Jay Wolpert

Jay Wolpert (January 29, 1942 – January 3, 2022) was an American television producer and screenwriter.

Life and career

Wolpert was born in The Bronx, New York City. His first television appearance came as a contestant on the original version of ''Jeopardy!'' in 1969. He competed in the ''Jeopardy!'' Tournament of Champions that year and won. Wolpert's upset win was notable for defeating the two highest-winning contestants in regular ''Jeopardy!'' play up to that point, Jane Gschwend and Elliot Shteir.

Game show production

Wolpert began his game show-producing career working for Dan Enright in Canada. He later worked as a producer and creator of game shows for Chuck Barris Productions and Goodson-Todman Productions. While at Goodson-Todman, he served as producer of ''The Price Is Right'' with Bob Barker from 1972 until 1978 and also created the game show '' Double Dare'' with Alex Trebek for CBS, which ran for a short time in 1976 (not to be confused with the later, unrelated show that premiered a decade later on Nickelodeon with Marc Summers).

Wolpert left Goodson-Todman to form his own production company, and his first game show was the 1979 series ''Whew!'' for CBS with Tom Kennedy. Wolpert produced the series with Burt Sugarman for most of its run. ''Whew!'' was canceled in May 1980 after a thirteen month run, and Wolpert did not return to television with a series until January 1983, despite shooting several pilots in the interim. On January 3, 1983, Wolpert's ''Hit Man'' debuted on NBC with Peter Tomarken as its host. ''Hit Man'' lasted thirteen weeks on the air.

Five years later in 1987, and after a failed syndication pilot based on the board game ''Trivial Pursuit'' with Steve Morris (the game would get two other shows based on it, one in 1993 and one in 2008, both incorporating interactive elements), Wolpert returned to daytime television with the series '' Blackout'' for CBS. Debuting on January 4, 1988, in place of ''The $25,000 Pyramid'' with Dick Clark, the Bob Goen-hosted ''Blackout'' ended after thirteen weeks of episodes and was replaced by a revival of ''Family Feud'' with Ray Combs (which began airing on July 4, 1988); new episodes of ''The $25,000 Pyramid'' aired for thirteen weeks after ''Blackouts cancellation.

In 1990, Wolpert launched a new series on the Lifetime network based on a pilot he had shot in 1981 with Tomarken as host. On February 5, 1990, ''Rodeo Drive'' debuted with comedian Louise DuArt hosting. ''Rodeo Drive'' ended its run on August 31 of that year; the show had aired twelve weeks of new episodes prior to that and had been in reruns until the program was removed from Lifetime's lineup.

After a hiatus, Wolpert returned to the Goodson Productions team and produced a new ''The Price Is Right'' series for Goodson and Paramount Television. '' The New Price Is Right'' with Doug Davidson debuted in syndication in September 1994, with Wolpert producing. Ratings for ''The New Price Is Right'' were lacking, resulting in a cancellation after sixteen weeks in January 1995.

In 1996, Wolpert and The Family Channel teamed up for two series. One was '' Wait 'til You Have Kids'' with Tom Parks, a series based on ''The Parent Game'' with Clark Race. The other was ''Shopping Spree'' with Ron Pearson, which ran for nearly two years and was Wolpert's longest-running game show in his company's history. After ''Shopping Spree'' went off the air in August 1998, Wolpert's company stopped producing programming. He was executive producer of the 1998 version of ''Match Game'' with Michael Burger.

Wolpert was listed as a consultant during the credits of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' with Chris Harrison during the 2015–16 season, and had some input in that season's format changes.

Screenwriting and acting

Wolpert turned to screenwriting, penning the script for ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (2002) and receiving a story credit for all films of the '' Pirates of the Caribbean'' series.

His minimal acting experience included playing the OB-GYN in ''Father of the Bride Part II'' who tells Diane Keaton's character Nina Banks (née Dickerson) that she is pregnant.

Death

Wolpert died in Los Angeles from complications of Alzheimer's disease on January 3, 2022, at the age of 79.

See also

* List of notable ''Jeopardy!'' contestants

References

External links

Yahoo! Voices interview
*
Jay Wolpert
at Find a Grave

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolpert, Jay
1942 births
2022 deaths
Jeopardy! contestants
American male screenwriters
Television producers from New York City
Writers from the Bronx
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Deaths from dementia in California
Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery