# RIP Peter Marshall (host of The Hollywood Squares) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death, reality-or-game-show, baseball-mlb\ **Created:** [August 15, 2024, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-peter-marshall-host-of-the-hollywood-squares/1005760 "2024-08-15T23:55:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-peter-marshall-host-of-the-hollywood-squares/1005760/1 "2024-08-15T23:55:59Z")
Peter Marshall, the original host of the television game show _The Hollywood Squares_, passed away today, at age 98, from kidney failure. He had survived a bout of COVID-19 in 2021, which was bad enough that he was in hospice care for a time. Born Ralph Pierre LaCock, Marshall had been a comedian, singer, actor, and comedy writer, before being tapped to replace Bert Parks, who had been the host of the pilot episode of _The Hollywood Squares_ in 1966. Marshall, who had often played straight-man roles, was an excellent foil for the panel’s funny responses, and hosted the show for 15 years, before stepping away from it in 1981. One of his children is Ralph Pierre “Pete” LaCock Jr., who played major league baseball, for the Kansas City Royals and Chicago Cubs in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-peter-marshall-host-of-the-hollywood-squares/1005760/2 "2024-08-16T18:40:13Z")
His sister was noted actress Joanne Dru. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2024, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-peter-marshall-host-of-the-hollywood-squares/1005760/3 "2024-08-16T18:43:02Z")
Wow, he and Paul Lynde were born 3 months apart, but Peter outlived him by 42 years. ETA: His birth name was LaCock? Imagine if Paul had known that! ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-peter-marshall-host-of-the-hollywood-squares/1005760/4 "2024-08-16T19:09:30Z")
After I saw him some years back in _The 49th Man_ (1953) - as a clarinet player secretly trying to smuggle an a-bomb into the U.S. using a U.S. security test as cover - I never trusted Mr. Marshall to tell truth from fiction again. He also co-wrote the awful _Maryjane_ (1968) starring Fabian as a high school teacher out to bust a drug ring. One of the co-writers was Dick Gautier (a.k.a. Hymie the robot on “Get Smart”)! ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-peter-marshall-host-of-the-hollywood-squares/1005760/5 "2024-08-16T19:19:46Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > His birth name was LaCock? Imagine if Paul had known that! I knew that, because I was a Royals fan when his son played for KC. I’m guessing that everybody on the set knew that fact, but were forbidden to bring it up during filming. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-peter-marshall-host-of-the-hollywood-squares/1005760/6 "2024-08-21T19:36:27Z")
Wow, 98! That’s one helluva run! I hope they gave him a nice cube to spend eternity in. RIP, Peter. You live on in infinite reruns! As for Paul Lynde, I was surprised he lived as long as he did. He was a chain smoker and had been morbidly obese as a child. When asked how he planned to spend his retirement, he said “I’m going to lie in bed and eat. I was a fat _kid_, and I’m going to be a fat _old man_!”