Reg Grundy founded one of
Australia's first entertainment groups - the Reg Grundy Organisation - and was
widely regarded as the king of the game show, as well as producing a host of
successful soap operas.
The Australian media mogul
Reg Grundy, who developed a string of TV hits including Neighbours, Sons And
Daughters and Prisoner: Cell Block H, has died aged 92.
"Reg Grundy has passed
away in the arms of his beloved wife Joy, on their Bermuda estate," radio
personality and personal friend Alan Jones said on his morning programme.
"So ends a remarkable
chapter of a great Australian," he added.
No details about the cause
of death were given.
Long-running hit shows such
as Neighbours and Prisoner helped propel the likes of Russell Crowe, Kylie
Minogue, Jason Donovan, Guy Pierce, Natalie Imbruglia and Val Lehman to
international stardom.
After serving in the army
during World War Two, he worked as a boxing and general sports commentator on
radio before devising and hosting the Wheel Of Fortune, which he moved to
television in 1959.
A year later he founded his
entertainment group and began producing game shows for the Australian and
overseas markets, including Sale Of The Century and Blankety Blank.
At his peak, Grundy became
so entrenched in Australian folklore that it was common in the '80s and '90s
for Australians to refer to their underwear as "Reggies" or
"Grundies", rhyming slang for "undies".
Grundy, who was awarded an
OBE in the 1983 Queen's New Year's Honours List and made a Companion of the
Order of Australia in 2008, sold his company in 1995 to Pearson Television,
which is now known as FremantleMedia.
He lived for years in
Bermuda and is survived by wife Joy and daughter Kim.
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