Chuck Woolery, by any measure one of the most successful game show hosts in history, passed away this weekend. The 83-year-old star is probably best remembered as the first host of Wheel Of Fortune, though he also guided a ton of other shows to sustained success including Love Connection and Scrabble, both of which ran for around a decade.
The news was first announced by Mark Young, who co-hosted Woolery’s podcast Blunt Force Truth. The two were close friends, and according to TMZ, Young was at his house when Woolery went to lie down because he wasn’t feeling well. Some time later, Young reportedly checked on him and noticed he was having trouble breathing. He called 911 and authorities rushed to the scene, but unfortunately, the game show legend didn’t make it.
Chuck Woolery started his show business career as the lead singer of the band Avant-Garde. They had a top 40 hit in 1968 with the song “Naturally Stoned.” That led to a guest appearance on The Merv Griffin Show and an offer from Griffin to audition for a new game show he was producing. Woolery was later cast as the host of Shopper’s Bazaar, which was later renamed Wheel Of Fortune when it launched in 1975.
The show was a huge hit immediately, and Woolery hosted it for six years. According to The Hollywood Reporter, however, his relationship with Griffin went south in 1981 when he demanded a raise from $65,000 to $500,000. That was allegedly on par with what other top game show hosts were making at the time, but Griffin said no. He supposedly counter-offered $400,000 a year, but after NBC got involved in negotiations, Griffin allegedly decided to pull the plug and fired Woolery instead. He was replaced by Pat Sajak, and Woolery and Griffin never spoke again.
Fortunately for Woolery, that wasn’t the end of his game show hosting career. He was hired to emcee Love Connection two years later, and the next year, he picked up a second game show called Scrabble. Both programs were huge network TV hits and together, paid him far more than the salary he was looking for on Wheel Of Fortune. They each ran for around a decade, but neither had the cultural relevance or mega-popularity of Wheel Of Fortune. He later added The Big Spin, a reboot of The Dating Game, Greed, Lingo and more throughout his storied career. He also made many appearances on television as a talking head, mostly to advocate for conservative political causes and positions.
Woolery was married four times and had five children, one of whom tragically died in a motorcycle accident at 19. He was, without question, one of the most successful game show hosts ever, and his memory will live on through future generations of game show hosts who have inevitably borrowed something from his style, whether they realize it or not.
