R.I.P. Bob Barker

Robert William Barker, better known as Bob Barker, the longtime host of daytime game show The Price Is Right and animal-welfare advocate, has died. Per Variety, the news was confirmed today by his publicist. Barker was 99

Barker was born in Darrington, Washington in 1923 but spent most of his childhood living on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota, as an enrolled member of the Sioux tribe. He attended Drury College but left to serve in the Navy Reserve during World War II, though during his postsecondary education he had already begun working part-time at a radio station. Following graduation, he and his wife Dorothy Jo Barker moved to Lake Worth Beach, Florida, where he worked as a news editor and announcer for an AM station in Palm Beach. Soon after relocating to California in 1950, he got his first major break, hosting radio program The Bob Barker Show, which ran for six years out of Burbank.

In 1956, while hosting an audience-participation radio show, Barker was approached by the producer of long-running stunt-comedy game show Truth Or Consequences, who offered him the hosting gig, replacing Jack Bailey. Barker accepted, and the revamped daytime TV version of Truth Or Consequences not only became a massive success, but Barker became the longest-serving host of the program, headlining Truth Or Consequences from 1956-1975, the first successful daily game show in first-run syndication to not air on a network. It was also the first program to air in all markets from a prerecorded videotape, a then-new technology previously only used for time-delayed broadcasts from the West Coast.

Finally, in 1972, Barker would begin his tenure in the position for which he found lasting fame: The host of The Price Is Right. Though he was initially resistant to the idea of hosting a modernized revival of the then-defunct game show, Barker eventually warmed to the idea (especially with CBS insisting it would only pick up the series with him as host), and in September of that year, the show began airing. He was pulling double-duty as host of Truth Or Consequences at the same time, but the success of The Price Is Right soon saw Barker quitting his other hosting gig in 1975. He then went on to serve as host of the game show for 35 years, eventually becoming an executive producer of the series as well, and having a strong creative hand in the direction of the show during the 2000s. His final appearance as host aired June 15, 2007, though he made guest appearances after his retirement—once to promote his memoir Priceless Memories, once as a tribute to his 90th birthday celebration in December 2013, and once for an April Fool’s Day gag in which he came out as host in lieu of Drew Carey for the show’s opening minutes.

The game-show host had a longtime passion for animal rights; starting in 1982, he would end every installment of The Price Is Right with the phrase, “This is Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population — have your pets spayed or neutered.” He campaigned against the use of fur, and lent his voice to sometimes-controversial positions, including the treatment of elephants at various zoos throughout the country, and donating $2.5 million to PETA for the organization to build a new office in Los Angeles. He was the defendant in several lawsuits, including one from former Price Is Right prize model Dian Parkinson for sexual harassment following a three-year affair, and again from model Holly Hallstrom, who said she was fired by Barker for refusing to give false information to the press regarding Parkinson’s lawsuit. Hallstrom was victorious, and received a settlement in 2005.

Barker appeared in a variety of other TV shows and films throughout his career, including talk shows, other game shows, and several one-off prime-time specials. He served as co-host of CBS’ coverage of the Rose Parade a number of years, and even voiced the animated character Bob Barnacle on SpongeBob Squarepants. But arguably his most famous cameo appearance is in the 1996 Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore, in which he played himself during a celebrity golf Pro-Am tournament, eventually beating up Sandler’s character and walking away satisfied, shadow-boxing the air. It seems a fitting way to end this look at his life and career.