Jay Wolpert was a producer of TV games shows who helped popularize “The Price is Right” and had a late career resurgence as a credited writer on Disney’s mega-blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,”He has passed away. He was 79.
Wolpert died Monday morning in Los Angeles after suffering from Alzheimer’s, his longtime manager of 20 years told .
Wolpert created CBS’ “Double Dare” in the ’70s, spending much of his early career at Goodson-Todman Productions. Chuck Barris, Dan Enright, and he helped to develop iconic game show hits like “Family Feud,” “Card Sharks” “Match Game.”He also helped to introduce humor and narrative elements. “The Price Is Right’s”Showcase Showdowns: Produced the show from 1972-1978, and for more than 1,300 episodes.
He was also a successful screenwriter, and he landed his first screenwriting credit at the age of 60. “The Count of Monte Cristo.” Wolpert wrote a spec script based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel, which his agent shared with Spyglass as a writing sample. Spyglass at the time was working on a William Tell film, but upon reading Wolpert’s script, “Monte Cristo”quickly tracked and William Tell was left aside. The film was released in 2002 with Guy Pearce and Jim Caviezel.
Wolpert was hired as one of the first writers to create the story based upon the Disneyland attraction. “Pirates of the Caribbean.”While multiple writers could be involved in the film’s production, the filmmaker gets credit for the screen story as well as the characters on subsequent films. “Pirates” sequels.
Nancy Meyers was Jay Wolpert’s assistant in college. She had inspired him to screenwrite before he left for film. He spoke out about how he met Meyers in 2006 after she had established herself in Hollywood. “Why didn’t you ever write?”Charles Shyer, Meyers’ husband, also served as mentors for Wolpert in his writing endeavors.
After Goodson Todman’s departure, “The Price is Right”Wolpert started his own production company in 1979 and created a game show called “The Game Show”. “Whew!”And another one from 1983 called “Hit Man”The program aired 13 weeks on NBC, and Peter Tomarken hosted it.
Roslyn Wolpert, his two daughters and sons in-law, and four grandsons survive Wolpert.