The original host of Wheel of Fortune, Chuck Woolery, has died at the age of 83.
Woolery’s death was announced on Saturday by his friend and co-host on podcast Blunt Force Truth Mark Young.
‘It is with a broken heart that I tell you that my dear brother @chuckwoolery has just passed away,’ Young wrote.
‘Life will not be the same without him.’
He added to TMZ that Woolery died after trouble breathing at his home in Texas.
Woolery, who began his career as a singer, hosted Wheel of Fortune from 1975 for six years, before being replaced by long-running presenter Pat Sajak.
He was also the original presenter of dating gameshow Love Connection, from 1983 to 1994, and on TV show Scrabble between 1984 and 1990.
As well as acting credits including in The Treasure of Jamaica Reef and Love, American Style, as well as guest appearances in Cold Feet and Scrubs, Woolery fronted gameshow Greed from 1999 and Lingo from 2002.
He also had his own talkshow, The Chuck Woolery Show, which premiered in 1991 and ran for 65 episodes.
The TV star began his career in music with advertising jingles and had a top 40 pop hit with The Avant-Garde, 1968 song Naturally Stoned.
In later years, Woolery, a vocal conservative Republican supporter and gun rights activist, found himself involved in various controversies, including on Covid-19 and being accused of antisemitism.
Woolery was the father to five children, who he shared with his three ex-wives. He married his fourth wife in 2006.
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