Susan Hickman
Although he didn't know it at the time, Alex Trebek now admits the seven years he spent as a student at the University of Ottawa were some of the most formative years of his life.
Early uprootedness and the subsequent years when the University became his home away from home have since translated into “home” being very important to Trebek. So divulged Martin Wood, the Vancouver director who is part of the production crew working on a documentary about Alex Trebek for the CBC Television biography series, Life and Times.
Rector Gilles Patry being interviewed as part of the filming of the documentary No Easy Answers: The Life & Times of Alek Trebek scheduled to air in February 2004.
Wood was on campus for a few days in late September delving into archival material, filming the hallways where Trebek would have walked and chatting with those who may have known “the way things were” at the University of Ottawa in the 1950s.
It became apparent to Wood, whose working title for the documentary is “No Easy Answers,” that the University of Ottawa is a large part of what the highly successful television personality has become.
“He spoke about his time at the University of Ottawa as very formative. He talked about the discipline, which gave him things he uses every day,” said Wood.
Trebek has never forgotten his roots. Over the years he has donated time and money and participated in the University's VISION fundraising campaign. In 1997, the University recognized him with an honorary doctorate. On receiving the degree, he said, “I developed a tremendous loyalty for this university. It made me proud to be part of the only bilingual university in Canada that was a microcosm of what we thought Canada could be and should be.”
After Trebek graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1961 with a degree in philosophy, he joined CBC Radio in Ottawa. In 1983, he became the lynchpin of Jeopardy, a show that draws an estimated 17 million viewers every night.
As Wood sifted through archival material with assistant producer Renée Giesse, and walked through the campus a few weeks ago, he commented, “I haven't necessarily found anything surprising, but I have found things that explain who he is today. Our fascination with Alex Trebek is that he's a regular person who works very hard at what he does and it's turned him into an icon.”
No Easy Answers: The Life & Times of Alek Trebek is scheduled to air in February 2004.
