Let’s Make A Deal Host Monty Hall Dies At 96

Monty Hall, best known as the host and co-creator of the long-running and award-winning game show Let’s Make a Deal, has died at the age of 96, the New York Times is reporting. He had been a fixture in American living rooms for more than two decades as Let’s Make A Deal  from 1963 until 1986. His passing was announced to the Times by Monty’s daughter, Tony-award winning actress Joanna Gleason, and said that the cause of death had been heart failure.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Aug. 25, 1921, as Monte Halparin (later changing his name for use on the stage) was one of two sons of Maurice Halparin and Rose Rusen. He started out his career while still in Winnipeg at local radio stations, before moving  to Toronto. From as early as 1946 he was hosting game shows, including Bingo at Home on WABD-TV.

Monty is survived by a family which continues to thrive on stage and screen: two daughters, Joanna Gleason, a Tony Award-winning actress, and Sharon Hall, a television executive; a son, Richard, a producer who won an Emmy for “The Amazing Race”; a brother, Robert Hall, a lawyer; and five grandchildren. His wife of almost 70 years, Marilyn Plottel, herself an Emmy Award-winning television producer, who preceded Monty in death this past June.

Here’s a video tribute from the 2013 daytime Emmy Awards ceremony which celebrated Monty’s career: