Robert William Barker (December 12, 1923 – August 26, 2023) was an American television game show host. He hosted CBS‘s The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in North American television history, from 1972 to 2007. He also hosted Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.
Born in Darrington, Washington, in modest circumstances, Barker spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation and was an enrolled member of the Sioux tribe. He joined the United States Navy Reserve during World War II. Barker worked part-time in radio while attending college. In 1950, he moved to California to pursue a broadcasting career. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for six years. He began his game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences. He subsequently hosted various game shows, and the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants from 1967 to 1987, giving him the distinction of being the longest-serving host of those pageants.[citation needed]
Barker began hosting The Price Is Right in 1972. He became an advocate for animal rights and of animal rights activism, supporting groups such as the United Activists for Animal Rights, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In 2007, Barker retired from hosting The Price Is Right after celebrating his 50-year career on television. He continued to make occasional appearances for several years into his retirement until 2015.
Personal Life:
Barker was married to Dorothy Jo Gideon from 1945 until her death from lung cancer at age 57 in 1981.[19]
Animal rights
Barker was a vegetarian.[20] In 1982, Barker began ending The Price Is Right episodes with the phrase: “This is Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population – have your pets spayed or neutered.”[21]
In 1987, Barker requested the removal of fur prizes for the Miss USA pageant and stepped down as host when the producers refused.[22] In 1989, Barker and United Activists for Animal Rights publicly accused several media projects and the American Humane Association of animal mistreatment and condoning animal mistreatment, a tactic which resulted in a $10 million suit against him and the UAAR[needs update] for libel, slander, and invasion of privacy.[23][24]
Barker founded DJ&T Foundation in 1994, named after his late wife and mother, which has contributed millions of dollars to animal-neutering programs[25] and funded animal rescue and park facilities all over the United States.[26] In 2004, Barker donated $1 million (equivalent to $1.5 million in 2022) to Columbia Law School to support the study of animal rights.[27]
In 2009, Barker wrote a letter about three businesses in Cherokee, North Carolina, asking them to close their bear exhibits.[28] He threatened to not attend the 2009 Game Show Awards, where he was to receive a lifetime achievement award, because Betty White would be attending. Although he had previously worked with White,[26] he was feuding with her over the treatment of an elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo. White instead did not attend and pre-recorded her comments that she was scheduled to make about another awardee, Mark Goodson.[29] Also that year, Barker donated $1 million (equivalent to $1.4 million in 2021) to the University of Virginia Law School to support the study of animal rights. He made similar donations to Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Duke University School of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and the University of California at Los Angeles.[30]
In 2010, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society announced that it had purchased and outfitted a ship to interdict Japanese whaling operations in the Southern Ocean using $5 million (equivalent to $6.7 million in 2022) provided by Barker. The ship was then named the MY Bob Barker, and its existence was first revealed when it helped discover the location of the Japanese whaling fleet.[31][32]
Barker participated in several PETA public service announcements over the years and, in 2010, he donated $2.5 million (equivalent to $3.4 million in 2022) toward the purchase of office space for the organization in Los Angeles. The “Bob Barker Building” opened in 2012.[33]
Lawsuits
In 1994, former model Dian Parkinson filed a lawsuit against Barker alleging sexual harassment following a three-year affair while working on The Price Is Right. Parkinson, who alleged that she was extorted by threats of firing, later dropped her lawsuit, claiming the stress from the ordeal was damaging her health.[34]
In 1995, model Holly Hallstrom left The Price Is Right and later filed suit against Barker, alleging that the reason she was fired was not so much because of her 14-pound (6.4 kg) medication-mediated weight gain (as documented) but because, to Barker’s displeasure, she refused to give false information to the media regarding Parkinson’s suit, as she alleges Barker had requested she do. Barker countersued for slander, but Hallstrom prevailed, receiving a settlement in 2005.[35]
In October 2007, Deborah Curling, a CBS employee assigned to The Price Is Right, filed a lawsuit against CBS, Bob Barker, and The Price Is Right producers, claiming that she was forced to quit her job after testifying against Barker in a wrongful-termination lawsuit brought by a previous show producer. Curling claimed that she was demoted to an “intolerable work environment” backstage, which caused her to leave the job. Curling, who is black, also alleged that the show’s producers, including Barker, created a hostile work environment in which black employees and contestants were discriminated against.[36] A few months later, Barker was removed from the lawsuit, and in September 2009, the lawsuit was dismissed. Curling’s attorney stated that he planned to appeal the dismissal of the lawsuit.[37][38] In January 2012, the California Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal.[39]
Health and death
