Arnold, Ellen, Hundreds More Honor Merv Griffin

Fri., Aug. 17, 2007 7:15 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

A-list celebrities, political figures, industry titans, old Hollywood luminaries: Merv Griffin knew them all in life. And none of them was about to forget him in death.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nancy Reagan, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia De Rossi, Ryan Seacrest, Larry King, Dick Van Dyke, Dick Van Patten and Jack Klugman were among the hundreds of mourners who gathered to pay tribute to the entertainment mogul Friday at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.

The fruits of Griffin's labor were in evidence, not only in the form of Alex Trebek, Pat Sajak and Vanna White, but in the kind words used to express what Griffin meant to his friends, family and the industry as a whole.

"In the history of television and entertainment and in life in general, there's never been anyone like Merv Griffin," Schwarzenegger said of the man who created Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, both of which have sat atop the syndicated-television ratings for years.

"He was unique," Schwarzenegger added. "To have a popular TV show, a talk show on television that has lasted more than 20 years, I think you have to be very talented and very likable and Merv certainly was both. He had 25,000 guests during that time on his show, but the truth is, as someone said, he was America's guest."

Recalling his first appearance on Griffin's popular eponymous chat fest in 1974, the governator said: "My English wasn't that good at that time, not that it is perfect today, but it was scary to get on his show because it was the first talk show I've ever done in America. But I tell you that he took really good care of me."

Schwarzenegger continued to appear on the show, to teach Griffin about fitness and to have Griffin teach him about acting.

"Well, neither worked," the Terminator star deadpanned.

Griffin died Sunday of complications from prostate cancer, which he successfully beat in the mid-1990s but was diagnosed with a recurrence of last month. He was 82.

"He squeezed more out of 82 years of life than really anyone I've ever met," Tony Griffin, the billionaire entrepreneur's son, said in his eulogy. "I've never seen anyone go from morning to noon to night like him."

"As a five-year-old, my dad's life fascinated me and it also puzzled me at the same time," he continued. "For example, I went to school one day and I got all my classmates together and I asked each one of them, 'What time does your dad come on TV? I'd like to watch it.'"

The funeral was followed by a reception at the Beverly Hilton hotel, which Griffin owned for 16 years before selling it in 2003. The street leading up to the main entrance is fittingly called Merv Griffin Way.