The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and Chuck Barris, often known as Chuck Barris, were created by Charles Hirsch Barris, an American game show producer and host best known for anchoring “The Gong Show.” Before he became well-known, he assisted TV star Dick Clark in his profession. On borrowed money, he created the ‘The Dating Game’ pilot for ABC, and the program was an immediate success. After “The Dating Game” became popular, “The Newlywed Game” was created in 1966. With “The Gong Show,” he experienced enormous success once more after a decade. Three further shows—”The Family Game,” “Dream Girl,” and “How’s Your Mother-in-Law?”—were also produced by him and sold. He established Chuck Barris Productions, which produced a number of popular shows like “The Game Game” and “Operation: Entertainment,” as Barris Industries in 1965. By 1974, though, his game programs began to lose viewers, and eventually “The Newlywed Game” was discontinued. In 1972, he sold his final game, which was titled “The Parent Game.” Barris, who was also a songwriter, gave rock and roll singer Freddy Cannon the song “Palisades Park.” Barris’ book, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” was turned into a movie by director George Clooney.
Early Childhood & Life
Chuck Barris was born on June 3, 1929, to Jewish parents Edith and Nathaniel Barris, a dentist, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Harry Barris, an actor, singer, and lyricist, was his uncle.
Barris graduated in 1953 from the Drexel Institute of Technology. Additionally, he contributed a column to the student publication, “The Triangle.”
Chuck Barris’s Career
Chuck Barris began his working life as a page for a television company before moving on to work for NBC in New York. Then he performed backstage duties for the ABC-produced music program “American Bandstand.” Later, ABC elevated him to a position of authority inside the afternoon programming department.
Additionally, he created the song “Palisades Park,” which reached its highest position of No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for two weeks in June 1962. He also produced pop music. For his own game shows, he either composed or co-composed the soundtrack.
He established his own production firm, Chuck Barris Productions, in June 1965, and found success with the ABC game program “The Dating Game.” Three bachelors or bachelorettes fought for a contestant of the opposing sex on the show. For fifteen years, the Jim Lange-hosted program aired at 11 p.m.
He was the producer of the Nick Nicholson and E. Roger Muir-created game show “The Newlywed Game” in 1966. The longest-running game show his company has ever produced aired on ABC for 19 years.
He produced a number of additional short-lived game programs in the 1960s and 1970s. He also experimented with a number of non-game formats, including the variety show “Operation: Entertainment” on ABC, “Your Hit Parade” on CBS, and “The Bobby Vinton Show,” a program for singer Bobby Vinton that was his sole notable non-game hit.
The Gong Show, Chuck Barris’ first talent show, debuted in 1976. It first ran in syndication for four years after being on NBC for two years. There have been four revivals of “The Gong Show”: in 1988–1989, 2000, 2008, and 2017. He co-wrote, co-starred, and directed The Gong Show Movie in 1980, a box office failure.
The audience had begun to grow disinterested in the game show genre by the middle of the 1970s. The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game were actually canceled by ABC. There was only one of his programs, the weekly syndicated program “The New Treasure Hunt.” In 1976, he also included a “Beauty Show” in his syndications and attempted to resurrect “The Gong Show.”
He presented a brief primetime variety program on NBC in 1978 called “The Chuck Barris Rah-Rah Show.” Three’s a Crowd, a different brief-lived program, debuted in 1979. Wives and secretaries battled on the show to discover who knew more about their husbands and bosses: the secretaries or the wives. Socially conservative and feminist organizations demonstrated against the program.
He attempted to start up another game show in 1980 called “Camouflage,” but it was unsuccessful. Finally, he had no shows in production or airing in September 1980 for the first time. In actuality, he was jobless for a full year. Together with producer Budd Granoff, he attempted to resurrect “Treasure Hunt” in 1981, but the program only aired for one season.
In 1984, he brought Barris Industries back to life and established the distributor division Bel-Air Program Sales and the ad-sales division Clarion Communications. He created “The Newlywed Game,” which was later renamed “The New Newlywed Game,” for syndication in 1985. In 1986, “The Dating Game” was also produced for syndication.
He left for France in 1987 after selling Burt Sugarman his shares in Barris Industries. Barris Industries changed its name to Guber-Peters Entertainment Company in September 1989. After paying $200 million to acquire Guber-Peters Entertainment, Sony Corporation brought back “The Dating Game,” “The Newlywed Game,” and “The Gong Show.”
Chuck Barris’s Books
Chuck Barris asserted that he served as an assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the 1960s and 1970s in his autobiography, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” (1984). In 2002, director George Clooney released a movie based on his autobiography. Barris’ character as shown in the movie murdered 33 people when he was a CIA agent. Barris never claimed to have worked for the CIA, though.
He released his second book, “The Game Show King: A Confession,” in 1993. In 2004, he penned “Bad Grass Never Dies,” a follow-up to his autobiography.
In his book “Della: A Memoir of My Daughter,” published in 2010, he provided details concerning the drug overdose death of his only child. In addition, he had published three novels, one of which was the New York Times bestseller “You and Me, Babe.”
Chuck’s Bigger Works
One of Chuck Barris’s most popular game programs was “The Dating Game,” which debuted on ABC in 1965. A new episode called “The New Dating Game” was broadcast in syndication for an additional year after the original program finished in July 1973. The show was three times renewed.
When Barris began presenting “The Gong Show” in 1976, he quickly rose to fame as a television celebrity. The program was a huge success and was noted for its absurdist comedy and design. Later, it was turned into a film, but it wasn’t as popular as the TV show.
Recognition & Achievements
For “The Gong Show,” Chuck Barris was nominated in 1977 for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk, Service, or Variety Series.
Chuck’s Individual Life
In 1957, Chuck Barris wed Lyn Levy. They split up in 1976. Della, one of their daughters, passed away in 1998 at the age of 36 from a cocaine and alcohol overdose. At the time of her passing, she was also HIV positive.
In 1980, Barris wed Robin Altman. In 1999, their marriage came to an end. He later wed Mary Clagett in 2000, and they remained together till his passing.
In the 1990s, he received a lung cancer diagnosis, and surgery was performed to remove a portion of his lung. At the age of 87, he passed away naturally on March 21, 2017.
Estimated Net Worth
At the time of his passing in 2017, Chuck Barris, an American game show creator, host, and producer, had a net worth of $160 million. The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and Chuck Barris’ hosting of “The Gong Show” made him famous. He also composed music, including the well-known “Palisades Park” song by Freddy Cannon.