Monty Hall (born Monte Halparin; August 25, 1921 – September 30, 2017) was a Canadian-American radio and television show host who moved to the United States in 1955 to pursue a career in broadcasting. After working as a radio newsreader and sportscaster, Hall returned to television in the U.S., where his focus was now on hosting game shows. Starting in 1963, he was best known as the host, co-creator, and co-producer of Let's Make a Deal. A conundrum involving game theory and psychology was named after him: the Monty Hall problem. Behind the scenes, Hall also carried on an active life of philanthropy.
Hall was born as Monte Halparin in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on August 25, 1921, to Orthodox Jewish parents Maurice Harvey Halparin, who owned a slaughterhouse, and Rose (née Rusen). He was raised in Winnipeg's north end, where he attended Lord Selkirk School (Elmwood, Winnipeg), and, later St. John's High School. Hall graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Manitoba, where he majored in chemistry and zoology. He was sponsored through university by Max Freed, a local businessman who was a customer of his father. Originally though, Hall had hoped to go to medical school but was not admitted due to secret quotas restricting the number of Jewish students admitted. Hall could speak Yiddish.
Hall's first radio job was working for CKRC radio in Winnipeg while still a student. He briefly worked for the Canadian Wheat Board after graduating before deciding to pursue a full-time career in broadcasting. He moved to Toronto in 1946 and found a job with radio station CHUM, where management shortened his name to Hall and misspelled his first name as "Monty" on billboards, giving him the stage name "Monty Hall". For the next decade he hosted and produced a number of programs for radio stations in Toronto, as well as Who Am I? on CFRB, which was distributed nationally in Canada through private syndication until 1959. He also had several short-lived programmes on CBC Television after it was launched in 1952, but when they were cancelled and another program he had conceived was taken away from him, Hall decided he had no future in Canadian television.
Hall moved to New York City in 1955, attempting to break into American broadcasting, but commuted to Toronto several times a month to record episode blocks of Who Am I? In New York, Hall hosted game shows such as Bingo at Home on WABD-TV and guest-hosted more established game shows such as Strike It Rich on CBS and Twenty-One on NBC. On September 15, 1956, Hall began a seven-month stint hosting the Saturday afternoon series Cowboy Theater, broadcast nationally on the NBC network. Hall's segments were performed live from NBC's New York studio, and the films were Columbia Pictures' 1935-42 westerns starring Charles Starrett.
Hall later hosted the children's program Fun in the Morning for WNEW-TV (Ch. 5) in the early 1960s. From 1956 to 1960, along with NBC Radio newsman Morgan Beatty, Hall co-hosted the Saturday night segment of the NBC Radio Network weekend program Monitor from 8 p.m. until midnight (EST). At least two recordings of Hall on Monitor are known to exist.
Hall was a radio analyst for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League during the 1959–1960 season.
He succeeded Jack Narz as host of a game show called Video Village, which ran from 1960 to 1962 on CBS. From 1961 to 1962, Hall hosted its spinoff, Video Village Junior, which featured children. After moving to Southern California, Hall became the host of the game show Let's Make a Deal, which he developed and produced with partner Stefan Hatos.
Let's Make a Deal aired on NBC daytime from December 30, 1963, to December 27, 1968, and on ABC daytime from December 30, 1968, until July 9, 1976, along with two prime time runs. It aired in syndication from 1971 to 1977, from 1980 to 1981, from 1984 to 1986, and again on NBC briefly from 1990 to 1991, with Hall replacing Bob Hilton, who had been dismissed. He was the producer or executive producer of the show through most of its runs. During the show's initial run, Hall appeared alongside model Carol Merrill and announcer Jay Stewart. In 1969, he guest-starred on season 4, episode 5, of That Girl, playing Dr. Pellman, a dentist.
Besides Let's Make a Deal, the game show Split Second, which originally ran on ABC from 1972 to 1975 with Tom Kennedy as host, and again in syndication in 1986 with Hall hosting that version, was the only other successful program from Hatos-Hall Productions. In 1975, he published his autobiography, co-authored with Bill Libby, called Emcee Monty Hall. Other game shows from Hatos' and Hall's production company included Chain Letter in 1966; a revival of the venerable 1950s-era panel quiz Masquerade Party in 1974; Three for the Money in 1975; It's Anybody's Guess in 1977, which reunited Let's Make a Deal announcer Jay Stewart with Hall, who also hosted the show; and the Canadian-based The Joke's on Us in 1983. Hall filled in as guest host on several daytime game shows while Let's Make a Deal was on NBC, most notably What's This Song? and PDQ.
In 1979, Hall hosted the only game show since Video Village which he did not produce, Goodson-Todman's All-New Beat the Clock. Also, in 1979, Hall made an appearance on the game show Password Plus as a game show contestant, followed by another week of appearances in August 1980 (just before the launch of the upcoming Canadian-produced Let's Make a Deal revival, which he took the opportunity to plug). He appeared as himself on "The Promise Ring" episode of That '70s Show in 2001. He played the host of a beauty pageant who schemed to become "the world's most powerful game show host" in the Disney animated series American Dragon: Jake Long. He appeared on GSN Live on March 14, 2008, and hosted a game of Let's Make a Deal for Good Morning America on August 18, 2008, as part of Game Show Reunion week.
In summer 2009, CBS announced that it was reviving Let's Make a Deal on its daytime schedule. The show premiered on October 5, 2009, with Wayne Brady as host. Hall was credited as "Creative Consultant" until he died in 2017, and remains credited as co-creator of the format (with Stefan Hatos), as per many international versions of the show, with Hatos/Hall Productions being credited as co-production company (with Fremantle). Hall made appearances in 2010 and 2013 during the Brady run, and had been part of publicity photos in early 2017 to promote season nine.
Hall spent much of his off time involved in philanthropic work. His family says he was always going to telethons and helped raise close to $1 billion for charity in his lifetime. Hall was repeatedly honored for his charitable efforts. Wards at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto and Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia are named in his honor.Hall, who said that charitable work was the driving force in his life, even went so far as to conceive a television series where he would assist people who were having troubles through various connections he had made through his philanthropic efforts.
In 1985, while still hosting The All-New Let's Make a Deal in syndication, Hall began work on his new project, which was to be titled For the People and distributed by Worldvision Enterprises. His plan was to keep Let's Make a Deal in production under a new host while focusing most of his time on For the People, and both shows were presented for station owners at the 1986 NATPE convention. Although the pilot episode was not well received, Hall pressed forward with For the People until he eventually decided to put the project on hold in June 1986 after For the People had not gotten enough stations to sign on to carry it. Hall vowed that he would try again, but ultimately For the People was never brought to series. (Hall also failed to get enough interest for a third season of Let's Make a Deal, which resulted in its cancellation at the end of the 1985-86 season; he pressed on with his revival of Split Second, which ran for nineteen weeks beginning in December 1986 before it too would not be renewed.)