Alex Trebek lost the Hockey Night in Canada job because of his mustache
In 1971 Alex Trebek was the producer's favourite to host Hockey Night in Canada, but the job went to Dave Hodge because the producer's boss objected to a mustached presenter. Trebek headed south instead and ended up hosting the revived Jeopardy! for 37 seasons, until his death.
Born in Sudbury, Ontario, on July 22, 1940, George Alexander Trebek grew up speaking French and English. His father, a chef, had emigrated from Ukraine as a child and spent part of his youth in Japan; his mother was Franco-Ontarian. He worked as a hotel bellhop at 13, came close to expulsion from boarding school, and quit a military college rather than shave his head. He took a philosophy degree from the University of Ottawa in 1961.
Even before graduating he joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, filling in for announcers across the schedule and eventually reading national radio news and covering events from curling to horse racing. He hosted a high-school quiz, Reach for the Top, from 1966, and introduced classical music programmes that included performances by Glenn Gould.
In 1973 he moved to the United States to front NBC's The Wizard of Odds, followed by High Rollers. By 1978 he was one of only two hosts running shows in both countries at the same time, commuting to Toronto for The $128,000 Question. Not every gig paid: when the company behind Pitfall went bankrupt, he never received his money. In a 1980 charity tournament between game-show hosts on Card Sharks, he beat Bill Cullen in the final.
When Art Fleming declined to return for a Jeopardy! revival, Merv Griffin, nudged by Lucille Ball, chose Trebek. He started in 1984 and never left, winning the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Game Show Host eight times and becoming a US citizen in 1998. He died on November 8, 2020, aged 80, after 20 months with stage IV pancreatic cancer, still under contract to host through 2022.
Source: Alex Trebek
