NEW YORK — Chuck Woolery, the suave and suave game show host of “Wheel of Fortune,” “Love Connection” and “Scrabble,” later became a right-wing podcaster, bashing liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19. he died He was 83 years old.
Mark Young, Woolery’s podcast host and friend, said in an email early Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. “Chuck was an incredible friend and brother and man of faith, life just won’t be the same without him,” Young wrote.
Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, cropped hair and ease with witty jokes, was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1978.
In 1983, Woolery began an 11-year run as host of the TV show “Love Connection,” for which he coined the phrase “We’ll be back in two minutes and two seconds,” the so-called “2 and two finger signature.” 2.” In 1984, he hosted the television show “Scrabble” and hosted two game shows simultaneously on television until 1990.
“Love Connection,” which aired long before the dawn of dating apps, featured a single man or woman who would watch audition tapes of three potential partners and then choose one for a date.
A couple of weeks after the date, the guest sat down with Woolery in front of a studio audience and talked about the date to everyone. Viewers will vote on the three contestants, and if viewers agree with the guest’s choice, “Love Connection” would offer to pay for a second date.
Woolery told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003 that his favorite set of lovers was a 91-year-old man and an 87-year-old woman. “He had so much eye makeup, he looked like a stolen Corvette. He was so old, he said, “I remember. wagon trains.” The poor man took it to a balloon.
Other career highlights included hosting “Lingo,” “Greed” and “The Chuck Woolery Show,” as well as hosting the short-lived syndicated revival of “The Dating Game” from 1998 to 2000 and the infamous 1991 talk show. In 1992, he played himself in two episodes of the television show “Melrose Place.”
Woolery debuted in 2003 as the subject of Game Show Network’s first attempt at a reality show, “Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned.” . It ran for six episodes and was panned by critics.
Woolery began her television career on a show that has become a staple. Although most associated with Pat Sajak and Vanna White, “Wheel of Fortune” premiered on January 6, 1975, on NBC, with Woolery welcoming the contestants and viewers. Woolery, then 33, was trying to make it in Nashville as a singer.
“Wheel of Fortune” began as “Shopper’s Bazaar”, incorporating Hangman-style puzzles and a roulette wheel. After Woolery appeared on “The Merv Griffin Show” singing “Delta Dawn”, Merv Griffin asked her to host a new show with Susan Stafford.
“I had a conversation that went on for 15, 20 minutes,” Woolery told The New York Times in 2003. “After the show, when Merv asked me if I wanted to do a game show, I thought, ‘Okay, a guy. A bad jacket and a bad mustache, who doesn’t care what you have to say, that’s the guy I want to be.'”
NBC initially passed on it, but they adapted it as “Wheel of Fortune” and got the green light. After a few years, Woolery asked for a raise to $500,000 a year, or as host of Peter Marshall’s “Hollywood Squares.” Griffin balked and replaced Woolery with weather reporter Pat Sajak.
“Chuck and Susie did a good job, and ‘Wheel’ did well enough on NBC, although it never came close to the ratings success that ‘Jeopardy!’ achieved in its prime,” Griffin said in “Merv: Making the Good In “Life Last,” David Bender’s 2000s autobiography. Woolery earned an Emmy nod as host.
Born in Ashland, Kentucky, Woolery served in the US Army before attending college. He played double bass in a folk trio, then formed the psychedelic duo The Avant-Garde in 1967, while working as a truck driver to support himself as a musician.
Avant-Garde, who drove around in a refurbished Cadillac, had the Top 40 hit “Naturally Stoned,” with Woolery singing, “When I just put you on my mind/I can get a good feeling/I feel like I’m naturally stoned.”
After breaking with The Avant-Garde, Woolery released his first solo single “I’ve Been Wrong” in 1969 and released several more singles with Columbia before transitioning to country music in the 1970s. He released two solo singles, “Forgive My Heart” and “Love Me, Love Me”.
Woolery wrote or co-wrote songs for himself and everyone from Pat Boone to Tammy Wynette. On Wynette’s 1971 album “We Sure Can Love Each Other,” Woolery wrote “The Joys of Being a Woman” including “See our baby rock/Hear her laugh, hear her scream.”
After her television career ended, Woolery went into podcasting. In an interview with The New York Times, he called himself a gun rights activist and described himself as a conservative libertarian and constitutionalist. He said he did not reveal his politics in liberal Hollywood for fear of retribution.
In 2014 he joined Mark Young for the “Blunt Force Truth” podcast and soon became a full-on supporter of Donald Trump arguing that minorities don’t need civil rights and causing a storm by tweeting anti-Semitic comments linking communists to Soviet Judaism.
“President Obama’s popularity is a fantasy held only by him and his shrinking juice-box-drinking, anxiety-dog-hugging, snowflakes hiding safe space,” he said.
Woolery was also active online, retweeting articles from the Conservative Brief, insisting that Democrats were trying to install a system of Marxism and “Impeach him! Joe Biden’s devastating photo is leaked.”
In the early stages of the pandemic, Woolery initially accused medical professionals and Democrats of lying about the virus in an attempt to damage the economy and Trump’s chances of re-election to the presidency.
“The most infuriating lies are about COVID-19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, the media, the Democrats, our doctors, not all, but most of what we’re told to trust. I think it’s the election and the economy not coming back, that’s the election. I’m fed up.” , Woolery wrote in July 2020.
Trump retweeted that message to his 83 million followers. By the end of the month, nearly 4.5 million Americans were infected with COVID-19 and more than 150,000 had died.
A few days later, Woolery changed his stance, announcing that his son had contracted COVID-19. “To further clarify and add perspective, COVID-19 is real and here. My son tested positive for the virus, and I feel sorry for those who are suffering and especially those who have lost loved ones,” Woolery posted before deleting his account.
Woolery later explained on his podcast that he had never called COVID-19 a “hoax” or said it was “not real,” that “we’ve been lied to.” Woolery also said it was “an honor that your president retweeted your thoughts and thought it was important enough to do so.”
In addition to his wife, Woolery is survived by his sons Michael and Sean and his daughter Melissa, Young said.
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Mark Kennedy is here http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits.
