Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking host of “Wheel of Fortune,” “Love Connection” and “Scrabble” who later became a right-wing podcaster, skewers liberals and accuses the government of lying about COVID-19 , died. He was 83 years old.
Mark Young, Woolery’s podcast co-host and friend, said in an email Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. “Chuck was a dear friend and brother and a wonderful man of faith, life would not be the same without him,” Young wrote.
Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, tousled hair and facility with witty quips, was inducted into the American 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 television show “Love Connection,” for which he coined the phrase “We’ll be back in two minutes and two seconds,” a two-finger signature dubbed “2 and 2.” In 1984, he hosted the television show “Scrabble”, simultaneously hosting two game shows on television until 1990.
“Love Connection,” broadcast long before the dawn of dating apps, featured a single man or woman watching audition tapes of three potential partners, then choosing one for a date -YOU.
A few weeks after the date, the guest sat down with Woolery in front of a studio audience and told everyone about the date. The public would vote for the three candidates, and if the public agreed 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 lovebirds were a 91-year-old man and an 87-year-old woman. “She had so much eye makeup on she looked like a stolen Corvette. He was so old he said, ‘I remember.’ wagon trains. Poor guy. She took him for a hot air balloon ride.
Other career highlights include hosting the shows “Lingo,” “Greed” and “The Chuck Woolery Show,” as well as hosting the short-lived syndicated revival of 1998’s “The Dating Game.” in 2000 and an ill-fated talk show in 1991. In 1992, he played himself in two episodes of the television series “Melrose Place.”
Woolery became the subject of the Game Show Network’s first attempt at a reality show, “Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned”, which premiered in 2003. It shared the title of the 1968 pop song by Woolery and his rock band, the Avant-Garde. . It lasted for six episodes and was panned by critics.
Woolery began his television career on a show that became a mainstay. Although primarily associated with Pat Sajak and Vanna White, “Wheel of Fortune” debuted on January 6, 1975 on NBC with Woolery welcoming the contestants and the audience. Woolery, then 33, was trying to make it in Nashville as a singer.
“Wheel of Fortune” began life 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 him to host the new show with Susan Stafford.
“I had an interview that lasted 15 to 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 : ‘Great, a guy with a bad jacket and an equally bad mustache who doesn’t care what you have to say – that’s the guy I want to be.
NBC passed at first, but they revamped it as “Wheel of Fortune” and got the green light. After a few years, Woolery demanded a raise to $500,000 a year, the same amount as host Peter Marshall was making on “Hollywood Squares.” Griffin hesitated and replaced Woolery with weather reporter Pat Sajak.
“Chuck and Susie did a good job, and ‘Wheel’ did quite well on NBC, although it never approached the kind of ratings success that ‘Jeopardy!’ realized at his peak,” Griffin said in “Merv: Making the Good Life Last,” a 2000s autobiography co-written by David Bender. Woolery earned an Emmy nod as host.
Born in Ashland, Kentucky, Woolery served in the United States Navy before attending college. He played double bass in a folk trio, then formed the psychedelic rock duo The Avant-Garde in 1967 while working as a truck driver to support himself as a musician.
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The Avant-Garde, touring in a repurposed Cadillac hearse, had the Top 40 hit “Naturally Stoned,” with Woolery singing: “When I think of you alone / I can get a good feeling / I feel like that I am naturally stoned.”
After The Avant-Garde broke up, Woolery released his first solo single “I’ve Been Wrong” in 1969 and several other singles with Columbia before moving to country music in the 1970s. He released two solo singles, “Forgive My Heart” and “Love Me, Love Me”.
Woolery has written or co-written 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” with lyrics including “See our baby on the swing/Hear her laugh, hear her scream “.
After his television career ended, Woolery moved 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 political views in liberal Hollywood for fear of reprisals.
He teamed up with Mark Young in 2014 for the “Blunt Force Truth” podcast and quickly became a full-fledged supporter of Donald Trump, while arguing that minorities don’t need civil rights and stirring up a storm fired by tweeting an anti-Semitic comment linking Soviet communists to Judaism.
“President Obama’s popularity is a fantasy that belongs only to him and his dwindling legion of snowflakes who drink juice boxes, hug their dogs and hide in a safe space,” a- he declared.
Woolery was also active online, retweeting articles from the Conservative Brief, insisting that Democrats were trying to install a system of Marxism, and spreading headlines such as “Impeach Him!” Devastating photo of Joe Biden leaks.
Early in the pandemic, Woolery initially accused medical professionals and Democrats of lying about the virus in an effort to harm the economy and Trump’s chances of re-election as president.
“The most outrageous lies are those about COVID-19. Everyone lies. The CDC, the media, the Democrats, our doctors, not all but most, who we are told to trust. I think it’s all about elections and preventing the economy from recovering, which is all about elections. I’m fed up,” Woolery wrote in July 2020.
Trump retweeted this message to his 83 million followers. By the end of the month, nearly 4.5 million Americans had been infected with COVID-19 and more than 150,000 had died.
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 it is here. My son tested positive for the virus and I feel for those who are suffering and especially for those who have lost loved ones,” Woolery said before his account was deleted.
Woolery later explained on his podcast that he never called COVID-19 a “hoax” or said “it wasn’t real,” just that “we were lied to.” Woolery also said it was “an honor to see your president retweet your thoughts and think it’s important enough to do so.”
Besides his wife, Woolery is survived by his sons Michael and Sean and his daughter Melissa, Young said.
