Popular game show host Bob Barker, known for half a century as host of The Price is Right and Truth or Consequences, has died at his Los Angeles home at the age of 99.
Mr. Barker passed away on Saturday morning, according to publicist Roger Neal.
Born in Darrington, Washington, in 1923, Barker spent part of his childhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where his widowed mother had accepted a teaching position. The family later moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he attended high school. He served in the Navy during World War II.
He married Dorothy Jo Gideon, his high school sweetheart; she died in 1981 after 37 years of marriage. They had no children.
Bob Barker retired in June 2007, telling his studio audience, “Thank you, thank you, thank you for inviting me into your home for over 50 years. »
Bob Barker was working in radio in 1956 when producer Ralph Edwards invited him to audition to become the new host of Truth or Consequences, a game show in which viewers had to perform wacky stunts — the “consequence” — if they did not answer a question. The answer to that question—the “truth”—was always the fall of a riddle or a joke.
In an interview with The Associated Press in 1996, Mr. Barker recalled the day he heard the news of his hiring: “I know exactly where I was, I know exactly how I felt: I hung up and I said to my wife, ‘Dorothy Jo, I get it! “”.
M. Barker a animé Truth or Consequences pendant 18 ans.
In the meantime, he began hosting a resurrected version of The Price is Right in 1972. Launched in the 1950s, and first hosted by Bill Cullen, the show would go on to become the longest-running game show on the small screen.
“I grew old in your service,” joked the silver-haired, ever-tanned Mr. Barker during a prime-time television retrospective in the mid-1990s.
In total, he recorded over 5000 shows during his career. “I’m just getting to the age where the constant effort to be there and do the show is physically a lot for me. Better [to leave] a year too early than a year too late,” he said when he retired.
Comedian Drew Carey was chosen to replace him.
Mr. Barker returned to the air with Drew Carey for a special that aired in April 2009. He was there to promote the release of his memoir, Priceless Memories, in which he summed up his joy in hosting the show as the opportunity “to see the excitement and humor in people. »
His own appeal was clear: Mr. Barker played it candidly — warm, amiable, and witty — refusing to poke fun at the game show’s format or its competitors.
“I want contestants to feel like guests in my home,” he said in 1996. “Maybe my sense of respect for them comes through in viewers, and maybe that’s one of the reasons why I lasted so long. »
As a television personality, Mr. Barker has retained a touch of the old school — for example, no wireless microphone for him. Like the mic itself, the mic cord served it well as an accessory, carefree and refined.
Mr. Barker also spent 20 years as host of the Miss USA Pageant and the Miss Universe Pageant. A longtime animal rights activist who urged his viewers daily to “neuter their pets,” the host had successfully lobbied to ban fur coats as rewards on The Price is Right.
He quit the Miss USA pageant in 1987 to protest the presentation of fur coats to winners.
In 1997, he declined to be a presenter at the Daytime Emmy Awards because he said it snubbed game shows by not airing awards in that category. He called game shows “a mainstay of daytime television.”
He made a memorable appearance on the big screen in 1996, brawling with Adam Sandler in the movie Happy Gilmore.
In 1994, Mr. Barker, then a widower, was sued for sexual harassment by Dian Parkinson, a model for The Price is Right for 18 years. Mr. Barker admitted to having a romance with Ms. Parkinson from 1989 to 1991, but said she initiated the relationship. The woman dropped the lawsuit in 1995, claiming it was harmful to her health.
Mr. Barker found himself embroiled in a dispute with another former The Price is Right model, Holly Hallstrom, who claimed she was fired in 1995 because the show’s producers thought she was fat. Mr. Barker denied the allegations.
Mr. Barker received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 26th Daytime Emmy Awards in 1999. He closed his acceptance speech by signing, “Neuter your pets.” »
