Bob Barker

Robert William Barker (December 12, 1923 – August 26, 2023) was an American media personality, game show host, and animal rights advocate. He was best known for hosting the CBS game show The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, which is the longest-running game show in North American television history. Prior to hosting The Price Is Right, he served as the host of the television game show Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.

Barker was born in Darrington, Washington, and spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota. He was a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and was one-eighth Sicangu. Barker attended high school in Missouri and enrolled at Drury College on a basketball scholarship. In 1943, during World War II, he joined the United States Navy Reserve to train as a fighter pilot. He married Dorothy Jo Gideon in 1945 and later graduated summa cum laude from Drury with a degree in economics.

While attending college, Barker worked his first media job at KTTS-FM Radio in Springfield, Missouri. He later worked as a news editor and announcer at WWPG in Palm Beach, Florida, before moving to California in 1950 to pursue a broadcasting career. In Burbank, he hosted his own radio program, The Bob Barker Show, for six years. Game show producer Ralph Edwards heard Barker host an audience-participation radio show in Los Angeles and selected him to host the television version of Truth or Consequences starting in December 1956.

In September 1972, Barker began hosting the CBS revival of The Price Is Right. In 1988, he assumed executive producer duties, gaining near-complete control over the program. He stopped dyeing his hair in 1987, letting it turn naturally gray. Barker officially retired from hosting the show in June 2007 after a 50-year career in television, and Drew Carey succeeded him. Following his retirement, Barker made guest appearances on the show in 2009, 2013, and 2015.

Beyond his primary game shows, Barker co-hosted CBS's coverage of the Rose Parade from 1969 to 1988 and hosted the Pillsbury Bake-Off. He appeared on various talk shows, game shows, and scripted series, often making cameo appearances as himself. Notably, he played himself in the 1996 comedy film Happy Gilmore, participating in a fight scene with Adam Sandler. He also took on acting roles in series such as Bonanza and SpongeBob SquarePants.

Barker was a vegetarian and an active campaigner for animal rights. Beginning in 1982, he routinely concluded episodes of The Price Is Right by advising viewers to spay or neuter their pets. In 1994, he established the DJ&T Foundation to fund animal-neutering programs and rescue facilities. He supported organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and United Activists for Animal Rights. Furthermore, Barker donated millions of dollars to support animal rights law studies at several universities, including Columbia, Harvard, and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Barker's wife, Dorothy Jo, died of lung cancer in 1981. Beginning in 1983, Barker was in a long-term relationship with animal rights activist Nancy Burnet. He had no children. Barker died on August 26, 2023, and was honored with an hour-long television special celebrating his life later that month.