Monty Hall, Host and Co-Creator of Let’s Make a Deal, Dead at 96

Monty Hall. Photo: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Monty Hall, the co-creator and host of the iconic game show Let’s Make a Deal died on Saturday. He was 96. Born as Monte Halparin in Canada in 1921, Hall broke into American television in the mid-1950s with hosting gigs on several game shows. He developed Let’s Make a Deal with Stefan Hatos in 1963. The series, which gives contestants a chance to trade in prizes for better winnings by risking losing it all, lived on for decades with Hall as the presenter on various networks and different time slots, including stints on prime-time. Each episode concluded with Hall asking a contestant to pick one of three doors which each held a different grand prize — a formula that inspired the “Monty Hall problem,” a probability puzzle based on the likelihood that a contestant would receive a valuable prize as opposed to a “zonk.” CBS revived the show in 2009 with Wayne Brady as the host. Hall and Hatos produced and created several other gameshows in the ’70s and ’80s. Hall is survived by his three children.

Monty Hall, Let’s Make a Deal Host, Dead at 96