Merv Griffin- A Life in the Closet

by Darwin Porter

  As a result of this publicity, Quigley was dismissed as the White House astrologer. Nancy called her and demanded that she “lie and never tell anyone anything.” Quigley's response? In 1990, she wrote and published a book, revealing everything.

  Joan Quigley

  In her tellall, What Does Joan Say? My Seven Years as a White House Astrologer to Nancy and Ronald Reagan, Quigley described herself as the power behind the throne. Her book even announced that she had advised the times and dates when Air Force One could safely take off. As she claimed within her book:

  “Not since the days of the Roman emperors—and never in the history of the United States presidency—has an astrologer played such a significant role in a nation's affairs of State.”

  Prior to the publication of Quigley's book, when Nancy had returned to her home in California, she increasingly relied on Merv, calling him “My Rock.” On some days, he found she had been crying for hours. He tried to revive her spirits by urging her to get dressed and accompany him either for lunch or for dinner at little hidden places known to him along the California coastline. Gradually, she began to accept these invitations, relying on Merv more and more as her best friend and closest confidant.

  In the late 1980s, shortly after her departure from the White House, Nancy had often checked with Merv about statements she planned for insertion in My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan as coauthored with William Novak. It was Merv who urged her to include a section on astrology and to explain, in simple terms, her interest in psychic phenomena. Immediately below is an excerpt which resulted from Merv's intervention:

  “What it boils down to is that each person has his or her own ways of coping with trauma and grief, with the pain of life, and astrology was one of mine. Don't criticize me, I wanted to say, until you have stood in my place. This helped me. Nobody was hurt by it—except, possibly, me.”

  Merv had been privy to one of the darkest secrets of the Reagan White House, learning that the president had contracted Alzheimer's disease while still in the White House. Merv was kept abreast of the devastating effects the disease had on the former president, as each day he escaped from reality into a world of his own, resurfacing only briefly before retreating again into his own private space.

  “The coming years—maybe it will be only months—will be the most difficult of my life,” Nancy confided to Merv. “Please, be there for me.”

  “It will be the greatest honor of my life to stand by you,” Merv said gallantly.

  ***

  In the 1980s, Merv formed an unlikely friendship with the notorious wheelerdealer, Armand Hammer, the flamboyant U.S. business tycoon who, like the decade itself, was in his 80s. Noted for his fabulous art collections, his occasional philanthropy, and his close ties to the Soviet Union, the mogul was associated with Occidental Petroleum. Merv became friendly with Armand's third wife, Frances Barrett, a wealthy and stylish widow whom Armand had married in 1956.

  Armand's claim to fame: “I am the only man in history to have been friendly with both Ronald Reagan and Vladimir Lenin.”

  Hammer dabbled in politics and made large illegal contributions to the Richard Nixon campaign. He was convicted for this, but was later pardoned by another Republican “buddy” of his, President George Herbert Walker Bush. Merv always suspected, perhaps accurately, that Armand laundered money for the Soviets.

  Hammer hated Jeopardy! but loved Wheel of Fortune. Whenever he traveled, he ordered his staff to tape Wheel so he wouldn't miss a show. Later, in Moscow, he sold these tapes to the Russians, who used them as inspiration for the launch of their own Soviet version of Wheel. Merv never got one cent of royalties.

  Armand kindled a passion in Merv for Arabian stallions, an interest that he retained for the rest of his life. Merv and Armand often journeyed together to Scottsdale, Arizona for auctions of these stunning horses. Armand would rhapsodize about the beauty of an animal, the shape of its head, its high tail carriage, its intelligence and stamina, its spirit. “They have speed, refinement, endurance, and good bones,” Armand told Merv. “Their bloodlines are the finest of any horse in the world. The Bedouin people used to bring the horses into their tents at night to protect them.”

  “I don't want to sleep with one,” Merv said jokingly. “Their dicks are too big. But I'd like to purchase one.”

