Chuck Woolery, the original host of Wheel of Fortune, has died. He was 83.
Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife present, his friend and Blunt Force Truth podcast co-host Mark Young confirmed in an email to the Associated Press on Sunday, Nov. 24. Representatives for Woolery did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“Chuck was a dear friend and brother and a tremendous man of faith, life will not be the same without him,” Young wrote, per AP.
Young also wrote of Woolery’s passing on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “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.”
According to TMZ, Young told the outlet that Woolery “said he wasn’t feeling well and went to lie down.” Young claimed Woolery returned later and mentioned that “he was having trouble breathing” and 911 was called but “he didn’t make it.”
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Woolery was a television staple for decades. He was the original host of Wheel of Fortune, hosted the popular dating show Love Connection for over a decade and also hosted shows Scrabble, Greed and Lingo.
He was born in Ashland, Ky., in 1941. Woolery lived with his parents and sister in a two-story clapboard house and told PEOPLE in 1991 that his childhood was “real happy and very simple.” He sang from a young age, and one memorable moment occurred when Woolery — in seventh grade and 6 feet tall — sang Nat King Cole’s “Too Young” during an assembly. “I looked and sounded like a man in front of all these little kids,” he told PEOPLE. “Girls liked me, and guys hated me.”
Woolery enrolled at the University of Kentucky in 1960, but after two years he left and entered the Navy, spending two years there. Afterward, he returned to school at Kentucky’s Morehead State University but left again to pursue music. In Nashville, he and Bubba Fowler — under the name The Avant-Garde — recorded a single, “Naturally Stoned,” which became a Top 40 hit. He later released music as a solo artist as well.
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Woolery moved to Los Angeles in 1972, and eventually landed spots on The Tonight Show and other programs.
In 1975, producer Merv Griffin hired him to host a new game show called Wheel of Fortune. Initially, the show aired during the daytime. ”When I got on, I couldn’t stop talking to people,” he told The New York Times in 2003 about his hosting style. ”I wanted to know who they were, what they did. I wanted them to win, and I got emotionally invested in their winning.”
Woolery hosted until 1982, when he and the producers couldn’t agree on his contract. He was replaced with Pat Sajak. He long regretted his decision to depart the game show. ”If I wouldn’t have left Wheel of Fortune, I’d be making about $10 million a year now,” he told the Times in 2003.
In 1983, Woolery began hosting Love Connection, which became a major success. The show not only set people up on dates but also followed them during their night out and then questioned them afterward about how it went. The show was a precursor to the now-ubiquitous reality dating genre.
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Woolery told PEOPLE in 1986 that while audiences liked to see contestants find love, they “enjoy the dates that fail even more.” The show was so popular that a young Jim Carrey did an impression of the famously unflappable Woolery on In Living Color. “Dating and romance are real common denominators,” Woolery reflected to PEOPLE.
During his time on Love Connection, Woolery also hosted The Big Spin and Scrabble, but the dating show was his favorite. “This is really the one show I do that I’ll watch at home,” he told PEOPLE. “I really like its unpredictability.”
Woolery hosted a short-lived talk show, The Chuck Woolery Show, in 1991. Love Connection ended in 1994. From 1997 to 1999, Woolery hosted a revival of The Dating Game. He later hosted Greed and Lingo.
Fox/Courtesy Everett
Woolery and his family were the subjects of a short-lived reality show, 2003’s Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned. He told PEOPLE in 2003, “When they wanted to do this, I thought, I can’t imagine anybody would watch my life. But after we got into it, I thought, ‘If it’s funny, they’ll watch.’”
Woolery was married several times. From 1963 to 1970, he was married to Margaret Hayes. They shared three children: Cary, Katherine and Chad. Chad died in a motorcycle accident in 1985. He was 19 years old.
“My Christian faith is probably the single thing that got me through this,” Woolery told PEOPLE in 1997 of Chad’s death. “Without the understanding of where Chad is and what I expect in the future, it would have been very difficult. My belief is that he’s much better off now than he was then.”
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
From 1972 to 1980, he was married to actress Jo Ann Pflug. They shared a daughter, Melissa. From 1985 to 2004, he was married to Teri Nelson. They shared sons Michael and Sean. In 2006, he married Kim Barnes.
Woolery was a Republican and was vocal in his support for conservative politics, including publicly pushing conspiracy theories about COVID-19.
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