Klaas Willem Ruis (29 March 1945 in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

– 4 August 1986 in

Dénia Dénia ( es, Denia) is a historical coastal city in the province of Alicante, Spain, on the Costa Blanca halfway between Alicante and Valencia, and the capital and judicial seat of the ''comarca'' of Marina Alta. Denia's historical heritage ha ...

) was a Dutch game show presenter. He presented the ''Willem Ruis Show'' for the

KRO KRO, or (Catholic Radio Broadcasting), was a Dutch public broadcasting organization founded on 23 April 1925. Broadly Catholic in its spiritual outlook, KRO broadcast the bulk of its television output on the NPO 1 channel. KRO was also responsi ...

and the ''Willem Ruis Lottoshow'', ''5 tegen 5'' and the ''Sterrenshow'' for the

VARA Vara or VARA may refer to: Geography *Vara (river), in Liguria, Italy * Vara Parish, former municipality in Tartu County, Estonia * Vara, Estonia, village in Peipsiääre Parish, Tartu County, Estonia * Vara Municipality, municipality in western S ...

. He died of a

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

during a vacation in Spain. By 1981, Ruis moved from the

to the

, trading in his ''Willem Ruis Show'' for the ''Willem Ruis Lottoshow''. Ruis was unhappy with his director at the KRO, who he felt did not allow him to show off all his talents, and got a contract with the VARA, which was losing viewers to the competition and was looking for a star to bolster its roster. He was paid a salary unheard of at the time (Hfl 300,000 per year, high enough to lead to questions in parliament). He also tried a career in movies, but his only appearance, in the Belgian/Dutch production ''

Het Beest ''Het Beest'' (''The Beast'') is a 1982 Belgian/Dutch film, made by Flemish writer/director Paul Collet and starring Willem Ruis. For Ruis, who was at the height of his career as a showman and presenter on Dutch television, it was his first and ...

'' (1982), could not save the movie from becoming a "legendary flop". He explained that his career in television was not going to last forever, and his side step to cinema was a career plan for the long-term.

References

External links

*
Willem Ruis Biography
at the

Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Dutch: Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid, or short, Beeld en Geluid) is the cultural archive and a museum located in Hilversum. The Institute for Sound and Vision collects, looks after, and ...

*
"De herinnering is springlevend", radio documentary about Willem Ruis
1945 births 1986 deaths Dutch game show hosts People from Haarlem {{netherlands-tv-stub