Bob Barker, legendary ‘The Price is Right’ host, dies at 99

Legendary TV big name Bob Barker, who hosted the famed recreation display “The Price Is Right” for 35 years, has died. He used to be 99.

Barker died at his house on Saturday morning, his longtime publicist Roger Neal informed ABC News. He used to be a couple of months shy of his one hundredth birthday.

“He had a wonderful life,” Neal mentioned.

Born in 1923, Barker used to be raised in South Dakota and Missouri, amongst different puts, earlier than sooner or later enlisting within the United States Navy all the way through World War II. He by no means noticed motion, and after returning house to wait school at Drury University, he were given his get started in radio.

His large destroy got here when recreation display writer Ralph Edwards heard him at the air and reached out about website hosting “Truth or Consequences” within the mid-Fifties. Barker mentioned Edwards had hosted the display himself on radio and this used to be one of the vital TV iterations.

“I always admired Ralph Edwards’ work. He did ‘Truth or Consequences’ beautifully. … He also did ‘This Is Your Life,'” Barker mentioned in an “Emmy TV Legends” interview in 2008. “He’s the most remarkable man.”

On the wacky display, contestants have been tasked with answering questions and appearing stunts for prizes. Barker’s stint on “Truth or Consequences” lasted nearly two decades. Barker mentioned that to get a choice from the enduring Edwards “was just about the most exciting thing to happen to me.”

Then, in September 1972, Barker started a role that may finally end up being the paintings he is maximum recognized for — “The Price Is Right.” On this program, Barker would give the target market an opportunity to bet costs on on a regular basis home items from couches to vehicles. Getting on the subject of the real value used to be the secret.

“I was 48 and didn’t have any thoughts about the rest of my life. It was just another show I thought I would have fun with and be well paid for,” he informed Entertainment Weekly in 2007.

Barker mentioned the name of the game to the longevity of the sport display used to be easy.

“Well it is a powerful premise. When we bring something out for the contestants to bid on, at home, they’re thinking, ‘Oh, that’s too high,’ or, ‘Oh, that’s too low, [or] ‘That’s a good bid,'” Barker informed ABC News in 2007. “Whatever they’re thinking, they’re becoming involved.

With “The Price Is Right,” Barker got to put his experience talking with and interviewing everyday people to good use, which he said he got from his early days in radio.

“It’s much more a laugh to do than an individual would possibly notice. Each target market has its personal character. It’s like mining for gold. I’m on the lookout for little gem stones with whom I will be able to create spontaneous leisure. It’s nice delight,” Barker added to EW. “I used to be proper at house on ‘The Price Is Right’ the best way I used to be on ‘Truth or Consequences.'”

Barker received 19 Daytime Emmy Awards, together with 14 for remarkable recreation display host, in addition to a life-time success award from the Daytime Emmys in 1995.

One of Barker’s most memorable additions to “The Price Is Right” was his concern for animals and animal rights. This began in the early 1980s and lasted well into his retirement in 2007. Eventually, he ended every episode by saying, “Help keep watch over the puppy inhabitants. Have your pets spayed or neutered.” In fact, the show got rid of fur coats as prizes because of Barker.

“I actually used to be no longer acutely aware of the cruelty to animals within the manufacturing of fur till about 1981. I mentioned to [my producer] that I used to be very a lot concerned within the anti-fur marketing campaign and it is embarrassing to be at the degree freely giving fur coats. And he mentioned, ‘I perceive your place. They’re long gone,'” Barker told EW.

Barker’s longtime friend and co-executor of his estate, Nancy Burnet, said in a statement following his death that she is “so happy with the trailblazing paintings Barker and I did in combination to show the cruelty to animals within the leisure business and together with running to make stronger the plight of abused and exploited animals within the United States and the world over.”

Barker also started a foundation, which has contributed millions to various causes over the years.

“I’m in reality no longer in a position to mention good-bye, no I’m no longer, however I’m 83 so I feel it is a excellent time to mention good-bye, as a result of I need to depart them in need of extra,” Barker told ABC News’ Deborah Roberts in June 2007.

After leaving the show in the late 2000s, Barker returned in 2013 for a special tribute on his 90th birthday. New host Drew Carey invited the legend back to the show he made famous.

“The target market gave me a status ovation. I had a lump in my throat the primary second I used to be at the display almost. It used to be only a thrill, a excitement. All the folks at the display have been so great to me. Some of the folks I had labored with, it used to be a pleasure to look them,” he informed TV Guide about being commemorated.

Barker still had his classic sense of humor when asked after all these years if he’d be a good contestant on the show.

“I’d be horrible. I was interviewed, and somebody would need to play a recreation. And so they would begin to say costs for various merchandise. I have no idea any of them,” he added.

Barker had become such an institution by the 1990s and 2000s that he regularly appeared as himself in popular shows such as “The Nanny,” “Futurama,” “Family Guy,” “Yes, Dear” and “How I Met Your Mother.” He also memorably appeared as himself in the Adam Sandler film “Happy Gilmore,” when he delivered some salty language and got into a fist fight with Sandler’s character at a pro-am golf event.

The one constant for Barker from his early days in radio to “The Price Is Right” was his wife Dorothy Jo Gideon, whom the host met in high school and married in 1945. Barker told ABC News in 2007 that it was Dorothy Jo who was the driving force behind his love for audience participation, his trademark. She was also a force behind his fight to help animals.

“She used to be forward of her time. She in reality used to be. She stopped dressed in fur coats earlier than someone used to be preventing. She become a vegetarian earlier than other folks have been changing into vegetarian. And I regularly did the similar factor together with her,” he said.

His wife died in 1981 of lung cancer. He never remarried.

“I by no means had any inclination to remarry. She used to be my spouse,” he mentioned.