On September 16, 1999, Barker was in Washington, D.C. to testify before Congress regarding proposed legislation that would ban captive elephants from traveling shows, such as circuses. While preparing for the presentation, Barker experienced what he called clumsiness in his right hand. He was admitted to George Washington University Hospital and diagnosed with a partially blocked left carotid artery. Barker underwent carotid endarterectomy to remove the blockage. The procedure went well enough that he was able to return to work within the month.[40]
Three years later, Barker had two additional health crises after taping the 30th-season finale of The Price is Right. While lying in the sun on May 30, 2002, he experienced a stroke and was hospitalized; six weeks later, on July 11, Barker underwent prostate surgery. Both hospitalizations occurred at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Both surgeries were successful.[41]
Barker had several mild bouts with skin cancer, a result of his frequent tanning. He consulted a dermatologist regularly to make sure any cancers were caught and removed before they spread; they did not pose a threat to his life. During a televised interview, Barker told viewers, “I urge anyone who has spent some time in the sun, whether you’re doing it now or not, go to a dermatologist once a year.”[42]
On October 20, 2015, two police officers passing Barker’s Los Angeles-area home saw him trip and fall on a sidewalk. They called an ambulance which took him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he received stitches for an injured forehead and was released; he also hurt his left knee.[43]
Barker slipped and hit his head at home on June 19, 2017. His maid drove him to the emergency room, where he was checked and released. His representative said it was not as serious as his earlier fall.[44] In October and November 2018, Barker was rushed to the hospital for severe back pain.[45][46]
Barker died from natural causes at his home in the Hollywood Hills on August 26, 2023, at the age of 99.[47] He will be interred alongside his wife at Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills.[48]
Film and other TV appearances
- In 1996, Barker played himself in the Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore. In one scene, Barker beats up Gilmore after an altercation arising from their teaming up in a Pro-Am Golf Tournament. In 2007, during a CBS prime-time special commemorating Barker’s career, the fight scene from Happy Gilmore was shown, after which Sandler made a surprise appearance on stage to read a poem paying tribute to Barker.[50] In 2015, during Comedy Central’s “Night of Too Many Stars” benefit show to battle autism, Barker and Sandler reunited for a video featuring the two of them in a follow-up fight at the hospital, which ends with both of them dying and going to heaven.
- Barker was a semi-regular panelist on the game shows Tattletales (1975–1976, with wife Dorothy Jo) and Match Game (1973–1980). Barker sat in Richard Dawson‘s former place during the first week of Dawson’s permanent absence from Match Game.
- Barker co-hosted CBS’ coverage of the Rose Parade from Pasadena, California, for several years during the 1970s and 1980s.
- In the 1970s, he was the host of the annual/biennial Pillsbury Bake-Off (the bake-off occurred every two years starting in 1976). In 1978, he was the first host to have a male category champ.
- Barker appeared on Bonanza, playing a character named Mort in the 1960 episode “Denver McKee”.
- Barker appeared on various talk shows such as: Dinah!, Larry King Live, The Arsenio Hall Show, Crook & Chase, Donny & Marie, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Wayne Brady Show, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
- Barker also made cameo appearances on The Nanny and The Bold and the Beautiful, respectively in 2002 and 2014.
- About one year after his retirement from The Price Is Right, Barker appeared in a public service announcement promoting the transition to digital television in the United States. The advertisement was produced under the first proposed date of February 16, 2009, for the transition.
- On September 7, 2009, Barker was a special guest host for WWE Raw (called “The Price is Raw”) in Rosemont, Illinois. Aired during a period when nearly every episode of the weekly wrestling show featured a celebrity guest host, with mixed results, Barker’s appearance has been ranked the best of nearly 80 hosts.
- Barker agreed to be a rotating guest co-host on The Huckabee Show, a daily TV talk show hosted by Mike Huckabee. Barker first appeared on the show on July 29, 2010.
- Barker appeared in a commercial for State Farm Insurance‘s “Magic Jingle” campaign, where he made “a new car!” appear for a woman whose previous car was totaled by a giant concrete cylinder.
- Barker filmed a TV advertisement endorsing David Jolly, a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for the 2014 Florida’s 13th congressional district special election. Jolly won the nomination and ultimately won the seat.
- Barker voiced the character Bob Barnacle, a snail business owner on “Sanctuary!”, an episode of the Nickelodeon animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.
Awards and honors:
- Overall 19-time winner:
- 14-time winner of Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host, as host of The Price Is Right
- 4-time winner of Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show, as executive producer of The Price Is Right
- Lifetime Achievement Award, presented at the 1999 Daytime Emmy Awards.
WWE
- 2009 Slammy Award for Best Guest Host.
Media
- “Bob Barker Studio” at CBS Television City named in his honor.
- Time magazine’s Greatest Game Show Host of All-Time
- GSN Lifetime Achievement Award
Halls of Fame
- Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- Television Hall of Fame (class of 2004).
- NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame (class of 2008).
My best memory was watching him as the guest host on the September 7, 2009 edition of WWE Raw (called “The Price is Raw”) in Rosemont, Illinois.