Jay Wolpert

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jay Wolpert
Los Angeles, California
, U.S.
Occupations
Years active1969-2020
Spouse
Roslyn Granowitter
​
(m. 1967)​
Children2

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

Early life

Wolpert was born in The Bronx, New York City.

Career

Early career

His first television appearance came as a contestant on the original version of

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.[1]

Game show production

Wolpert began his game show-producing career working for

show that premiered a decade later on Nickelodeon with Marc Summers
).

Wolpert left Goodson-Todman to form his own production company Jay Wolpert Productions, and his first game show was the 1979 series

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

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 Blackout's cancellation.

In 1990, Wolpert launched a new series on the

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 in 1993 after serving as president of Jay Wolpert Enterprises, and produced a new The Price Is Right series for Goodson and Paramount Television.[3] 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,[clarification needed] 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.[4]

See also

  • List of notable Jeopardy! contestants

References

  1. ISBN 0-385-13052-X
    .
  2. ^ "Fates & Fortunes" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine. December 8, 1980. p. 108. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  3. ^ "Fates & Fortunes" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. June 14, 1993. p. 98. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  4. ^ Kit, Borys (4 January 2022). "Jay Wolpert, Original 'Price Is Right' Producer Turned 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Screenwriter, Dies at 79". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 4 January 2022.

External links

Preceded by
Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions
winner
1969 		Succeeded by
Gene Cheatam
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