Bill Carruthers, 72; Directed ‘Soupy Sales Show,’ ‘Dating Game’

Bill Carruthers, 72, who directed “The Soupy Sales Show,” “The Dating Game” and “The Newlywed Game” and served as a White House television advisor to four administrations, died March 2 in Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank of complications from an earlier stroke.

The Detroit-born Carruthers spent four years in the Air Force before entering television as a junior stage manager at the Detroit ABC affiliate. After becoming director of the local “Soupy Sales Show,” he moved to Hollywood when the program went national.

In the mid-1960s, he directed and produced Chuck Barris’ original “Dating Game” and “Newlywed Game” shows. In 1968, he founded his own firm, the William Carruthers Co. Carruthers served as a television consultant for the Nixon, Ford, Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. He continued to develop shows until the mid-1990s.