Television personality Peter Marshall, who was the original host of the game show known as The Hollywood Squares, has died. He was 98.

Marshall passed on to the after-life on Thursday, August 15, by way of kidney failure in his home in Encino, California, according to his publicist, Harlan Boll, to AP and as echoed by his wife, Laurie, in Variety.

Marshall was originally Ralph Pierre LaCock, and he was born in Huntington, W. V. He is famous for hosting the Emmy award-winning hit game show. He hosted over 5,000 episodes from 1966 to, with many people familiar with him only from as late as 1980. In addition to the series on NBC, he hosted a nighttime syndicated version of the show from 1971 to 1981.

Peter Marshall’s Early Life & Career

Marshall was born Ralph Pierre LaCock on March 30, 1926, to Ralph and Jean LaCock, a show business family in Huntington, West Virginia. Following his father’s suicide when Marshall was ten, he moved to New York City to be with his mother, a costume designer. 

After he graduated from high school, he was drafted into the Army in 1944 and stationed in Italy. He was originally in the artillery but was recruited to be a disc jockey at a radio station in Naples. He was discharged in 1946 with the rank of staff sergeant.

In the 1950s, Marshall earned his living as part of a comedy act with Tommy Noonan, and they appeared in night clubs, on television variety shows, and in films including Starlift (1951), The Rookie (1959) and Swingin’ Along (1962).

Although Marshall occasionally worked in film and television, he could not find regular work in the industry until his friend Morey Amsterdam recommended him to fill in for Bert Parks (who emceed the pilot) as the host of the game show The Hollywood Squares in 1966.

Marshall was the host of his own short-lived syndicated music and comedy series, The Peter Marshall Variety Show, which aired during the 1976–1977 season in markets in the United States.