Bob Barker, Legendary Price is Right Host, Dead at 99

Bob Barker, legendary host gameshow host and animal rights activist best known to many for The Price is Right, has died. Barker died on Saturday morning at his home in Los Angeles. Barker’s death was confirmed by his publicist in a statement (via Today). 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,” Barker’s publicist Roger Neal said. 

Barker was born December 12, 1923, in Darrington, Washington. Barker served in the Navy in World War II and later moved to California to work in radio broadcasting, hosting The Bob Barker Show in 1950. His television break came in 1956 when he hosted the game show Truth or Consequences for NBC. Barker hosted that show until its cancellation in 1975.

As for his most iconic work in game shows, Barker began hosting The Price is Right in 1972 on CBS. He would go on to host 6,586 episodes of the gameshow before stepping down in June 2007 when Drew Carey took over. The Price is Right became a huge hit with Barker, setting the record for longest-running daytime gameshow in history in 1990 and with Barker himself breaking Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show record for continuous performances on the same network television show in 2002, clocking 29 years, seven months, and 22 days. Over his career, Barker won 19 Daytime Emmy Awards as well as received an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1999 and was inducted into the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame in 2004.

“It’s a lot more fun to do than a person might realize,” Barker told Entertainment Weekly in 2007 when his time at The Price is Right came to a close. “Each audience has its own personality. It’s like mining for gold. I’m looking for little gems with whom I can create spontaneous entertainment. It’s great satisfaction.”

In addition to his work as a gameshow host, Barker made a number of film and television appearances, including appearances on television’s The Nanny, How I met Your Mother, and on The Bold and the Beautiful. He also notably played himself in 1996’s Happy Gilmore, famously appearing in a scene in which Barker beats up Sandler’s Happy Gilmore. Barker was also an avid animal rights advocate, even using his position on The Price is Right to remind viewers each episode to “help control the pet population — have your pets spayed or neutered.” He also founded the DJ&T Foundation — named after his mother and his late wife, Dorothy Jo, in 1994. The organization contributed millions of dollars to animal-neutering programs and funded animal rescues in the United States during its years of operation.

Barker is survived by his half brother ,Kent Valandra, two half-nephews, and a half-niece. He is preceeded in death by his wife, Dorothy Jo, who he married in 1945. She passed in 1981.