![]() Trebek hosted the show through a pair of two-year runs on NBC, from 1974-76 and again from 1978-80. The show only lasted one season in 1974 Trebek signed on to host its replacement, another game show called High Rollers. ![]() His first American television gig was as host of the short-lived 1973 game show The Wizard of Odds. In 1973, Trebek decided to leave his native country in favor of the place where the biggest television stars are made: Hollywood. In 1970, Trebek graduated to hosting the more prominent, nationally televised Canadian game show Jackpot. He became the host of the Canadian quiz show Reach for the Top, which pitted teams of high school students against each other in academic competitions. Although he quickly earned a reputation for his cool on-screen demeanor, in 1966 he decided to shift his focus from journalism to the more lucrative field of hosting game shows. He landed his first job as a fill-in reporter and newscaster with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC TV. ![]() Upon graduation in 1961, Trebek decided to ditch philosophy and pursue a career in journalism. "Sudbury is a more distant memory," he now admits, "because I was born there and raised there, but I left to go away to boarding school."Īfter graduating from high school in 1957, Trebek continued on to the University of Ottawa to study philosophy. "His basic philosophy was don't throw out something because someday it'll come in handy," he says about his father.Ī bright and curious child from a very young age, Trebek attended Jesuit schools until the age of 12, when he decided to leave Sudbury to attend the University of Ottawa High School in the Canadian capital. Trebek describes his father as a hoarder of knickknacks that had a way of proving useful years later. "My dad drank pretty heavily, and he never missed a day of work in his life," Trebek recalls. His mother, Lucille Trebek, was a French-Canadian woman with some First Nations ancestry, and his father, George Trebek, was a Ukrainian immigrant who worked as a chef at a local hotel. Trebek was born on July 22, 1940, in Sudbury, Canada, a large city in northern Ontario. In 1984, he began his longtime hosting role of a revived version of the trivia show Jeopardy! In 2019, he revealed that he's battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer and passed away from the disease in November 2020. While Jeopardy! will never be the same without Alex Trebek, his legacy will continue on through the iconic game show.In the mid-1960s, Alex Trebek became the host of the Canadian quiz show Reach for the Top. We can still enjoy more Jeopardy! episodes with Trebek as the host - Trebek's episodes will air through Dec. According to the official website, "the show is not announcing plans for a new host at this time." Back in July, while being interviewed by Good Morning America, Trebek quipped about his top pick for a new host: "I joke with the audience all the time and I say, 'Betty White,' because they want somebody younger, somebody funnier." While it's safe to assume that Betty White won't actually be the replacement, the Jeopardy! team isn't releasing any information right now. While his family, fans, and other celebrities share their fond memories of Trebek and the game show, many of us have been wondering - who will replace the legendary host?Īs it turns out, there isn't a definitive answer right now. Trebek had been very open about his battle with cancer, announcing it to Jeopardy! fans back in March 2019, and giving updates throughout the past year and a half. 8, Alex Trebek passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer, leaving behind his family and a 30-year hosting legacy.
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