Chuck Woolery Dies: The Game Show Host Was 83

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 22: Host of the Game Show Network Show, Lingo Chuck Woolery poses on the ... [+] set October 22, 2003 in Los Angeles California. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Getty Images for the Game Show Network)

Chuck Wooley, the former host of Wheel of Fortune, Love Connection and Scrabble, among other game shows, has died. He was 83. The veteran game show personality passed away after experiencing breathing trouble at his home in Texas, Woolery’s friend and podcast co-host Mark Young told TMZ.

“It is with a broken heart that I tell you that my dear brother @chuckwoolery has just passed away. Life will not be the same without him, RIP brother,” Young wrote on X.

Born on March 16, 1941 in Ashland, Kentucky, Chucky Woolery began his career on stage as a singer and double bass player with the folk trio The Borderman. He also sang with a duo called The Avant-Garde, who were in the psychedelic pop genre. Their one hit was single Naturally Stoned in 1968.

As a solo artist, Woolery released five records with Columbia. In 1970, he signed with RCA and released Forgive My Heart. After another single, Love Me, Love Me, failed to make any impact in 1971, he turned to acting. His acting resume included guest spots in TV series like Love, American Style, ChiPs, 227, and Melrose Place.

Performing as Mr. Dingle on the children’s television series New Zoo Revue, the roots of Woolery’s career in game shows were planted when he appeared on Tattletales in 1974 opposite his then wife Jo Ann Pflug.

LOS ANGELES - FEBRUARY 10: Celebrity husbands and wives on the gameshow, TATTLETALES. From left: Jo ... [+] Ann Pflug and Chuck Woolery, Betty White and Allen Ludden, host Burt Convy, Pat Harrington and Marjorie Harrington. Image dated February 10, 1974. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

In early 1976, Woolery began hosting Wheel of Fortune at the suggestion of creator Merv Griffin, who had seen Woolery sing on The Tonight Show. He hosted in 1978, and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Game or Audience Participation Show.

After exiting in a salary dispute, Woolery was in demand as a guest show hosted and segued in the hosting chair to Love Connection (1983-94), The Big Spin (1985), Scrabble (1984-90, 1993), The Dating Game (1997-99), Greed (1999-2000), and Lingo (2002-07). He also co-hosted the talkers Home & Family on former The Family Channel from 1996-98, and short-lived The Chuck Woolery Show in 1991.

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 22: Co Hosts of the Game Show Network Show, Lingo Chuck Woolery and ... [+] Stacey Hayes pose on the set October 22, 2003 in Los Angeles California. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Getty Images for the Game Show Network)

Wooley was also the subject of the docuseries Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned in 2003. And, from 2012-14, he hosted the nationally syndicated radio commentary show, Save Us Chuck Woolery, which grew out of his YouTube videos.

Known for his conservative political views, Woolery found himself in multiple controversies over the past decade involving such subjects as antisemitism and Covid 19, which he tweeted, “The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying.” After his son tested positive for the coronavirus, Woolery sent another tweet, saying “Covid-19 is real and it is here.”

Woolery is survived by his fourth wife, Kristen, and by three children, Michael, Melissa and Sean. A son, Chad, died in a motorcycle accident in Los Angeles in 1986. A daughter, Katherine, also passed away.