By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A convicted serial killer, who appeared on the television game show "The Dating Game" in 1978 as an eligible bachelor, was on his way to New York on Wednesday to face murder charges in the deaths of two women in the 1970s, the Manhattan District Attorney's office said.

Rodney Alcala, 68, who is already on death row in California for killing a 12-year-old girl and four women, was being transported by U.S. Marshals and was expected to be arraigned on the new murder counts as early as Wednesday afternoon.

Alcala worked as a professional photographer and is thought to have lured his victims by offering to take their pictures.

The two New York killings have remained unsolved for decades. But last year the district attorney's cold case unit announced an indictment against Alcala after re-examining the evidence and conducting new interviews with more than 100 witnesses.

Cornelia Crilley, 23, an airline flight attendant, was found murdered in her Manhattan apartment in 1971. The other victim, 23-year-old Ellen Hover, who was killed in 1977, was the daughter of a nightclub owner.

"Cold cases are not forgotten cases - our prosecutors, investigators, and partners in the NYPD do not give up," District Attorney Cyrus Vance said at the time the indictment was unsealed.

"These cases were built one brick at a time, as each new lead brought us closer to where we are today," Vance said.

Alcala has been in prison in California for more than 30 years.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Vicki Allen)