Chuck Woolley, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of “Wheel of Fortune,” “Love Connection” and “Scrabble,” later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and promoting new He accused the government of lying about the coronavirus. Died. He was 83 years old.
Woolley’s podcast co-host and friend Mark Young announced in an email early Sunday morning that Woolley died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. “Chuck was a dear friend and brother, and a man of extraordinary faith. Life is not the same without him,” Young wrote.
Woolley’s matinee-idol look, coiffed hair, witty banter and friendly personality earned him a spot in the American Television Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and a Daytime Emmy Award in 1978. Nominated.
In 1983, Woolley began an 11-year stint as host of the television show Love Connection. In it, Woolley coined the phrase “I’ll be back in two minutes and two seconds.” This two finger sign is called “2 and 2”. 2.” In 1984, he hosted “Scrabble” on television and hosted two game shows simultaneously on television until 1990.
“Love Connection,” which aired long before the dawn of dating apps, features a single man or woman who watches audition tapes of three potential matches and chooses one for a date. There was a setting.
A few weeks after the date, Guest sat in front of a studio audience with Woolley and told everyone about the date. The audience votes for three contestants, and if the audience agrees with the guest’s choice, “Love Connection” offers to pay for a second date.
Woolley told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003 that her favorite lovers were a 91-year-old man and an 87-year-old woman. “She had so much eye makeup on that she looked like a stolen Corvette. He was so old that he said, ‘I remember that.'” Wagon Train. Poor girl took him to the balloon. ”
Other career highlights include hosting the shows “Ringo,” “Greed,” and “The Chuck Woolley Show,” and starring in the short-lived syndicated revival of “The Dating Game” from 1998 to 2000. host, and the host of the ill-fated 1991 talk show. In 1992, he appeared as himself in two episodes of television’s Melrose Place.
Woolley was the subject of the Game Show Network’s first reality show, “Chuck Woolley: Naturally Stoned,” which premiered in 2003. The song had the same title as a 1968 pop song by Woolley and his rock group Avant Garde. . It lasted for six episodes, but was critically criticized by critics.
Woolley started his career on the television show, which is now a popular show. “Wheel of Fortune,” most associated with Pat Sajak and Vanna White, first aired on NBC on January 6, 1975, with Woolley welcoming the cast and audience. Woolley, then 33, was trying to make it as a singer in Nashville.
“Wheel of Fortune” began as a “Shopper’s Bazaar” that incorporated hangman-style puzzles and a roulette wheel. After Woolley appeared on “The Merv Griffin Show” and sang “Delta Dawn,” Merv Griffin asked Woolley to co-host a new show with Susan Stafford.
“The interview lasted 15 to 20 minutes,” Woolley told The New York Times in 2003. “After the show, when Marv asked me if I wanted to do a game show, I thought, ‘Wow, this is a guy who has this ability,’ wearing a tacky jacket and an equally tacky mustache and not caring what people say. No, that’s the man I want to be.”
NBC initially passed it, but reorganized it as “Wheel of Fortune” and got the green light. A few years later, Woolley asked for an increase to $500,000 a year, the amount that host Peter Marshall was earning on “Hollywood Squares.” Griffin hesitated and replaced Woolley with weather reporter Pat Sajak.
“Both Chuck and Susie did great work, and ‘Wheels’ did well enough on NBC, but it didn’t match the ratings success that ‘Jeopardy!’ achieved in its heyday.” Griffin wrote in his 2000s autobiography Merv: Making the Good Life Last, which he co-wrote with David Bender. Woolley was nominated for an Emmy Award as host.
Born in Ashland, Kentucky, Woolley served in the U.S. Navy before attending college. He played double bass in a folk trio and formed the psychedelic rock duo The Avant-Garde in 1967, while working as a truck driver to make a living as a musician.
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Avant-garde, who toured in a converted Cadillac hearse, had a Top 40 hit, “Naturally Stoned,” in which Woolley sang, threw a stone. ”
After Avant Garde disbanded, Woolley released his debut solo single, “I’ve Been Wrong” in 1969, and released several more singles on Columbia before transitioning to country music by the 1970s. He released two solo singles: “Forgive My Heart” and “Love Me, Love Me.”
Woolley wrote and co-wrote songs for himself and for everyone from Pat Boone to Tammy Wynette. On Wynette’s 1971 album We Sure Can Love Each Other, Woolley sings, “Look at our baby on the swing/Hear her laugh, hear her scream. She wrote “The Joy of Being a Woman”, which includes lyrics such as “te”.
After his television career ended, Woolley began podcasting. In an interview with the New York Times, he called himself a gun rights activist and said he was a conservative liberal and constitutionalist. He said he did not reveal his politics for fear of retaliation in liberal Hollywood.
He teamed up with Mark Young on the podcast “Blunt Force Truth” in 2014 and quickly became a full-fledged supporter of Donald Trump, but he also argued that minorities didn’t need civil rights and that the Soviet Union He sparked a firestorm by tweeting anti-Semitic comments linking communists and Judaism.
“President Obama’s popularity is a fantasy held only by him and his dwindling army of juice box-drinking, anxious dog-hugging, snowflakes hiding in safe places.” he said.
Mr. Woolley was also active online, retweeting articles from Conservative Briefs, claiming that Democrats were introducing a Marxist system, and spreading headlines such as “Impeach him!” Shocking photos of Joe Biden leaked. ”
During the early stages of the pandemic, Woolley initially accused medical experts and Democrats of lying about the virus in an attempt to hurt the economy and President Trump’s re-election chances.
“The most outrageous lies are about COVID-19. Everyone is lying. We are told to trust most, if not everyone, the CDC, the media, the Democrats, our doctors. I think it’s all about elections and stopping economic recovery. I’m sick of it,” Woolley wrote in July 2020.
President Trump retweeted the post to his 83 million followers. By the end of the month, nearly 4.5 million Americans had contracted the coronavirus and more than 150,000 had died.
Just a few days later, Woolley reversed her stance and announced that her son had contracted COVID-19. “To further clarify and add perspective, COVID-19 is real and here to stay. My son has tested positive for the virus, and to those who are suffering, I especially feel sorry for those who have lost loved ones,” Woolley posted before her account was deleted.
Woolley later said on his podcast that he never called COVID-19 a “hoax” or that it wasn’t “real,” only that “we’ve been lied to.” Explained. Woolley also said, “I’m honored that the president retweeted your idea and thought it was important enough.”
In addition to his wife, Mr. Woolley is survived by his sons, Michael and Sean, and his daughter, Melissa, Young said.
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