We have Merv's data from his birth certificate. See the chart below. Beginning as a singer and progressing to talk-show host, it was by the invention of two TV game shows - Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune - that he made his own fortune. And while singing and celebrity chatting are very Gemini, it is an astrological delight to find that the most successful creator of GAMES in the history of the world was born with the Sun in the constellation Gemini. (His Sagittarian Moon, among other things, was a mark of his extraordinary entrepreneurship, his ability to "make it" in just about anything he tried, and his late life prospering in the area of elegant hospitality - by his ownership of the Beverly Hilton Hotel and others.)
The natal chart is quite extraordinary! Uranus at the Midheaven, Sun rising partile conjunct Pluto, and Moon in the setting foreground half a degree from a dignified Jupiter in Sagittarius. Throw in a few niceties from the aspects: Mercury conjunct Venus for the gift of gracious gab; Mars square Saturn for persistence, effort, and executive oomph; and even the wide trines of Neptune to Moon-Jupiter to lubricate just a tab more that his success would be in entertainment. It's a remarkable chart.
The Uranus and Pluto influences were indicative that he wouldn't hover on the side of his corporate angels. His CBS late-night talk show frequently had controversial guests taking strong political stances, particularly against the Viet Nam war. Conflicts with the CBS censors over these matters led to his break from the network and relocation of his show to daytime syndication.
With a close Venus-Mars conjunction, he also had a notorious libido brought more than a few chuckles. Two men filed palimony suits against him in 1991 when he was 66 (concurrent with his long-term relationship with Eva Gabor). He never felt the need to challenge (or, on the other hand, affirm) any allegations about his sexual preferences. The hilarious part, though, is that this remained an issue in some quarters until nearly the time of his death. His manager, in a 2006 interview in Rolling Stone, remarked, "You're asking an eighty-year-old man about his sexuality right now!... Get a life!" (Good ol' Venus-Mars!
)Griffin died of (a second round of) prostate cancer on August 12, 2007 in Los Angeles.
SECONDARY PROGRESSIONS for this event show long-term influences more than the acute event. For example, progressed Jupiter (moving only 3' per year) had moved within 4' of opposite his natal Pluto (and had been within a degree of opposition to his natal Sun through much of his very wealthy and comfortable retirement). Two faster progressed planets stand out, though. One is progressed Venus, which was half a degree past conjunction with progressed Saturn (in Libra, where both are dignified) and a little more than a half a degree applying to the trine of natal Pluto - in the course of a life, we would expect a time when there are many changes in relationships including some key ones "left behind," and it seems trite (but true!) to mention the same for death. The other - the precise timing by progressions! - is that progressed Moon (by Q2 rate) had returned to 24°15' Sagittarius, the degree of his natal Moon-Jupiter conjunction. (And Jupiter is a frequent, even primary, timing indicator of death from prolonged and painful illness.) - The Q1 rate progressed Moon was opposite progressed Pluto by 4'.
TRANSITS lead with Pluto's square to natal Uranus (9') and Uranus' transiting sesqui-square to natal Mercury (12') - These, as depicting his state of mind at death, lead me to think I would have liked very much knowing him at the end of his life. But there doesn't seem to be anything in the transits to time the death per se.
QUOTIDIANS: The Q2 angles showed nothing. The Q1 would have shown natal Saturn on the IC if the birth time were 10 minutes later, but we get on slippery turf using that "get out of jail free card" too often with recorded birthtimes. As it is, the Q1 only has natal Mercury on the Eastpoint.
SIDEREAL SOLAR RETURN: Griffin's final SSR, covering a time he was dying of prostate cancer, has nearly his natal angles again: natal Sun-Pluto rising, his Moon-Jupiter closer to the Descendant, solar Mercury on the Eastpoint. It's not a chart we'd pick as a "10 best examples" chart, but isn't incompatible with what is known of his general circumstances at the time. Of distinctive note is the SSR Moon, which was at 18°04' Pisces, square his rising natal Sun-Pluto. (See standard interpretations of these aspects under http://solunars.net/viewforum.php?f=8 if relevance isn't readily obvious to you.)
SOLAR QUOTIDIAN: The SQ rises to expectations, however! First, SQ Moon was 19°28' Pisces, only 4' from square natal Pluto. Second, with solar Mars partile opposite natal Saturn, the SQ Midheaven had passed these (for the stated birthtime) only a day before. (On the one hand, I'd be more willing to accept that a stated quarter-hour birth time was recorded a couple of minutes late than that it was recorded 10 minutes early; or, in any case, if the birth time is taken as rigorously accurate, then this suggests the prior day was an unusually painful one. I have no information on whether this is true.) Natal Venus is on the SQ Eastpoint for the final easing of his pain. Transiting Moon and Mercury had hovered on the SQ Ascendant that morning, which might mean nothing more than the bountiful publicity that broke out immediately.)
SIDEREAL LUNAR RETURN: Occurring July 28, the SLR's 23° Gemini Midheaven sliced down the middle of the natal Sun-Pluto and Moon-Jupiter aspects and put transiting Mercury minutes from the Midheaven. But it was the Demi-Lunar from two days before his death that is the chart we've been waiting for - with transiting Pluto a degree from the IC, and square natal Uranus within 7'.
It was time... for the next great adventure...