HOLLYWOOD HILLS, CA (CelebrityAccess) – Bob Barker, the 35-year host of the TV game show The Price is Right, the longest-running game show in American TV history, passed away Saturday (August 26) of natural causes in his long-time Hollywood Hills home. Barker’s publicist, Roger Neal, confirmed the news of his death via social media. He was 99 years old.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker, has left us,” Neal said Saturday in a statement. Neal served as Barker’s publicist from 1987 – 1994 and again from 2020.
Born in December 1923 in Washington state – Barker grew up in South Dakota – on the Rosebud Indian Reservation and was enrolled as a member of the Sioux tribe, where his mother was a teacher. It was during his teenage years he would meet his one and only wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon – at an Ella Fitzgerald concert and began dating when Barker was only 15 years old.
Barker attended college on a basketball scholarship in Springfield, MO, but cut that short when he entered the Navy as a WWII fighter pilot. However, according to WPR, Barker never served in combat. He was on leave during that time when he married Gideon. He then returned to college to finish his education and graduated summa cum laude with an Economics degree. That led to his first job at a radio station in Springfield, MO and then a station in Lake Worth Beach, FL – culminating with Barker hosting the game show Truth or Consequences in 1956, which lasted for 18 seasons (including syndication).
During the 60s, Barker narrated the Pillsbury Bake-Off and the Tournament of Roses Parade for 16 and 19 years, respectively. For 22 years, ending in 1987, Barker hosted the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants. However, once Barker, a vegetarian, discovered the contestants would model furs during the swimsuit competition – he quit as that violated his staunch animal rights advocacy. Barker and his production company donated $500,000 in 2001 to Harvard Law School to support research and teaching on animal rights law.
However, he is best known for being the deadpan, loveable, relatable and never-changing face of The Price of Right, which aired with him on CBS from 1972-2007 – with Barker taping his last show on June 6, 2007. USA TODAY reports that Barker boasted that he knew all of the show’s 70-plus games, from Plinko to Hole in One, to make cue cards unnecessary for the TV veteran. “What I try to do is have fun with the audience and get laughs … make it a big party,” Barker told the St. Petersburg Times in 2003. He added perspective, too: “On our show, we don’t solve the problems of the world. But hopefully, we can help people forget their problems for an hour.” Comedian Drew Carey took over hosting duties in October 2007.
Barker made his foray onto the big screen in 1996 when he appeared in Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore, where he used his real-life karate black belt by hitting Sandler. That appearance opened him up to a new generation of fans, and The Price is Right audience began to grow and change – as college-aged students competed with the older contestants. They “came on down” with big posters professing their love for Barker and wore shirts such as “Bob is fine,” “WWBBD?” and “I Love Boob Barker” with one of the o’s crossed out in the word Boob.
Flowers were placed on his Hollywood Walk of Fame star to commemorate the icon, and tributes have poured in from the entertainment industry.
“Bob Barker was a television legend who was very committed to the Hollywood community and being a huge proponent of animal welfare,” said Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez. “He will be missed.”
Sandler posted a tribute to his social media, writing that it’s been a “heartbreaking day” and shared many photos of them over teh years. “The man. The myth. The best. Such a sweet, funny guy to hang out with. Loved talking to him. Loved laughing with him. Loved him kicking the crap out of me,” he wrote in the tribute. “He will be missed by everyone I know!”
Carey posted via X (Twitter) – “Very sad day for the Price Is Right family and animal lovers all over the world. There hasn’t been a day on set that I didn’t think of Bob Barker and thank him. I will carry his memory in my heart forever. #RIPBobBarker We love you ❤️”
Modern Family’s matriarch, Julie Bowen, appeared in Happy Gilmore and, via her Instagram, said, “I will never forget Adam convincing Bob Barker to say the iconic line, ‘the price is WRONG, bi*ch!’ Bob was kind and polite and had declined to say the line, but he got swept up in the hilarious fight scene between him and Happy, he just…said it. It’s one of my favorite filming memories ever.” WRITERS NOTE: Sandler, not Barker, delivered that line, but Barker does call Sandler (as Happy) a b*tch at the end of the fight.
He was preceded in death by his partner of 43 years and wife for 36 of those, – Dorothy Jo, who died of lung cancer in 1981. She was 57.
And remember, in his honor, “to help control the pet population – have your pets spayed or neutered.”
RIP.
