Chuck Woolery, the affable host of “Love Connection,” “Wheel of Fortune” and other television game shows, who later criticized liberal values and the Democratic Party as the co-host of a popular right-wing podcast, died on Saturday at his home in Texas. He was 83.
His death was confirmed by Mark Young, the co-host of his podcast, “Blunt Force Truth.” He did not specify the cause.
In the late 1970s, Mr. Woolery was the inaugural host of “Wheel of Fortune,” now one of the longest-running game shows on television. And in the early 1980s, he was tapped to host “Love Connection,” a dating show that helped to make him a household name.
On a stage flush with red and pink cutout hearts, he maneuvered with an easy charm through interactions that could be both endearing and irreverent.
At times he could be a coaxing Cupid; at others, a referee as contestants traded barbs over who was complaining or who had skipped out on dinner.
“I felt more like the audience,” Mr. Woolery said in a 2020 interview with the journalist Adam Wurtzel. “What would the audience ask? What would the audience feel?”
He went on to host the word-related game shows “Scrabble” and “Lingo,” as well as “Greed,” a reimagining of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” with teams and bigger cash prizes, among other shows.
After cofounding his podcast 2014, he turned on the system that had made him a star. The targets of his pointed commentary included Hollywood, the Democratic Party and the public health establishment’s messaging on the coronavirus.
Charles Herbert Woolery was born on March 16, 1941, in Ashland, Ky., the son of Dan Woolery, a distributor for Coca-Cola, and Katherine Woolery. After graduating from high school, he served for two years in the Navy before working odd jobs.
He moved to Los Angeles, hoping to make it in music or acting, but that didn’t happen immediately.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” Mr. Woolery said in the 2020 interview. “I had no money. I had a car and a place I was going to live for a while.”
Soon he had appeared on shows like “New Zoo Revue,” a children’s program. He was also a member of the Avant-Garde, a psychedelic rock duo that had a Top 40 hit in 1968 with the single “Naturally Stoned.” (Mr. Woolery would later have several singles on country music charts as a solo artist.)
When he played on the “Merv Griffin Show,” Mr. Griffin liked his charisma and asked him to talk to a few business partners about working as a game show host.
“I thought, ‘A game show host — that’s the guy with a bad mustache and a bad jacket who cares nothing about what you have to say,’” Mr. Woolery said. “I immediately said no, but I’d like to think about it.”
His first spin at the genre proved to be the foundation for a long career.
In 1975, Mr. Woolery hosted the inaugural episode of “Wheel of Fortune.” He kept the job until 1981, when he was ousted after a bitter contract dispute. Pat Sajak took over and went on to host the show for four decades.
On Fox News in 2016, Mr. Woolery spoke of his time on “Wheel of Fortune” with reverence and some regret.
“I should have stayed,” he said, adding that “if it wasn’t for Merv, I wouldn’t have had a career.”
Although Mr. Woolery lost the chance to continue hosting “Wheel of Fortune” he became a moneymaker for the Game Show Network.
On “Love Connection,” he developed his trademark “two-and-two” sign off before the commercial break to note the two minutes and two seconds between segments. He exuded a self-deprecating onstage persona to put guests at ease.
“Game show hosts are supposed to be perfect, but we’re not,” he said in the interview.
By the time “Greed” premiered in 1999, Mr. Woolery had been a game show host for more than 20 years. His other shows included “The Chuck Woolery Show” and a revival of “The Dating Game.”
As a co-host of “Blunt Force Truth,” a conservative podcast that espoused right-wing perspectives on morality, politics and celebrity, he took a more combative approach.
“If you’re not all-in on government, and all-in on what this leftist, far-left Democratic Party is up to, then you’re just not welcome,” Mr. Woolery said on the show in 2023.
During President elect Donald J. Trump’s first term, Mr. Woolery caught the president’s eye. Mr. Woolery, known to be outspoken on Twitter, posted in July 2020 that “The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying.” Mr. Trump re-tweeted the statement, and Mr. Woolery said on his podcast that he was “very proud.”
That same month, Mr. Woolery’s son tested positive for the coronavirus. Mr. Woolery sent another tweet, saying “Covid-19 is real and it is here.” (His son recovered.)
Mr. Woolery, who was married several times, is survived by his wife, Kristen, and by three children, Michael, Melissa and Sean, Mr. Young said. A son, Chad, died in a motorcycle accident in Los Angeles in 1986. A daughter, Katherine, has also died, Mr. Young said.
As he became more disillusioned with Hollywood and more involved in national conservative politics, Mr. Woolery moved from California to Horseshoe Bay, Texas.
Still, the world that shaped him could be hard to forget.
Horseshoe Bay, he said, is “like Bel Air on the lake.”
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