Hall kept his word by constantly giving back

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This article was published 01/10/2017 (3214 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Monty Hall will be remembered by most North Americans as the guy who gave stuff away — sometimes big, exciting, expensive stuff, and sometimes disappointing, worthless, comically silly junk. It all depended on the recipients’ willingness to take a chance, risk it all and make a deal, combined with plain old dumb luck.

In his hometown of Winnipeg, however, the co-creator and longtime host of one of television’s most enduring game shows — Let’s Make a Deal — will also be remembered as a guy who spent his life fulfilling a promise to give back.

Hall, who was 96, died Saturday of heart failure at his home in Beverly Hills. He had lived in southern California for more than half a century, but he held fast to his North End roots. It was in the iconic Winnipeg neighbourhood that Hall — who was born Monte Halparin on Aug. 25, 1921 — was the recipient of a life-changing kindness that would eventually fuel his tireless dedication to philanthropy.

As the oft-told story goes, as a young man Hall had dreams of attending the University of Manitoba to become a doctor, but his family lacked the means to send him there. While working at menial jobs in an effort to raise enough money for tuition, he was noticed by a man who took pity on him and offered to pay for his schooling.

The benevolence came with three conditions: that young Hall would maintain an “A” average, that the benefactor would remain anonymous, and that Hall would find a way to pay the favour forward.

He attended the U of M, graduating in 1946 with a bachelor’s degree in science. But Hall’s life took a turn in a now-familiar direction; after getting a taste of the theatrical spotlight in university drama productions, he moved to Toronto to pursue an acting career, and in the mid-’50s he relocated to New York seeking work in radio. By 1960, he was in Los Angeles, dabbling in TV as host of a couple of long-forgotten game shows before partnering with Stefan Hatos to create Let’s Make a Deal.

The show premiered in 1963. Its concept was simple: contestants picked out of the studio audience by host Hall would be offered a series of choices that essentially involved either keeping a prize they’d been given or taking a chance at bigger riches by trading it for what was concealed in a box or behind a curtain.

Sometimes, the payoff would be huge — cash, a state-of-the-art home appliance or a fancy new car — but other times, the price of taking Monty’s “deal” was giving up something pretty good for a worthless and often hilarious “zonk.”

Let’s Make a Deal ran as a daytime staple until 1976, with Hall hosting nearly 5,000 shows. It continued in syndication, off and on, for several more years, and was revived as a full-time TV property in 2009 with Wayne Brady as host. Hall remained involved as an executive producer.

During his years of giving away prizes and money, Hall maintained a singular focus on raising money for charities — most notably, Variety Club (he had a hand in establishing the Winnipeg chapter) — and it’s estimated that his philanthropic efforts brought more than $300 million to charitable organizations.

It’s estimated that his philanthropic efforts brought more than $300 million to charitable organizations.

Hall was given a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 1973, a spot on Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto in 2002, and a lifetime-achievement Daytime Emmy in 2013. He was also a member of both the Order of Manitoba and the Order of Canada.

Through it all — including during his last conversation with the Free Press in 2013, during the semi-annual TV critics’ press tour in Los Angeles — Hall maintained a keen interest in Winnipeg and held fast to his North End roots.

And he most definitely paid back the favour.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @BradOswald