Enlarge 1992 photo by Rob Brown, USA TODAY Entrepreneur: Genial host and game-show creator Merv Griffin died Sunday. He was 82.

Who was Merv Griffin? Surely the affable Hollywood tycoon would have considered this too easy for Jeopardy!, a show he created along with Wheel of Fortune, which he proudly called "America's games."

Griffin, 82, who died Sunday in Los Angeles of prostate cancer, ruled the game-show genre with two of its longest-running and highest-rated programs, which are broadcast worldwide in countries such as Argentina, France and Singapore.

Griffin began as a radio show and big-band singer and a bit player in film and on stage. In 1950, he crooned the Top 10 novelty song I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts. He went on to become a multimillionaire owner of hotels, casinos, champion racehorses and Emmy-winning television shows.

Many will remember the always well-dressed, perpetually tan California native as the host of daytime's The Merv Griffin Show, a talk show that started in 1962 and ran until 1986, featuring guests ranging from philosophers to movie stars. But it was Griffin's genius as a game-show creator that has had a lasting influence on American television audiences.

He created Jeopardy! in 1964 and Wheel of Fortune in 1975. Wheel, he said, was based on the Hangman games he played with his sister during family road trips. And he credited his ex-wife, Julann, with suggesting the concept behind Jeopardy!— contestants providing questions to supplied answers.

The sale of the shows to Coca-Cola's Columbia Pictures Television Unit in 1986 earned him $250 million; he retained a share of the shows' profits. He also pocketed millions in royalties for composing the catchy Jeopardy! theme. New technology, such as cellular phones, has meant more money for the song.

In a June 2006 Rolling Stone interview, he recalled receiving a "huge" check in the mail.

"I couldn't think what it was for," he told the magazine. "I had to ask the young people in my office, 'What does this 'ringtone' mean?' "

His son, Tony, called him "a visionary" in a statement issued Sunday. "He loved business and continued his many projects and holdings even while hospitalized."

Griffin, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996, will not see how Merv Griffin's Crosswords fares when it premieres in syndication Sept. 10. He believed it would succeed, like his two earlier hits, because of its simplicity. "What I love about it is there are no categories," Griffin told USA TODAY in June.

The TV mogul, a self-described puzzle addict, added, "Like Jeopardy!, it's just all over the place, covering everything from pop culture to history."