Chuck Barris

Charles Hirsch Barris June 3 1929  March 21 2017 was an American game show creator producer and host He was best known for hosting The Gong Show and creating The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game He was also a songwriter who wrote Palisades Park recorded by Freddy Cannon and also recorded by Ramones He also wrote or cowrote some of the music that appeared on his game shows He wrote an autobiography titled Confessions of a Dangerous Mind which was made into the film of the same title starring Sam Rockwell and directed by George Clooney He formed his production company Chuck Barris Productions on June 14 1965 His first success came in 1965 with The Dating Game which aired on ABC The show ran until 1980 and was twice revived later in the 1980s and 1990s In 1966 he began The Newlywed Game originally created by Nick Nicholson and E Roger Muir also for ABC The show is the longest lasting of any developed by his company broadcast until 1985 for a total of 19 full years on both first run network TV and syndication He became a public figure in 1976 when he produced and served as the host of the talent show spoof The Gong Show which he packaged in partnership with TV producer Chris Bearde It ran only two seasons on NBC 197678 and four in syndication 197680 It has had four subsequent revivals one under Barris title with Don Bleu in 19881989 one on The Game Show Network in 2000 called Extreme Gong and another with current format owner Sony Pictures Television with Dave Attell in 2008 A fourth version produced by Will Arnett and hosted by fictional British celebrity Tommy Maitland Mike Myers aired on ABC in 2017 In 1980 he starred in and directed The Gong Show Movie The film was a major failure at the box office In 1984 he wrote an autobiography Confessions of a Dangerous Mind In the book he states that he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency CIA as an assassin in the 1960s and 1970s in Southeast Asia Latin America and the Middle East A 2002 feature film version depicts Barris killing 33 people He wrote a sequel to the autobiography in 2004 called Bad Grass Never Dies The CIA denied Barris ever worked for them in any capacity After the release of the movie CIA spokesman Paul Nowack said Barris assertions that he worked for the CIA are ridiculous Its absolutely not true In an interview on NBCs Today Show in 1984 Barris admitted to having made the story up His first wife was Lyn Levy the niece of one of the founders of CBS Their marriage lasted from 1957 to 1976 ending in divorce They had a daughter Della who frequently appeared on The Gong Show usually introducing her father Della died of an alcohol and cocaine overdose in 1998 at the age of 36 At the time of her death she was HIV positive He published Della A Memoir of My Daughter in 2010 about the death of his only child and her struggle with drug addiction In 1980 he married Robin Altman 23 years his junior and they divorced in 1999 The following year he married Mary Clagett He was diagnosed with lung cancer in the 1990s After undergoing surgery to remove part of his lung he contracted an infection and spent a month in intensive care He died on March 21 2017 of natural causes at the age of 87 at home in Palisades NY where he lived with his wife Mary