  Thus began Merv's collection of these Arabian stallions. He paid onehundred and fifty thousand dollars for a particularly fabulous specimen. Soonafter, the market for the animals collapsed. The monetary worth of the horses fell to an average of less than $3,000 each. But Merv wasn't interested in making money from his ownership of the horses. He wanted to own the most prized stallions in America.

  Armand proposed a deal to Merv that seriously tempted him. For fortyfive million, Armand said he would purchase half of Merv Griffin Enterprises, whose most valuable nuggets included Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! To negotiate the fine points of the deal, Armand brought in the famed attorney Louis Nizer.

  To counterpunch, Merv flew in Bobby Schulman, considered in legal circles to be the best tax attorney in the world. When Schulman discovered that Armand planned to put up “zero capital,” he urged Merv to veto the deal and flew back to London.

  Years later Merv said, “Thank God Armand fucked up that deal. Around the corner was waiting the sweetheart deal of my life, only I didn't know it at the time.”

  Appearing on TV with Bill Cosby, Armand proclaimed that a cure for cancer was imminent, but he died of bone marrow cancer in December of 1990 before living to see that happen.

  ***

  Whereas the death of Rock Hudson in 1985 brought out the loyalty and courage of such friends as Elizabeth Taylor, a certified and secure heterosexual, it did not inspire anything particularly admirable in Merv.

  The world had changed many times since the halcyon 1950s when both men, each born in 1925, were part of a small, secretive colony of gay men in the Greater Los Angeles area. Since then, both Merv and Rock had become big stars. But whereas Rock's career had virtually collapsed, Merv's fame and earning capacity were bigger than ever.

  AIDS had driven Rock kicking and screaming out of his closet, but Merv preferred to keep the doors of his own closet tightly locked. He feared that with reporters and paparazzi hanging out at Rock's estate, “The Castle,” he would be tainted with the suspicion of homosexuality for having come to call on his dying comrade.

  To visit or not to visit was the question he fretted over before an unexpected call came in from Ronald Reagan at the White House. Like Merv, both Ronnie and Nancy had been longtime friends of Rock's. The President was flying to the West Coast with Nancy, and he felt that it might be appropriate for them to call on Rock for a final goodbye.

  Knowing about Merv's private relationship with the stricken star, the President suggested that he accompany them to The Castle as part of their visit. Merv could not turn down a request from the President, and he agreed to go. He told aides “It'll be safe if I arrive there with Nancy and Ronnie on each of my arms.”

  Nancy and Ronnie:

  The Republican Lip-Lock

  That very afternoon, after accepting the President's invitation, Merv received a shocker phone call from one of his attorneys (name not known). To his dismay, Merv learned that from his sickbed, Rock had been dictating an authorized tellall autobiography. Because he desperately didn't want to be Outed in Rock's book, Merv became even more eager to accompany the Reagans during their visit. Merv's plan involved remaining behind with Rock after the Reagans' departure so that Merv could then discuss what Rock planned to include in the book.

  Two days later, Merv received another call from the White House. With his trademark humor and charm, Reagan informed Merv that his advisers thought that it would be “politically unwise to call on Rock. It's a hot political potato, and Nancy and I can't pick it up without getting burned. We've always been fond of Rock, but we can't stand by him in his hour of need. He'll be in both of our prayers, however.”

  Me
rv said he understood and, before hanging up, sent his love to Nancy. The Reagan withdrawal left Merv alone with his dilemma. With the future book looming, Merv finally opted to call on Rock with his final request, with or without the Reagans.

  Somehow Merv managed to slip in and out of The Castle without detection. It is suspected that Rock's closest friend, the gay actor, George Nader, arranged the secret rendezvous, without alerting Rock's staff or even his own lover, Mark Miller. Merv wanted his visit to be totally secretive, and he knew that George was trustworthy and capable of keeping a secret.

  Lying on his deathbed, Rock was gaunt, frail, and enfeebled. Hollowcheeked and sunkeneyed, he was a shell of his former robust self, and his weight had dropped to an alarming ninetyeight pounds. AIDS, like some devouring cancer, seemed to be feeding on his body. He told Merv that the only food he could hold down was tapioca pudding.

