Chuck Woolery

Chuck Woolery
Born	Charles Herbert Woolery March 16, 1941 (1941-03-16) (age 70) Ashland, Kentucky, US
Occupation	Game show host
Years active	1969—
Spouse	Margaret Hayes (1961–71) Jo Ann Pflug (1972–80) Teri Nelson (1985–2004) Kim Barnes (2006— )
Children	6 (5 living)
Website
http://www.chuckwoolery.com/

Charles Herbert "Chuck" Woolery (born March 16, 1941) is an American game show host. He has had long-running tenures hosting several different game shows. He was the original host of Wheel of Fortune from 1975–81, the original incarnation of Love Connection from 1983–94, and Scrabble from 1984–90 (and during a brief revival in 1993). He also hosted Lingo on Game Show Network (GSN) from 2002–07, and most recently hosted Think Like a Cat, which premiered on GSN on November 15, 2008.^[1] Woolery's performing career began in singing,^[2] and he has occasionally dabbled in other entertainment roles including acting^[2] and talk show hosting.^[2]

Personal life

Woolery was born in Ashland, Kentucky.^[2] He is a devout born again Christian and spends a great deal of time involved in volunteering in ministry.^[3] He is politically conservative.^[4] Woolery struggled with alcoholism, eventually undergoing rehabilitation.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Woolery served two years in the U.S. Navy^[5] after graduating from high school. In 1963, Woolery worked as a wine consultant for Wasserstrom Wine & Import Company in Columbus, Ohio, which contributed to his problem with alcoholism. He was also a sales representative for Pillsbury. In the 1960s, Woolery and Elkin "Bubba" Fowler recorded as the musical duo The Avant-Garde which had one-hit wonder success in 1968 with the top 40 pop hit "Naturally Stoned".^[6] Also during this time, he sidelined as a truck driver to supplement his income. Between 1977 and 1980, Woolery recorded for Warner Bros. Records and Epic Records as a solo artist, with two low-charting singles on Hot Country Songs.^[7]

While co-starring as Mr. Dingle on the hit children's series New Zoo Revue, Woolery's first game show appearance was on a 1974 episode of Tattletales alongside then-wife Jo Ann Pflug. Starting as an enterprising folk/pop singer, Woolery was also seen on a 1974 episode of Your Hit Parade. On January 6, 1975, Woolery began hosting the game show Wheel of Fortune at the suggestion of creator Merv Griffin, who had seen Woolery sing on The Tonight Show, and Woolery hosted for six years. In 1981, Woolery was involved in a salary dispute with the program's producers. Woolery stated in a 2007 interview that he demanded a raise from $65,000 a year to about $500,000 a year because the program was drawing a 44 share at the time, and other hosts were making that much. Griffin offered Woolery $400,000 a year, however, but NBC offered to pay the additional $100,000. After Griffin threatened to take the program to CBS, NBC withdrew the offer. Griffin dismissed Woolery from Wheel of Fortune; his final Wheel of Fortune episode aired on December 25, 1981. Weatherman Pat Sajak replaced him.^[8] Since then, Woolery has made references to his termination from Wheel on some of his later programs, most notably in the 1990 finale of Scrabble and two episodes of Greed. Nearly all of Woolery's Wheel episodes are believed to have been permanently lost, due to NBC's common practice of wiping to save money.

Woolery has also hosted Love Connection (1983–94), The Big Spin (1985), Scrabble (1984–90, 1993), The Home and Family Show (1996–98, co-host), The Dating Game (1997–99), Greed (1999–2000) (Which was originally supposed to be hosted by Phil Donahue) and Lingo (2002–07). In addition, he was the subject of a reality show, Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned, and has been seen on television infomercials as a national spokesman for National Recreational Properties, promoting developing real-estate developments such as Holiday Island in Arkansas. He also hosted his own talk show, The Chuck Woolery Show, which lasted for only a few months in 1991. He has also hosted The Price Is Right Live! at Harrah's casinos, and appeared in the live stage show "$250,000 Game Show Spectacular" at the Las Vegas Hilton until the show ended in April 2008.^[9]

Woolery was the co-host, along with Cristina Ferrare, of the unique talk and information show The Home and Family Show in the late 1990s. It was considered an American reality TV show. Michael Burger replaced Woolery in the final year of the show.

Woolery, who has often spoken enthusiastically about bass fishing, sells his own line of fishing products, including the "MotoLure," a motorized lure that simulates the motions of a small fish. Woolery's passion for the outdoors has also enabled him to become the official outdoor spokesman on QVC, where he promotes many other signature products. Woolery has also played on the World Poker Tour Hollywood Home Game for the charity Safe Passage.

On October 13, 2007, Woolery was one of the first inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Discography

Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		US Country [7]
1977	"Painted Lady"	78	Non-album songs
	"Take 'Er Down, Boys"	—
1980	"The Greatest Love Affair"	94
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

On 11/03/11 he appeared on the Glenn Beck Program.

See also

• List of game show hosts

Notes

1. ^ Think Like a Cat at about.com
2. ^ ^{a b c d} http://bestgameshowstoday.com/GameShows/Wheel-of-Fortune/Chuck-Woolery-Bio.htm
3. ^ "Chuck Woolery...still making love connections". AskMen.com. http://www.askmen.com/toys/interview_100/131_chuck_woolery_interview.html. Retrieved 2007-10-20. 
4. ^ Seidl, Jonathan (November 4, 2011). Chuck Woolery Sits Down With Beck and Explains ‘Coming Out’ as a Conservative. The Blaze. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
5. ^ http://tv.gsn.com/shows/lingo/
6. ^ Ankeny, Jason. "The Avant-Garde biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p183845. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc.. pp. 474. ISBN 0-89820-177-2. 
8. ^ "Woolery Reveals 25-Year Rift With Merv Griffin on "The Strip"". eMediaWire. 2007-11-25. http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/11/emw571557.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-28. 
9. ^ "R.I.P. $250,000 Game Show Spectacular". http://thestrippodcast.blogspot.com/2008/04/rip-250000-game-show-spectacular.html. Retrieved 2009-01-01. 

External links

• Official website
• Official page at Facebook
• Chuck Woolery at the Internet Movie Database

Media offices
Preceded by Edd Byrnes (1974 pilot)	Host of Wheel of Fortune (daytime) January 6, 1975 – December 25, 1981	Succeeded by Pat Sajak
Preceded by none	Host of Love Connection September 19, 1983 – June 30, 1995	Succeeded by Pat Bullard
Preceded by Ralph Andrews	Host of Lingo August 5, 2002 – June 6, 2007	Succeeded by Bill Engvall
Preceded by none	Host of The Big Spin October 28, 1985 – November 18, 1985	Succeeded by Geoff Edwards

Persondata
Name	Woolery, Chuck
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 16, 1941
Place of birth	Ashland, Kentucky, US
Date of death
Place of death