Bob Barker, who spent over 30 years as the host of the CBS Daytime game show The Price Is Right, has died at the age of 99. His representative confirmed it happened Saturday of natural causes while at home. TMZ was first to report.
CBS quickly released a statement, reading:
“We lost a beloved member of the CBS family today with the passing of Bob Barker. During his 35 years as host of The Price Is Right, Bob made countless people’s dreams come true and everyone feel like a winner when they were called to ‘come on down.’ In addition to his legendary 50-year career in broadcasting, Bob will be remembered as a dedicated animal rights activist. Daytime television has lost one of its most iconic stars.”
Born December 12, 1923, Barker served in World War II as a Navy fighter pilot, returning to his Missouri home to attend Drury College, now Drury University, graduating there with an economics degree. His broadcasting career began in radio soon after in 1950s Florida, before moving to California and doing The Bob Barker Show. In 1956, Barker began a 19-year run as the host of Truth or Consequences. His The Price Is Right era commenced in 1972, when the show premiered reformatted from an earlier version that ran during the first ten years of his Truth or Consequences run, from 1956-1965. Barker grew to be beloved, helping make The Price Is Right a consistent ratings winner and the longest-running game show in TV history. He went on to win a total of 17 Emmys, including a lifetime achievement award in 1999. He retired in June 2007, giving way to Drew Carey, who’s entering his 18th year himself.
A noted animal rights activist, Barker donated millions to animal-advocacy charities and became a vegetarian in 1979. When his wife Dorothy Jo, who inspired his love of animals, died in 1981, he began closing each Price Is Right broadcast with the sign-off line: “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.” He also hosted the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants from 1967 to 1987, stepping down when organizers refused to remove fur prizes from either pageant. From 1969 to 1988, he was also the host of the New Year’s Day Tournament of Roses Parade. From 1970-1976, and then every other year until 1982. he hosted the Pillsbury Bake-Off.
His widest-known acting role is his cameo as himself in 1996’s Happy Gilmore, starring Adam Sandler. He appears as Gilmore’s pro-am partner, getting into a rather infamous fistfight. It led to reunions on his career retrospective special in 2007 and the "Night of Too Many Stars" benefit show in 2015 which aired on Comedy Central. Among Barker’s many other television appearances, he voiced himself in three episodes of Family Guy. He also appeared in an episode of another CBS series How I Met Your Mother. In the episode “Showdown”, Barney Stinson, played by Neil Patrick Harris, had such a long-held belief that Barker was his biological father. Barney became a The Price Is Right contestant just to meet him. He also appeared in the Futurama second season episode “The Lesser of Two Evils” and the SpongeBob SquarePants episode “Sanctuary!” from season 9. His run on The Price Is Right has a dedicated Pluto TV channel, while the show's presence on Paramount+ is limited to the most recent 51st season. "Sanctuary!" is available on the service however.
Sources: TMZ, TVLine, Deadline
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