Game show host Chuck Woolery, known for Love Connection and Wheel of Fortune, died on Saturday, November 23, 2024. He was 83 years old.

Woolery was the original host of Wheel of Fortune, leading the popular game show from 1975 to ’81. He also hosted Love Connection, a game show on which singles attempted to find love, for 11 seasons from 1983 to ’94.

He was born on March 16, 1941, in Ashland, Kentucky, and he served in the Navy for two years. Woolery was one half of the psychedelic pop duo Avant-Garde, whose song “Naturally Stoned” was a Top 40 hit in 1968. After the duo broke up, Woolery started singing country music and wrote songs for other singers like Tammy Wynette and Pat Boone.

Following a performance on The Merv Griffin Show, he was hired by Griffin to host Wheel of Fortune. From there, he moved on to hosting Love Connection, and hosted Scrabble from ’84 to ’90 and the short revival in ’93. He made the jump to talk show host for The Chuck Woolery Show in ’91. Then he hosted the game show, Greed, in ’99 to 2000, then hosted Lingo from 2002 to 2007.

He hosted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in ’79, appeared on shows like Match Game, Hollywood Squares, The Dating Game, Pyramid, and Dancing with the Stars.

In 2007, Woolery was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame. After his game show career, he was a radio show and podcast host.