  Suffering from acute metastatic liver disease, he had lost control of his bodily functions, and his pajamas had to be changed frequently by a nurse.

  Merv later told Eva Gabor that he was shocked by Rock's appearance. “My memory of him was of this big, strapping truck driver kind of guy in tight blue jeans. He was the sex symbol of the 50s. All of us wanted him, and I was among the lucky few whose dreams came true. When I saw him in his bed, he looked like he'd died already, except that the corpse hadn't been buried.”

  Seeing Merv, Rock expressed his bitterness that the President and First Lady had refused a final visit based on their fear of offending the Moral Majority. Rock had arranged for his former lover, Tom Clark, to deliver a brief statement to reporters and the paparazzi clustered around the gates to The Castle. It read:

  “Reagan is yet to actually say the word AIDS in public. He and his people are so afraid of the Far Right. Fuck them all!”

  Exactly what transpired between Merv and Rock that day will never be known. What little is known came from Eva Gabor, who talked indiscreetly to her network of friends. Merv did tell Eva that Rock claimed “the vultures are circling over me.”

  Merv departed from The Castle that night with Rock's firm commitment that he would not be Outed in his autobiography. He told Eva that Rock had claimed that his book would not be “the authentic story of my life. It's a vanilla version.” Apparently, Rock feared that if he wrote an authentic tellall, he would reveal details about the private lives of many famous men in Hollywood, who might then possibly sue his estate for libel.

  Merv also told Eva that Rock had confessed to love affairs with three of the biggest stars in Hollywood, “names never before tarred with the lavender brush,” Merv said.

  “Never trust a man, dahlink,” Eva responded. “When they're horny, any available hole will do.”

  It appeared that the main support for Rock's will to live were the cards, letters, telegrams, and gifts pouring in from around the world. And although the Reagans weren't standing by him, he was being contacted by dozens of luminaries who admired his courage and wished him god speed. They included Marlene Dietrich, Madonna, and Ava Gardner.

  When Elizabeth Taylor organized a benefit dinner for Rock in Los Angeles, other stars also publicly stood up. They included Burt Reynolds, Ricardo Montalban, Burt Lancaster, Shirley MacLaine, and Linda Evans. Later, however, Elizabeth reported that dozens of other stars, including Frank Sinatra, had turned her down, not wanting to identify themselves with either AIDS or its victims.

  When Roddy McDowall learned of Merv's encounter with Rock, he told friends, “Merv is not a crusader. I don't remember that he ever advocated anything politically—or artistically for that matter. Even though he has access to the Reagans, who could help our kind, his closet keeps him shockingly silent. His voice would make a huge difference if he'd speak out about all the suffering and horrific deaths occurring in America. But that's probably too much to expect from him. Let's face it: He created TV programs that entertained millions of people around the world. He has his fans to think of. Merv will do anything to preserve his image. You just have to admire his greatness and forget those moments when he's small.”

  It was George Nader who called Merv on October 2, 1985. “Rock left us at 8:45 this morning.”

  Perhaps because he was dismayed and shocked, or perhaps because he didn't know how to respond, Merv uttered one of the blandest statements he'd ever made, so innocuous that at the time, it appeared insensitive. “Well, all of us have to go sometime.”

  Another, more sensitive, acknowledgment of Rock's death came from Michael Nader, the nephew of George Nader. Michael had appeared with Rock in nine separate episodes of the hit TV series Dynasty in 1984 and 1985. “Rock's gone,” Michael told the press. “But the most important thing is that he was here —that he was a wonderful guy while he was here.”

  The website, QueerTwoCents.com, did not admire Rock's courage, claiming, “The sad truth of the matter is that had he not contracted HIV and developed AIDS, Rock Hudson, like Merv Griffin, most likely would have continued to live his life in a ‘glass closet,’ no doubt abetted by the mainstream media.”

