Alex Trebek would have been 85 years old today. Here is an overview of what he said about politics, swear and cancer

Publisher’s note: This story was initially published in September 2020.

Alex Trebek was the beloved face of “Jeopardy!” for 36 years. The longtime host of “Jeopardy!” continued to direct the show when he underwent treatment for pancreatic cancer.

In his memoirs “The answer is … reflections on my life”, published a few months before his death on November 8, 2020, the host went far beyond the program of quiz to bring fans in his personal life – including his political opinions, his history with the juron and how he managed his diagnosis of cancer.

To celebrate Trebek, who would have been 85 years old on July 22, here are 12 anecdotes of this memory.

He abandoned the military school

Trebek grew up relatively poor. His father, a Ukrainian immigrant, was a chef in a hotel in the mining city in Sudbury, Ontario. After high school, Trebek applied for a military program that would pay his college. He was accepted and sent to the Royal Canadian Air Force Military Academy College in Quebec.

He lasted three days.

After two days of danger by senior cadets, the final straw came as they were going to cut Trebek’s hair – “I had a good hair head,” writes Trebek.

After being reprimanded by an officer – “If you do not have the courage to solve this problem, you are not the kind of person we want in our soldiers” – Trebek called his father and told him that he was going home.

At the station, Trebek’s father hug him.

“Don’t worry, Sonny,” recalls Trebek. “Everything will be fine.”

His favorite film is …

Trebek loves films on father-son relationships. This is why “How Green Was My Valley” is his favorite film. The 1941 film reminds him of his own father.

“He was not an educated man. He was not particularly brilliant. He was just all his heart. He did not understand the nuances of care. He just poured his love for me,” writes Trebek. “No matter what I was doing, I was never disappointed for him.”

Graduation advice

After abandoning the military school, Trebek returned to his high school for the 13th year – a year of transition similar to the first year of college.

Growing up, Trebek was a good student, but he was mainly known to joke in class. However, a teacher recognized his potential. Getting the diploma, this teacher told Trebek: “Alex, you had a happy new year. Make me a favor. Never lose your love of life.”

Since then, these words have remained with Trebek.

He is never late

In eighth year, Trebek obtained a bell job at the hotel where his father worked. Before his first day, he made an end -of -year trip with his class. He was so tired that he woke up at 11 the next morning – three hours after the start of his quarter of work.

That day, he swore that he never was late again to anything.

“If I am not where I must have 10 minutes earlier, I consider myself late,” he wrote. “It is a sign of respect for work – that you want to do it and leave nothing to chance.”

His story with swears

You would never guess it of its appearance on “Jeopardy!” But Trebek swears – But not as much as it did in his first days.

As he explains in his book, it was intentional. Upon entering the world of broadcasting, Trebek has not smoked, drunk or did not drug. The “Jeopardy!” The host said it made it difficult for people to drop their guard, for fear that they will not be judged.

“I needed a vice,” he wrote. “And so I decided to add more salt to my tongue. … But that didn’t help me to become one of the guys. It just made me look like a fool. My bad.”

Policy

“Sweet!” Largely avoids politics – Trebek said that he would receive the mail from the Republicans thinking that he is a democrat and vice versa.

Trebek actually identifies as independent.

“I vote for the person I think to be best suited to deal with problems at the time. Modern politics integrates us against each other, ”he writes. “This forces us to choose a team and convinced us that our team is right and that the other side is false.

His soul mate

Trebek considers that his second wife, Jean, is his soul mate (he remains on good terms with his first wife and daughter-in-law of this marriage). The couple got married in 1990 and had two children together. There is a difference in age of 24 between them, and Trebek recalled how after their commitment, his stepfather who said to him: “I suppose that I will not call you” son “.

“With Jean, it just happened. … I was not looking for love,” writes Trebek. “But with Jean, I recognized at an intestinal level that it was someone who was going to finish me as a human being.”

A posthe

Trebek chemotherapy treatment has led to hair loss. But the “Jeopardy!” The host was already carrying a posthe even before his cancer diagnosis in 2019.

He started to wear a posthe in early 2018, after falling and bumping his head on his bathtub. Trebek had to undergo surgery to eliminate blood clots from his brain – which left a row of points on each side of his scalp.

Based on the reactions of his staff, he decided that it would be better to cover it.

“In my case, the Postpe makes me look better than my real hair,” he wrote. “I should probably have started to wear it a long time ago.”

Cancer diagnosis

Since his diagnosis of cancer in March 2019, Trebek has often thought of “Jeopardy!” The candidate Cindy Stowell, who had stadium cancer of stadium 4 during her six -game race race in the show in 2016. Stowell died a week before the broadcast of her games – before that, the show sent her a DVD so that she could look at herself.

“I admire how she didn’t want to make a big problem on her illness,” writes Trebek. “And how she did not let him prevent him from realizing her dreams.”

Trebek said that he sometimes regrets making his diagnosis public because he feels that people are now turning to him to reassure and strength and that he does not want to drop them.

“The more I lived with cancer, the more my definition of tenacity has changed,” he wrote. “I thought that not crying meant that you were hard. Now I think crying means you are hard. This means that you are strong enough to be honest and vulnerable. It means you don’t pretend. ”

He is optimistic

Trebek says he has the “will to survive”, although there are days when pain and depression are so debilitating that his optimism disappears. He also does not like to use the terms “fighter” and “combat” with regard to cancer, because this implies that there are winners and losers.

“You get a treatment and you improve. Or you don’t. And no results is an indication of your strength as a person, ”he writes. “However, I always believe in the will to live. I believe in positivity. I believe in optimism. I believe in hope, and I certainly believe in the power of prayer. ”

Trebek also said that “Jeopardy!” Invigorate it. Some days, he has trouble going to the production meeting, or between recording episodes, he will have a lot of pain. But at the minute he goes out on the set, he feels like him.

He thought of retiring

Trebek likes “Jeopardy!” But he will leave the show if he can no longer successfully accommodate. Being 80 years old and following cancer treatments, Trebek said that work can be physically and mentally demanding. It is not as easy to read the clues and it is more difficult to concentrate for long periods.

“You can have … sliding in an occasional conversation with friends. But you can’t get it out like the host of “Jeopardy!” Whenever it happens to this point, I’m going to go away, ”he wrote. “And” Jeopardy! ” Will be very good. can continue forever.

I’m not afraid to die. One thing they will not say during my funeral in the praise of praise is: “It was removed too early”. … I had a good full life. – Alex Trebek

Trebek also said that he had accepted his illness and that he was grateful to the life he had led.

“I’m not afraid to die,” he wrote. “One thing they are not going to say to my funeral in the praise of praise,” it was removed too early “. … I had a good full life.