Bob Barker

**Bob Barker** (born **Robert William Barker** on December 12, 1923 in Darrington, WA and died August 26, 2023 in Los Angeles, California) was an American television game show host, best known for hosting CBS' *The Price is Right* for a record-breaking 35 years: 1972-2007, making it the longest-running game show in North American television history. He also hosted *Truth or Consequences* for 18 years: 1956-1974. He was also a semi-regular panelist on the CBS' classic game show *Match Game*.

Native of Darrington, Washington. Bob spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where his mother worked as a schoolteacher. His family eventually moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he attended high school and Drury College on a basketball scholarship.

Barker enlisted in the United States Navy on the outbreak of World War II and following his discharge, Bob returned to Drury and took a job at a local radio station to help finance his studies. It was there he discovered that what he did best was to host audience participation shows. After graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics, he went to work for a radio station in Palm Beach, Florida. A year later he moved to Los Angeles, and within a week he was the host of his own radio program, *The Bob Barker Show*.

His Game Show career began on New Years Eve 1956, when he began hosting *Truth or Consequences*. Ralph Edwards, the show's originator, had sold the show to NBC as a daytime strip but he had not picked someone to host the program. He auditioned countless other hosts in Hollywood and New York for weeks but it was until he tuned into *The Bob Barker Show* on his car radio, he knew he had found the man for the job. Proving that Edwards had chosen him wisely, Barker hosted *Truth or Consequences* all the way until 1974, for an unbelievable 18 years.

Bob has also hosted a handful of other game shows that were short-lived including *End of the Rainbow* (1957-1958), *The Family Game* (1967) and *Simon Says* (1971).

Barker's biggest game show hosting gig came on September 4, 1972, when he began hosting the newly revamped daytime version *The Price is Right* (Dennis James hosted the Syndicated, Nighttime version until 1977). Barker became far more associated with the series than the original host Bill Cullen (1956-1965).

During the mid-1970s while hosting *The Price is Right*, Bob also appeared from time to time as a semi-regular panelist on *Match Game*. In 1978, after Richard Dawson left the program for good, Barker sat in Dawson's middle lower seat during the first week after his departure. His Barker's Beauties Janice Pennington and Holly Hallstrom have also appeared as panelists on *Match Game* (more so Holly).

On October 15, 1987, Barker did what other game show hosts almost never did: renounced hair dye, allowing his hair to turn gray and eventually white.

In addition to his hosting duties, Bob also became executive producer of *The Price is Right*, following the death of Frank Wayne, the original producer of the show. In this capacity, Barker has created several pricing games, instituted a prohibition of foreign car and animal-based products and launched the primetime series of specials known as *The Price is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular* (first one aired in 2003).

On the 5000th episode of *The Price is Right* (aired on April 9, 1998), Bob received a special honor by Studio 33 being renamed "The Bob Barker Studio".

In addition to his hosting duties on *The Price is Right*, Barker also served as a long-time host of the Miss USA/Universe pageants from 1967 all the way to 1987. He stepped down from his hosting duties after he personally requested the removal of Fur Coats as prizes and the Miss USA committee refused to do so.

After parting ways with the Miss USA pageantry, Bob dedicated his free time to his long-time passion for Animal Rights. As an Animal Activist, he frequently and publicly petitioned for furs to be banned and marched through the streets leading anti-fur marches.

He also established the DJ&T Foundation in Beverly Hills, California, the purpose of which is to help control the dog and cat population. He is funding the foundation through his own resources to support low-cost or free spay/neuter clinics. This foundation is named in memory of his wife, Dorothy Jo, and his mother, Matilda, both of whom had a passionate love for animals and his work on behalf of animals has garnered him a long list of awards from prestigious humane organizations across the country.

He also ended each show of *The Price is Right* with the phrase "Help Control the Pet Population, Have your Pet Spayed or Neutered".

Perhaps Bob's most famous cameo of all was in the 1996 movie *Happy Gilmore* alongside Adam Sandler (who has made two guest appearances on *The Price is Right*: in 1996 and again in 2007 on Bob's 50 Years Primetime Special) in the most famous scene where the two get into an altercation on the Golf Course during a Pro-Am Golf Tournament as the scene ends with Barker getting the last word: "NOW you've had enough...B\*\*\*H !" as he exits the golf course. The infamous fight scene won the pair an MTV award for "Best Fight Scene".

Barker and Sandler reunited to recreate their infamous fight scene for a charity cause, Comedy Central’s Night of Too Many Stars telethon to help raise money for autism awareness.

Bob has won 19 Daytime Emmys (fourteen for Outstanding Game Show Host, four for Executive Producer) and is a proud recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 2004.

After 35 years of hosting *The Price is Right* and 50 years in TV & Broadcasting, Barker stepped down from his hosting duties as his last episode aired on June 15, 2007.

He has made a return visit to *The Price is Right* on three separate occasions. First time being April 2009 when he made a special showcase cameo to promote his memoir Priceless Memories and gave out copies to the studio audience. His second visit was in December 2013 when the show celebrated his 90th Birthday and the entire week of shows were dubbed "Pet Adoption Week", he also got to call down a contestant to contestant's row and presented a showcase. His third visit came on April 1, 2015, as April Fool's Day surprise, he came out in place of current-running host Drew Carey to start the show as the audience went berserk and then conducted the first game of the day Lucky Seven, in which the contestant won an SUV.

He recently voiced the character Bob Barnacle, a snail business owner on the Nickelodeon animated series *SpongeBob Squarepants*.

Bob was previously married to his long-time wife Dorothy Jo Gideon, whom he has dedicated his long-standing career to. they married on January 12, 1945 until her death on October 19, 1981.

In 1989, he began a three year personal relationship with *Price is Right* model Dian Parkinson but things soon escalated to an ugly level after Bob ended their relationship and Dian was out for revenge. In 1994, she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him, alleging that she was extorted by threats of firing as Bob fired back by filing a lawsuit of his own and he held a live news conference with his attorney where he stated that he and Parkinson were involved in a personal relationship but he never forced her to do anything she didn't want to do.

Dian's sexual harassment case never went to trial, she dropped the lawsuit in 1995 after her doctor ordered her to do so as the stress from the ordeal was damaging to her health as Bob revealed afterwards that he felt totally vindicated. But the ugly legal wars were just heating up come September of that year when Holly Hallstrom was dismissed from the show for "gaining too much weight", a factor that Hallstrom quickly shot down and revealed that the real reasoning behind her firing was because of her refusal to get involved in his legal battles against Dian.

On the morning of October 20, 2015, police and rescue personnel were summoned nearby Barker's Los Angeles-area home, they discovered that Bob tripped and fell on his head on the sidewalk, the ambulance immediately rushed him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, for lacerations on his head that were not seriously injured. Bob has since been released and is currently recuperating.

Bob Barker died on August 26, 2023 at the age of 99.