{"id":1573,"date":"2023-08-28T13:13:25","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T13:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/?p=1573"},"modified":"2023-08-28T13:13:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T13:13:25","slug":"bob-barker-beloved-former-the-price-is-right-host-dies-at-99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/2023\/08\/bob-barker-beloved-former-the-price-is-right-host-dies-at-99.html","title":{"rendered":"Bob Barker, Beloved Former “The Price Is Right” Host, Dies at 99"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bob Barker, the beloved former host of “The Price Is Right” and animal advocate, has died at 99 years old. In a statement, Nancy Burnet, Barker’s friend and the co-executor of his estate, said, \u201cI am so proud of the trailblazing work Barker and I did together to expose the cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry and including working to improve the plight of abused and exploited animals in the United States and internationally.”<\/p>\n

CBS said in a statement that daytime television has lost one of its \u201cmost iconic stars. \u201cWe lost a beloved member of the CBS family today with the passing of Bob Barker,\u201d the network said, noting that he had \u201cmade countless people\u2019s dreams come true and everyone feel like a winner when they were called to \u2018come on down.\u2019\u201d There was no information surrounding the circumstances of Barker’s death.<\/p>\n

Barker hosted “The Price Is Right” from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history. He is also known for hosting\u00a0Truth or Consequences<\/em> from 1956 to 1975. Robert William Barker was born\u00a0on December 12, 1923, in Darrington, Washington, in modest circumstances. Barker met his future wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, at an\u00a0Ella Fitzgerald\u00a0concert while attending high school in Missouri; they began dating when he was 15.<\/p>\n

He attended Drury College, now\u00a0Drury University, in Springfield, Missouri, on a basketball\u00a0athletic scholarship. While attending college in Drury, Barker worked his first media job at\u00a0KTTS-FM\u00a0Radio in Springfield. He and his wife left Springfield and moved to\u00a0Lake Worth Beach, Florida, and he was news editor and announcer at nearby WWPG 1340 AM in Palm Beach, now\u00a0WPBR\u00a0in Lantana.<\/p>\n

Barker joined the\u00a0United States Navy Reserve\u00a0in 1943 during\u00a0World War II\u00a0to train as a fighter pilot but did not serve on active duty. During leave from the military, he married Dorothy Jo on January 12, 1945.\u00a0After the war, he returned to Drury to finish his education, graduating\u00a0summa cum laude\u00a0with a degree in\u00a0economics.<\/p>\n

In 1950, he moved to California to pursue a broadcasting career. He was given his radio show,\u00a0The Bob Barker Show<\/em>, which ran from Burbank for the next six years. While hosting a radio show in Los Angeles, Barker caught the attention of game show producer Ralph Edwards. Edwards was looking for a new host to replace\u00a0Jack Bailey\u00a0on the daytime-television version of his long-running show,\u00a0Truth or Consequences<\/em>, and happened to be listening and liked Barker’s voice and style. Barker would host Truth and Consequences <\/em>from 1956 to 1975.<\/p>\n