. He also sang with the Bob Chester Band, per The Hollywood Reporter. After he was drafted into the Army in 1944, he hosted for Armed Forces Radio.

When he was drafted into the Army in 1944, he hosted for Armed Forces Radio, and after the war in 1949, he went on to form a comedy duo with comedian and film producer Tommy Noonan. Together, the pair performed in major nightclubs and theaters throughout the country and made appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. In the ’50s, he became a movie contract player at Twentieth Century Fox, landing roles in films including The Rookie (1959), Swingin’ Along (1961), Ensign Pulver (1964) and The Cavern (1964).

Marshall’s most iconic role would come in 1966 when he was offered the Hollywood Squares hosting job, a role that would earn him four Daytime Emmys. The popular NBC series was a star-studded, tic-tac-toe match featuring nine celebrity guests and two contestants, with Paul Lynde, Joan Rivers, Rich Little, Rose Marie, George Gobel, and Wally Cox regularly appearing as panelists. Marshall hosted more than 5,000 episodes of the series from 1966 through 1980 and also hosted a syndicated version of the show that aired from 1971 through 1981.

“It was the easiest job I ever had, and I never rehearsed,” he said in a 2010 interview for the Archive of American Television. “I walked in, said ‘Hello stars,’ I read questions and laughed. And it paid very well.”

After Hollywood Squares ended, Marshall went on to host a number of other game shows, including The Peter Marshall Variety Show, Big Bands from Disneyland, All-Star Blitz, and Yahtzee. In 2007, he was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame.

Outside of his roles on the screen, Marshall also had a number of stage credits to his name, notably starring opposite Chita Rivera in London’s West End production of Bye Bye Birdie in 1962. He made his Broadway debut in Skyscraper with Julie Harris in 1965, and also performed in High Button Shoes, Anything Goes, The Music Man, and 42nd Street.

Marshall is survived by his wife, daughters Suzanne Browning and Jaime Dimarco, and son Chicago Cubs player Pete LaCock, as well as 12 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.