Mervin Griffin, who began his career as a radio singer and ended it as a wealthy show business impresario, has died at age 82.

According to a statement released Sunday by his family, Griffin succumbed to prostate cancer.

Over the course of his amazing career, he sang -- even having a three-million-selling novelty song hit --and acted in a few films. But television is where he really hit his stride. Griffin became a fixture on U.S. daytime television in the 1960s, hosting 5,500 shows and interviewing more than 25,000 people.

Guests included the usual newsmakers and entertainers, but Griffin never played down to his audience. He also had on more esoteric guests like philosopher Bertrand Russell, cellist Pablo Casals and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer-philosopher-historians Will and Ariel Durant.

A funny guy in his own right, Griffin always had a soft spot for comedians. He is credited with giving Richard Pryor and Jerry Seinfeld their first big breaks.

The winner of 17 Emmy awards, Griffin once said he judged his success by how much fun he was having.

"He enjoyed his friends. He enjoyed his career. He enjoyed everything he did," said Kim Wells, Griffiths' former publicist.

While he had fun in front of the camera, Griffin also had a fertile programming mind.

While one show flopped, his then-wife Julann came up with a different approach: Give the contestants the answer, and have them come up with the question.

"Jeopardy" was first broadcast in 1964, and continues to this day, with Canadian-born Alex Trebek serving as host. "Jeopardy's" instantly recognizable theme song? Griffin wrote it.

He would create "Wheel of Fortune" in 1975.

When he was hospitalized with cancer, he said, "I'd rather play 'Jeopardy' than live it."

In the mid-1980s, he sold his production company for US$250 million and got into the conventional investment game.

However, despite the big payoff, he said in a recent interview that "I was never so bored in my life."

He bought and refurbished the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills and got into a feud with New York real estate mogul Donald Trump. Griffin prevailed in that fight, acquiring Resorts International, which operates hotels and casinos, for US$240 million.

"I love the gamesmanship," he told Life magazine in 1988 about the wheeling and dealing. "This may sound strange, but it parallels the game shows I've been involved in."

Born in San Mateo, Calif., on July 6, 1925, Griffin remembered being a show-business type of kid from an early age.

"Every Saturday I had a show, recruiting all the kids in the block as either stagehands, actors and audience, or sometimes all three," he wrote in his 1980 autobiography. "I was the producer, always the producer."

He and Julann divorced in 1973 after 25 years of marriage. Griffin never remarried. Besides his son, Griffin is survived by his daughter-in-law, Tricia, and two grandchildren.

An invitation-only funeral mass will be held at some point, the family said.

With a report from CTV's Tom Walters and files from The Associated Press