Peter Marshall, the charismatic host who presided over “The Hollywood Squares” for 16 years, died on Thursday at his home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 98. The cause was kidney failure, according to his publicist, Harlan Boll.
Marshall’s smooth, professional demeanor helped define the modern game show host during his tenure on “The Hollywood Squares,” which ran on NBC from 1966 to 1981. Over the course of more than 5,000 episodes, Marshall’s wit and warmth made him a household name and contributed to the show’s enduring popularity.
Born Ralph Pierre LaCock in Clarksburg, West Virginia, Marshall’s entertainment career began long before he took the helm of “The Hollywood Squares” at age 40. As a teenager, he toured as a singer with the Bob Chester Orchestra and worked as an NBC Radio page. During World War II, he was drafted and stationed in Italy, where he made his first forays into broadcasting as a DJ for Armed Forces Radio.
In 1949, Marshall formed a comedy duo with Tommy Noonan, performing in nightclubs, theaters, and on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” He later became a contract player for Twentieth Century Fox in the 1950s, appearing in films such as “The Rookie” (1959) and “Swingin’ Along” (1961).
While major starring roles in Hollywood eluded him, Marshall found success in musical theater. He starred opposite Chita Rivera in “Bye Bye Birdie” in London’s West End in 1962 and made his Broadway debut in “Skyscraper” with Julie Harris in 1965. His other Broadway credits included roles in “High Button Shoes,” “The Music Man,” and “42nd Street.”
It was “The Hollywood Squares,” however, that cemented Marshall’s place in American popular culture. The show’s format, which combined a simple tic-tac-toe game with celebrity quips, proved to be a perfect showcase for Marshall’s talents. He described his role on the show as “the easiest thing I’ve ever done in show business,” telling the Archive of American Television in 2010, “I walked in, said ‘Hello stars,’ I read questions and laughed. And it paid very well.”
The show featured a rotating cast of celebrity regulars, including Paul Lynde, George Gobel, and Joan Rivers, as well as occasional appearances by major stars like Aretha Franklin, Mel Brooks, and Carl Reiner. Marshall developed a particularly warm rapport with many of the regulars, especially Gobel, whom he once described as his “closest friend on Hollywood Squares and my absolute all-time favorite Square!”
Under Marshall’s stewardship, “The Hollywood Squares” won four Daytime Emmy Awards for outstanding game show and spawned numerous international versions and U.S. reboots.
After his tenure on “The Hollywood Squares” ended, Marshall hosted several other short-lived game shows before returning to his roots as a singing actor. He starred in more than 800 performances of “La Cage Aux Folles” on Broadway and on tour, and appeared in the 1983 film version of “Annie.”
Marshall was married three times, the last to Laurie Stewart in 1989. The couple survived a bout with COVID-19 in early 2021, which resulted in Marshall’s hospitalization for several weeks.
He is survived by his wife, Laurie; his children Pete LaCock (a former professional baseball player for the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals), Suzanne, Jaime, and David; 12 grandchildren; and nine great-great-grandchildren.