Pat Sajak

Pat Sajak

Pat Sajak, born Patrick Leonard Sajdak, is an American television personality, former weatherman, and talk show host, best known as the host of the American television game show Wheel of Fortune. Sajak won a contest on WLS radio's Dick Biondi Show to be a guest teen deejay. While at Columbia College Chicago, his broadcasting instructor Al Parker told him that a local radio station (WEDC) was looking for a newsman. Sajak applied for the job and was hired to work from midnight to 6:00 a.m. In 1968, Sajak joined the US Army and was sent to Vietnam, where he served as a disc jockey on Armed Forces Radio. On The Military Channel's program, An Officer and a Movie, Sajak admitted to botching President Richard Nixon's 1969 Christmas broadcast to the troops; he accidentally cut the feed off prematurely. Upon realizing the error, he decided it would be best not to resume the feed. In the early 1970s, Sajak DJed for a Murray, Kentucky, radio station for a year. Also in the early 1970s, Sajak began DJing at 50,000-watt WSM in Nashville; at the time WSM was playing pop music during the day, and he was the 3:00–5:00pm afternoon personality. The radio station's television sister, WSM-TV (now WSMV), brought Sajak on screen, first as a voiceover artist doing station identifications and anchoring the five-minute newscasts during NBC's Today Show, then as a weekend and substitute weatherman, where he became acquainted with anchor Dan Miller. In 1977 KNBC-TV in Los Angeles was looking for a weatherman, and spotted Sajak working in Nashville. Sajak accepted KNBC's request for him to be a full-time weatherman for the station. In 1981, Merv Griffin asked Sajak if he would be interested in taking over the duties as host on Wheel of Fortune from Chuck Woolery. However, Fred Silverman, then president and CEO of NBC, rejected his hiring, claiming he was too local, and Griffin responded by imposing a moratorium on new tapings until Sajak was hired The issue became moot when Silverman was dismissed due to repeated programming failures and replaced by Brandon Tartikoff. Sajak, who had already hosted two game show pilots in 1980, Press Your Luck for Ralph Edwards (no relation to the 1983 CBS game show of the same name) and Puzzlers for Mark Goodson, accepted the position. He hosted both the daytime (NBC) and syndicated evening versions of Wheel from 1983 to 1989, and continues to host the latter version. With Sajak returning for his 36th season in 2018–19, he became the longest-running host of any game show, surpassing Bob Barker, who hosted Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007. Sajak was officially honored as such by the Guinness World Records with the episode taped March 22, 2019 and aired May 8, 2019 (two days before the primetime version's 7,000th episode). Sajak had a small role as a Buffalo, New York, newscaster in the 1982 comedy film Airplane II: The Sequel. When his late-night talk show on CBS premiered in January 1989, he left the daytime version of Wheel, and was replaced by former San Diego Chargers place-kicker Rolf Benirschke. Sajak appeared on Super Password several times from 1984 to 1989, as well as Password Plus in 1981, shortly before taking on hosting duties on Wheel. Other game shows on which Sajak guested were Dream House and Just Men!

  • Title: Pat Sajak
  • Popularity: 3.49
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1946-10-26
  • Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As:
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Pat Sajak Movies

  • 2021
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    Muppets Haunted Mansion

    Muppets Haunted Mansion

    6.4 2021 HD

    Gonzo is challenged to spend one night in The Haunted Mansion on Halloween night.

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  • 2004
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    Rated 'R': Republicans in Hollywood

    Rated 'R': Republicans in Hollywood

    4.5 2004 HD

    Arnold "The Governator" Schwarzenegger and Mel Gibson aren't the only conservative thinkers in Tinseltown. Challenging the notion that every actor is...

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  • 2015
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    Sunshine Superman

    Sunshine Superman

    6.6 2015 HD

    Documentary portrait of Carl Boenish, the father of the BASE jumping movement, whose early passion for skydiving led him to ever more spectacular...

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  • 2018
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    Game Changers

    Game Changers

    7.375 2018 HD

    Alex Trebek hosts a documentary about television game shows featuring interviews with a number of game show hosts and producers.

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  • 1982
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    Airplane II: The Sequel

    Airplane II: The Sequel

    6.1 1982 HD

    A faulty computer causes a passenger space shuttle to head straight for the sun, and man-with-a-past Ted Striker must save the day and get the...

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  • 1988
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    LIVE with Kelly and Mark

    LIVE with Kelly and Mark

    5.2 1988 HD

    A morning talk show with A-list celebrity guests, top-notch performances and one-of-a-kind segments that are unrivaled on daytime television, plus...

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  • 1983
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    Wheel of Fortune

    Wheel of Fortune

    6.8 1983 HD

    This game show sees contestants solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a giant carnival...

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  • 1991
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    The Commish

    The Commish

    7.2 1991 HD

    Tony Scali is a former Brooklyn cop now the Police Commissioner of a small upstate city. But for Scali, this is no desk job. He's a tough yet...

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  • 1984
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    Jeopardy!

    Jeopardy!

    6.848 1984 HD

    America's favorite quiz show where contestants are presented with general knowledge clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in...

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  • 1998
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    The King of Queens

    The King of Queens

    7.077 1998 HD

    Life’s good for deliveryman Doug Heffernan, until his newly widowed father-in-law, Arthur, moves in with him and his wife Carrie. Doug is no...

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  • 1981
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    Gimme a Break!

    Gimme a Break!

    6.652 1981 HD

    Gimme a Break! is an American sitcom which aired on NBC for six seasons, October 29, 1981, until May 12, 1987. The series stars Nell Carter as the...

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  • 1948
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    Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

    Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

    4 1948 HD

    The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade presented by the U.S. chain store business Macy's. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for...

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  • 1997
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    Just Shoot Me!

    Just Shoot Me!

    6.7 1997 HD

    Just Shoot Me! is an American television sitcom that aired for seven seasons on NBC from March 4, 1997, to August 16, 2003, with 148 episodes...

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  • 1983
    imgS41 E131

    Wheel of Fortune

    Wheel of Fortune

    6.8 1983 HD

    This game show sees contestants solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a giant carnival...

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  • 1991
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    Rugrats

    Rugrats

    7.591 1991 HD

    Focuses on a group of toddlers, most prominently Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and Angelica, and their day-to-day lives, usually involving common life...

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  • 2015
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    Fresh Off the Boat

    Fresh Off the Boat

    7.139 2015 HD

    A '90s-set single-camera comedy about a hip-hop-loving Asian kid growing up in suburban Orlando, being raised by an immigrant father obsessed with...

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  • 1992
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    The Larry Sanders Show

    The Larry Sanders Show

    7.679 1992 HD

    Comic Garry Shandling draws upon his own talk show experiences to create the character of Larry Sanders, a paranoid, insecure host of a late night...

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  • 1983
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    The A-Team

    The A-Team

    7.46 1983 HD

    A fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel work as soldiers of fortune while on the run from the Army after being branded as...

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  • 1985
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    227

    227

    6.757 1985 HD

    A housewife sits on the stoop of her apartment building in a black neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and discusses all manner of things with her...

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  • 2021
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    Celebrity Wheel of Fortune

    Celebrity Wheel of Fortune

    7.1 2021 HD

    Hosted by Pat Sajak and Vanna White, celebrity contestants spin the wheel and solve word puzzles for a chance to win up to one million dollars for...

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  • 1992
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    Adventures in Wonderland

    Adventures in Wonderland

    8.2 1992 HD

    Adventures in Wonderland is a live-action musical television series based on Walt Disney's animated classic Alice in Wonderland. In the series,...

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