Beloved game-show host Chuck Woolery was the face of the show “Love Connection” for more than a decade and became an American TV Game Show Hall of Famer in 2007. But before he started his decades-long career as a television host, he served in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
Woolery had a colorful history in the entertainment industry before becoming a popular game-show host. He was in a 1960s rock duo, released numerous records as a solo artist and began his onscreen work as an actor before taking the helm of “Wheel of Fortune,” his breakout gig. After 40-plus years of hosting television shows, he then became a conservative personality and podcaster.
Woolery died at his Horseshoe Bay, Texas, home on Nov. 23, 2024. He was 83.
Chuck Woolery was born in Ashland, Kentucky, on March 16, 1941, the son of a homemaker and a Coca-Cola distributor. After graduating from high school, Woolery enlisted in the Navy, where he spent two years and served aboard the USS Enterprise. After his military service, he worked odd jobs to make a living before he struck out for Los Angeles to try to make a name for himself in the entertainment industry.
Woolery’s first foray in entertainment came as part of a musical duo, the psychedelic rock group called The Avant-Garde, whose 1968 single “Naturally Stoned” cracked the U.S. Top 40 charts for Columbia Records. He would make five more records with Columbia as a solo artist before moving on to RCA, Warner Bros. and Epic Records, making country music. The Avant-Garde turned out to be a one-hit wonder and Woolery’s other records failed to achieve the same kind of success, so he moved on to acting.
After a brief stint on the children’s television show “New Zoo Revue,” an appearance on “The Merv Griffin Show” led to a gig hosting a new daytime game show in 1975, “Wheel of Fortune.” Woolery was hesitant to take the job but ultimately did it. Despite earning him a Daytime Emmy nomination, a contract dispute led to Woolery’s departure from the show in 1981, when Army veteran and then-TV weatherman Pat Sajak took over at the wheel.
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Woolery was a departure from game-show hosts at the time. He saw them as guys “with bad mustaches and bad jackets” who don’t care what contestants have to say. He decided he would be different. His natural banter and smooth dialogue with guests made him a perfect host for “Love Connection,” a dating show that was less of a game, and more of an audition for dates. Most importantly, it resonated with audiences, and Woolery would host the show for 11 years.
While “Love Connection” was still on the air, he simultaneously hosted “The Big Spin” and “Scrabble.” In his post-“Connection” era, he hosted the daytime talk show “Home & Family,” a revival of the long-running “The Dating Game,” the primetime game show “Greed” and TV Land’s “Ultimate Fan Search,” among other game shows. He was also the subject of the Game Show Network’s foray into reality TV, “Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned.” “Love Connection” was also rebooted by Fox in 2017, with Andy Cohen as host, but it failed to reach the same level of popularity as Woolery’s show.
Later in life, Woolery became a right-wing podcast personality, launching “Blunt Force Truth” in 2014 with entrepreneur Mark Young. On his show, he took an aggressive approach to espousing conservative points of view, railing against the Obama and Biden administrations. His cause of death was not released, but it was confirmed by his “Blunt Force Truth” co-host.
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