The Gong Has Finally Rung Host Chuck Barris Off The Stage, Dies at 87

Chuck Barris, longtime game show creator, producer, and host, has passed away at the age of 87. Best known for The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and The Gong Show, his television career spanned more than three decades.

He began working as a page at NBC in New York City and progressed up to a standards and practices person for ABC’s American Bandstand. He was also a music producer, and writing Freddy Cannon’s Palisades Park, which peaked at #3 on the charts.

Beginning in 1965, he produced the first of his string of successful game shows, The Dating Game.

Barris’s autobiography, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, included claims that he had once worked for the CIA as an assassin in the 60s and 70s. The CIA has since denied the allegations, insisting that his claims are “ridiculous” and “absolutely not true”.

Barris is survived by his third wife, Mary Rudolph. His only daughter Della, by his first wife, Lyn Levy, preceded him with her passing in 1998.