  ***

  In 1986, at the ripe age of sixty, while Merv vacationed in Rio de Janeiro, Columbia Entertainment, a branch of the Coca-Cola Company, was concluding its negotiations to buy him out. Merv Griffin Enterprises had originated in 1964 as Merv Griffin Productions, a name that had endured for two decades.

  Even before his return to the U.S., the deal was cemented for a cool $250 million. He'd retain creative control of both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, and he'd also occupy a seat on the board of directors of Columbia Entertainment. At the time, that company was led by Frank Biondi, who would later take over Viacom, reporting directly to its aging chairman, Sumner Redstone.

  “The syndicated Merv Griffin programs have fully penetrated American culture,” said Robert J. Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. “He was a producer who understood how those kinds of programs worked with viewers. We tend to be watching those types of shows when diapering a child or preparing a meal, waiting for the chaos of everyone coming home in the afternoon.”

  After the sale was signed and sealed, Merv was bewildered, not only by getting such a bundle of cash, but in wondering what he was going to do with the rest of his life. “I'm too young to retire,” he told a staff member. “I'm too active, too much alive. I can't see myself sitting out in the California sun waiting around for lunch.”

  He considered various options, including the purchase of Hebrew National Foods, which produced kosher products such as all-beef hot dogs.

  Merv learned that his friend, Malcolm Forbes, had placed him on the list of the fourhundred richest men and women in America. He was less impressed when he learned that Forbes' editorial board had also included a dead woman on the list. Griffin knocked Bob Hope off the list as the richest performer in entertainment history.

  ***

  471

  Having sold his major media assets to Columbia, Merv made another careerchanging decision, opting to retire from his involvement with The Merv Griffin Show. He announced that the final episode of the show would be aired on September 5, 1986.

  As he made clear to his staff, “There's nobody left to talk to unless you want to book Zsa Zsa Gabor one more time. At least she's interesting, unlike those soap opera stars we've been booking. Do I really care about what some blonde bimbo starlet thinks about the way Ronnie is running the U.S. government or hear that she thinks Nancy depends too much on the color red?”

  Merv sat with Peter Barsocchini the night before he recorded his last talk show. It would include a compilation of clips from the dozens of shows presented since he first went on the air with The Merv Griffin Show back in 1962.

  According to Barsocchini, both men talked in his dressing room as Merv summoned the energy for a final appearance.

  “Do you know what this feels like?” Merv said to Barsocchini. “It's like I've been at the best dinner party ever given—and that it's about to end.”<
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  Thousands of fans felt the same way, and Merv was bombarded with letters from all over America, lamenting the demise of the show. One housewife from Yonkers said she'd never missed a single Merv show since its inauguration in 1962, and that she'd followed him faithfully year after year as he moved from channel to channel.

  Merv estimated that during his career as a talk show host, he'd had ontheair dialogues with twentyfive thousand people. “I've interviewed almost everybody important in the world, from all walks of life,” he told Eva Gabor. “And now, I've had it. I've decided to devote time to my game shows and a lot of time to just having fun.”

  To Hadley, he said, “Life's too short not to have fun. I've been holding back. And anyway, what beautiful guy would agree to have sex with me without the exchange of a few hundred dollar bills?” Hadley was instructed to continue arranging “fun and games” for Merv. And he wasn't talking about TV game shows.

  Carmel's most stately resident

  After abandoning his show forever, and as the years went by, a reporter asked Merv if he missed talking to millions of Americans every day. “Sure, I do,” he said, “but what I miss most is introducing new talent to the world. Imagine giving a jump start to the careers of Whitney Houston and Jerry Seinfeld. Of course, they would have eventually done very well on their own.”

  After taping his last episode of The Merv Griffin Show, he disappeared “into nowhere” with his young aide, Ronnie Ward. Although it was widely understood that Ward is straight, their sudden disappearance led to unfounded speculation.

  With Ward behind the wheel, Merv ordered him to, “Just drive—wherever the car will take us. We'll stop at any place that amuses us.” As Merv later recalled, the couple ended up in the gambling town of Laughlin, Nevada, close to the California border.