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Mourning for US game show legend Chuck Woolery: The 83-year-old reportedly died after suffering sudden breathing problems at his home in Texas.

NEW YORK β€” Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of β€œWheel of Fortune,” β€œLove Connection” and β€œScrabble” who later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19, has died. He was 83.

Chuck Woolery hosts a special premiere of the "$250,000 Game Show Spectacular" at the Las Vegas Hilton on Oct. 13, 2007, in Las Vegas.Β 

Mark Young, Woolery's podcast co-host and friend, said in an email early Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. β€œChuck was a dear friend and brother and a tremendous man of faith, life will not be the same without him,” Young wrote.

Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, coiffed hair and ease with witty banter, was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978.

In 1983, Woolery began an 11-year run as host of TV’s β€œLove Connection,” for which he coined the phrase, β€œWe’ll be back in two minutes and two seconds,” a two-fingered signature dubbed the β€œ2 and 2.” In 1984, he hosted TV’s β€œScrabble,” simultaneously hosting two game shows on TV until 1990.

β€œLove Connection,” which aired long before the dawn of dating apps, had a premise that featured either a single man or single woman who would watch audition tapes of three potential mates and then pick one for a date.

A couple of weeks after the date, the guest would sit with Woolery in front of a studio audience and tell everybody about the date. The audience would vote on the three contestants, and if the audience agreed with the guest’s choice, β€œLove Connection” would offer to pay for a second date.

Woolery told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003 that his favorite set of lovebirds was a man aged 91 and a woman aged 87. "She had so much eye makeup on, she looked like a stolen Corvette. He was so old he said, β€˜I remember wagon trains.’ The poor guy. She took him on a balloon ride.”

Other career highlights included hosting the shows β€œLingo," β€œGreed” and β€œThe Chuck Woolery Show,” as well as hosting the short-lived syndicated revival of β€œThe Dating Game” from 1998 to 2000 and an ill-fated 1991 talk show. In 1992, he played himself in two episodes of TV’s β€œMelrose Place.”

Woolery became the subject of the Game Show Network’s first attempt at a reality show, β€œChuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned,” which premiered in 2003. It shared the title of the pop song in 1968 by Woolery and his rock group, the Avant-Garde. It lasted six episode and was panned by critics.

Woolery began his TV career at a show that has become a mainstay. Although most associated with Pat Sajak and Vanna White, β€œWheel of Fortune” debuted Jan. 6, 1975, on NBC with Woolery welcoming contestants and the audience. Woolery, then 33, was trying to make it in Nashville as a singer.

β€œWheel of Fortune” started life as β€œShopper’s Bazaar,” incorporating Hangman-style puzzles and a roulette wheel. After Woolery appeared on β€œThe Merv Griffin Show” singing β€œDelta Dawn,” Merv Griffin asked him to host the new show with Susan Stafford.

β€œI had an interview that stretched to 15, 20 minutes,” Woolery told The New York Times in 2003. β€œAfter the show, when Merv asked if I wanted to do a game show, I thought, β€˜Great, a guy with a bad jacket and an equally bad mustache who doesn’t care what you have to say β€” that’s the guy I want to be.’”

NBC initially passed, but they retooled it as β€œWheel of Fortune” and got the green light. After a few years, Woolery demanded a raise to $500,000 a year, or what host Peter Marshall was making on β€œHollywood Squares.” Griffin balked and replaced Woolery with weather reporter Pat Sajak.

β€œBoth Chuck and Susie did a fine job, and β€˜Wheel’ did well enough on NBC, although it never approached the kind of ratings success that β€˜Jeopardy!’ achieved in its heyday,” Griffin said in β€œMerv: Making the Good Life Last,” an autobiography from the 2000s co-written by David Bender. Woolery earned an Emmy nod as host.

Born in Ashland, Kentucky, Woolery served in the U.S. Navy before attending college. He played double bass in a folk trio, then formed the psychedelic rock duo The Avant-Garde in 1967 while working as a truck driver to support himself as a musician.

The Avant-Garde, which toured in a refitted Cadillac hearse, had the Top 40 hit β€œNaturally Stoned,” with Woolery singing, β€œWhen I put my mind on you alone/I can get a good sensation/Feel like I’m naturally stoned.”

After The Avant-Garde broke up, Woolery released his debut solo single β€œI’ve Been Wrong” in 1969 and several more singles with Columbia before transitioning to country music by the 1970s. He released two solo singles, β€œForgive My Heart” and β€œLove Me, Love Me.”

Woolery wrote or co-wrote songs for himself and everyone from Pat Boone to Tammy Wynette. On Wynette’s 1971 album β€œWe Sure Can Love Each Other,” Woolery wrote β€œThe Joys of Being a Woman” with lyrics including β€œSee our baby on the swing/Hear her laugh, hear her scream.”

After his TV career ended, Woolery went into podcasting. In an interview with The New York Times, he called himself a gun-rights activist and described himself as a conservative libertarian and constitutionalist. He said he hadn’t revealed his politics in liberal Hollywood for fear of retribution.

He teamed up with Mark Young in 2014 for the podcast β€œBlunt Force Truth” and soon became a full supporter of Donald Trump while arguing minorities don’t need civil rights and causing a firestorm by tweeting an antisemitic comment linking Soviet Communists to Judaism.

β€œPresident Obama’s popularity is a fantasy only held by him and his dwindling legion of juice-box-drinking, anxiety-dog-hugging, safe-space-hiding snowflakes,” he said.

Woolery also was active online, retweeting articles from Conservative Brief, insisting Democrats were trying to install a system of Marxism and spreading headlines such as β€œImpeach him! Devastating photo of Joe Biden leaks.”

During the early stages of the pandemic, Woolery initially accused medical professionals and Democrats of lying about the virus in an effort to hurt the economy and Trump’s chances for reelection to the presidency.

β€œThe most outrageous lies are the ones about COVID-19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, media, Democrats, our doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it,” Woolery wrote in July 2020.

Trump retweeted that post to his 83 million followers. By the end of the month, nearly 4.5 million Americans had been infected with COVID-19 and more than 150,000 had died.

Just days later, Woolery changed his stance, announcing his son had contracted COVID-19. β€œTo further clarify and add perspective, COVID-19 is real and it is here. My son tested positive for the virus, and I feel for of those suffering and especially for those who have lost loved ones,” Woolery posted before his account was deleted.

Woolery later explained on his podcast that he never called COVID-19 β€œa hoax” or said β€œit’s not real,” just that β€œwe’ve been lied to.” Woolery also said it was β€œan honor to have your president retweet what your thoughts are and think it’s important enough to do that.”

In addition to his wife, Woolery is survived by his sons Michael and Sean and his daughter Melissa, Young said.

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