The original host of Wheel of Fortune, Chuck Woolery, has died. He was 83.
Woolery died at home in Texas with his wife present, according to his friend and Blunt Force Truth podcast co-host Mark Young, who verified the news in an email to the Associated Press on Sunday, November 24. Woolery representatives did not immediately reply 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,” writes Young, according to the AP.
Young also announced Woolery’s death on X (previously Twitter), writing, “It is with a crushed heart that I inform you that my beloved brother @chuckwoolery has just died away. Life won’t be the same without him.” RIP, brother.”
According to TMZ, Young reported that Woolery “said he wasn’t feeling well and went to lie down.” Young reported that Woolery arrived later, stating that “he was having trouble breathing” and that they had called 911, but “he didn’t make it.”
Woolery remained a television mainstay for decades. He was the original presenter of Wheel of Fortune, spent over a decade hosting the famous dating game Love Connection, and has also presented Scrabble, Greed, and Lingo.
He was born in Ashland, Kentucky, in 1941. Woolery grew up in a two-story clapboard house with his parents and sister, telling PEOPLE in 1991 that his childhood was “really happy and very simple.” He began singing at an early age, and one noteworthy occurrence was when Woolery, who was 6 feet tall and in seventh school, performed 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 the magazine. “Girls liked me, and guys hated me.”
Woolery enrolled in the University of Kentucky in 1960, but after two years, he left and joined the Navy, where he spent two years. He then went to Morehead State University in Kentucky but left again to pursue his musical interests. In Nashville, he and Bubba Fowler recorded “Naturally Stoned,” a Top 40 smash, as The Avant-Garde. He also recorded music as a solo artist.
Woolery came to Los Angeles in 1972 and eventually appeared on The Tonight Show and other shows.
In 1975, producer Merv Griffin engaged him to anchor a new game show called Wheel of Fortune. Initially, the show was broadcast during the day. “When I got on, I couldn’t stop talking to people,” he told The New York Times in 2003 regarding his hosting manner. I wanted to know who they were and what they did. I yearned for their success and grew emotionally invested in their triumph.
Woolery hosted until 1982, when he and the producers were unable to agree on a contract. He was replaced by Pat Sajak. He has long regretted his choice to leave the game show. “If I hadn’t left Wheel of Fortune, I’d be making around $10 million a year now,” he told the Times in 2003.
Woolery began presenting Love Connection in 1983, and it quickly became a huge hit. Besides setting people up on dates, the show followed them and asked them about their night out. The show was a forerunner of the now-popular reality dating genre.
Woolery told PEOPLE in 1986 that while viewers enjoyed watching candidates find love, they “enjoy the dates that fail even more.” The program was so successful that a teenage Jim Carrey performed an imitation of the renowned unflappable Woolery on In Living Color. “Dating and romance are real common denominators,” Woolery told PEOPLE.
Woolery also hosted The Big Spin and Scrabble while on Love Connection, although he preferred the dating program. “This is really the one show I do that I’ll watch at home,” he told People. “I really like its unpredictability.”
Woolery presented a short-lived chat program, The Chuck Woolery Program, in 1991. Love Connection concluded in 1994. Woolery sponsored a rendition of The Dating Game between 1997 and 1999. He then hosted Greed and Lingo.
The short-lived reality show Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned featured Woolery and his family in 2003. He told PEOPLE in 2003, “When they wanted to do this, I couldn’t believe anyone would be watching my life. But once we started going, I thought, ‘If it’s humorous, they’ll watch.'”
Woolery got married multiple times. From 1963 until 1970, he married Margaret Hayes. They have three children: Cary, Katherine, and Chad. Chad died in a motorbike accident in 1985. He was nineteen years old.
“My Christian faith is probably the single thing that got me through this,” Woolery told PEOPLE in 1997 after Chad died. “It would have been hard without knowing where Chad was and my plans. “I believe he’s much better off now than he was then.”
He married actress JoAnn Pflug from 1972 to 1980. They have a daughter, Melissa. Teri Nelson was his wife from 1985 to 2004. They have two kids, Michael and Sean. In 2006, he married Kim Barnes.
Woolery was a Republican who was outspoken about his support for conservative politics, including openly spreading conspiracy theories concerning COVID-19.