“Gong Show” Judge Jaye P. Morgan Dead at 94
“Gong Show” Judge Jaye P. Morgan Dead at 94
Virginia ChamleeWed, August 26, 2026 at 5:42 PM UTC
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The Gong Show, Jaye P. MorganCredit: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty -
Jaye P. Morgan, born Mary Margaret Morgan, began her career in a family vaudeville act featured in a 1935 film
She gained fame as a celebrity judge on The Gong Show, known for its mix of talent and eccentric performances
Morgan once told PEOPLE her favorite act was Count Banjula, who played the banjo upside down while wearing a cape
Singer, actress and judge on the 1970s game show The Gong Show, Jaye P. Morgan, has died at the age of 94, Deadline reported on Aug. 26.
Per an obituary: “Jaye P Morgan passed on August 24, 2026, at the age of 94, having been born on December 3, 1931, and residing in Castle Rock, Washington.”
No cause of death or further details have yet been released.
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Jaye P. MorganCredit: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Morgan was part of the famously raucous celebrity panel on the Chuck Barris-hosted game show, which served as an amateur talent contest in which performers were evaluated by a panel of three celebrity judges, who would strike a gong to end a performance they disliked.
While some truly talented acts were featured, the show was known mostly for its more questionable performers and their outlandish acts.
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Per Deadline, the entertainer was born Mary Margaret Morgan in Mancos, Colorado, taking the stage name Jaye P. Morgan after a nickname given by schoolmates (a take on banking mogul J.P. Morgan).
Morgan began her career in entertainment in a family vaudeville act and became the lead female vocalist of the Frank DeVol Orchestra following high school. She left the group in the early 1950s, going on to launch a successful solo career and recording hit singles such as “The Longest Walk,” “Danger! Heartbreak Ahead” and “If You Don’t Want My Love.”
Per her website, she became a regular on the CBS daytime variety show The Robert Q. Lewis Show in 1955 and, in 1956, starred in her own twice-weekly variety show on NBC — The Jaye P. Morgan Show —with four of her brothers: Charlie, Bob, Dick and Duke. In 1957, she took the show on the road in a nightclub act.
In the 1970s, she appeared regularly on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Merv Griffin Show. She made a name for herself as one of the celebrity judges on The Gong Show, on which she appeared from 1976 to 1978.
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Speaking to PEOPLE in a 1994 interview, Morgan remembered Count Banjula as her favorite act on The Gong Show: ‘‘He would wear a cape and hang upside down, playing the banjo. And he was good.’’
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
