The ALL DEAD Club

Game show veteran Chuck Woolery who hosted the original versions of Wheel Of Fortune and Love Connection, died Nov. 23. He was 83.

Woolery, who started his career as a country singer and was half of pop duo The Avant-Garde, was hired as Wheel Of Fortune host when the show first launched in 1975. After hosting the program for seven years, he departed over a salary dispute and was replaced by Pat Sajak.

Love Connection also launched in 1983 with Woolery as its first host, a job he held for 11 years. Other game shows he has hosted/co-hosted through the years include Scrabble (1984–1990 and its short-lived 1993 revival), Home & Family (1996–1998), The Dating Game (1997–1999), Greed (1999–2000), and Lingo (2002–2007). He also hosted his own talk show, The Chuck Woolery Show, which had a brief run in 1991.

Woolery guest starred as himself on a number of series, including It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, Melrose Place, Sister, Sister and Scrubs.

In 2012, he began hosting a nationally syndicated radio show, Save Us Chuck Woolery. Two years later, it morphed into a podcast which was retitled Blunt Force Truth.

*Michael Villella, the actor known for playing killer Russ Thorn in The Slumber Party Massacre (1982), has died. He was 84.

*Barbara Taylor Bradford, author of A Woman of Substance, which was adapted into a hugely successful Channel 4 drama series, has died aged 91.

*Peggy Caserta, whose candid revelations about her romantic relationship with rock star Janis Joplin were revealed in a groundbreaking if often sordid 1973 tell-all book that she later disavowed as ghostwritten exploitation, died Thursday, November 21, of natural causes at her cabin on the Tillamook River she was 84.

*Jim Abrahams, part of the writing-directing-producing team behind such comedy touchstones as Airplane!, the Naked Gun films, and Police Squad!, died Tuesday at his Santa Monica home. He was 80.

Earl Holliman, an actor whose scores of credits spanning a half-century ranged from 1950s films Forbidden Planet and Giant to Police Woman and others popular ’70s and ’80s TV dramas and starred in the first episode of The Twilight Zone, died Monday in Los Angeles after a short illness. He was 96.

Helen Gallagher, who won Tony Awards for Pal Joey and No, No, Nanette before starring as Maeve Ryan in all 13 seasons of daytime soap Ryan’s Hope, died November 24. She was 98.

*Katie Phillips, UK publicist, podcaster and founder of PR firm KPPR, has died aged 46. Phillips passed away Wednesday after some weeks spent back in hospital, following her thyroid cancer diagnosis nearly three years ago, in February 2022.

Veteran stage actor Julien Arnold died suddenly Sunday, Nov. 24, midway through a performance of A Christmas Carol, after experiencing a medical emergency. He passed after collapsing onstage during an evening performance of the stage production at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada he was 60.

*Oscar-nominated producer Adam Somner, who was among the most in-demand first assistant directors in the business during the past few decades, died November 27 from anaplastic thyroid cancer. He was 57.

*Marshall Brickman, the writer and director known for co-writing some of Woody Allen‘s earlier works, has died. He was 85.

*French-Danish actor, director and writer Niels Arestrup, known for his Cesar-winning performances in Jacques Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet, has died at his home outside Paris at the age of 75.

*Alabama A&M football linebacker Medrick Burnett Jr. has passed away at 20 years old after suffering a severe head injury during a game last month.
According to local officials, he died at 5:43 PM Wednesday evening at UAB Hospital.
Burnett Jr. was involved in the collision during A&M's matchup with Alabama State on Oct. 26 -- one day before his birthday. He received treatment in the ICU ... and according to his sister, had several brain bleeds and swelling.

*Update* Burnett is actually still alive the University declared him dead prematurely and offered an apology.

*Bob Bryar -- the drummer for My Chemical Romance from 2004 to 2014 -- has died ... Law enforcement sources say ... Bryar was found dead in his Tennessee home Tuesday after last being seen alive on November 4. He was 44.

*Dr. Kelly Powers, a Fox News commentator, has died. She was 45. The physician and surgeon died on Sunday, December 1, after battling brain cancer, which she was first diagnosed with in 2020

*Scott L. Schwartz, the actor-cum-professional wrestler best know for playing Bruiser in the Ocean’s movie franchise, died November 26 at his home in Covington, LA. He was 65.

*Marvin Laird, a prolific Broadway, film and TV composer, conductor and musical director who lent his talents to projects featuring such stars as Bernadette Peters, Joel Grey, Diana Ross, Cass Elliot, Dusty Springfield, Goldie Hawn, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli and Robert DeNiro, died Monday he was 85.

Thom Christopher, the actor best known for playing mobster Carlo Hessler on ABC’s One Life to Live, died Thursday in New York after a lengthy illness. He was 84.

*Steve Mensch, President and Manager of General Operations for Tyler Perry Studios, was killed in a plane crash Friday night. He was 62.

*Michelle Thompson, a costume designer and stylist with dozens of credits including Cha Cha Real Smooth, Jungleland and TV’s Threads, died Monday of breast cancer at her Seattle home. She was 40.