Popular game show host Bob Barker, a household name widely recognised as the host of Truth Or Consequences and The Price Is Right, has died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 99, his publicist has said.
Barker, a long-time animal rights activist, died on Saturday morning, according to his publicist, Roger Neal.
Nancy Burnet, Barker’s friend and caretaker, said in a statement: “I 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.”
Barker retired in June 2007, telling his studio audience: “I thank you, thank you, thank you for inviting me into your home for more than 50 years.”
Barker was working in radio in 1956 when producer Ralph Edwards invited him to audition as the new host of Truth Or Consequences, a game show in which audience members had to do wacky stunts — the “consequence” — if they failed to answer a question — the “truth”, which was always the silly punchline to a riddle.
In a 1996 interview with The Associated Press, Barker recalled receiving the news that he had been hired: “I know exactly where I was, I know exactly how I felt: I hung up the phone and said to my wife, ‘Dorothy Jo, I got it’.”
Barker stayed with Truth Or Consequences for 18 years, including several years in a syndicated version.
Meanwhile, he began hosting a resurrected version of The Price Is Right in 1972, which would go on to become TV’s longest-running game show.
“I have grown old in your service,” the silver-haired, perennially tanned Barker joked on a prime-time television retrospective in the mid-90s.
In all, he taped more than 5,000 shows in his career.
He had a memorable cameo appearance on the big screen in 1996, sparring with Adam Sandler in the movie Happy Gilmore.
In 1994, the widowed Barker was sued for sexual harassment by Dian Parkinson, a Price Is Right model for 18 years.
Barker admitted engaging in “hanky panky” with Ms Parkinson from 1989-91, but said she initiated the relationship. She dropped the lawsuit in 1995, saying it was hurting her health.
Barker became embroiled in a dispute with another former Price Is Right model, Holly Hallstrom, who claimed she was fired in 1995 because the show’s producers believed she was fat. Barker denied the allegations.
Neither uproar affected his goodwill from the audience.
Born in Darrington, Washington, in 1923, Barker spent part of his childhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where his widowed mother had taken a teaching job.
The family later moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he attended high school.
He served in the Navy in the Second World War.
He married Dorothy Jo Gideon, his high school sweetheart; she died in 1981 after 37 years of marriage. They had no children.
Barker was given a lifetime achievement award at the 26th annual Daytime Emmy Awards in 1999.
He closed his acceptance remarks with the sign-off: “Have your pets spayed or neutered.”
