Bob Barker


Robert William Barker was an American media personality, game show host, and animal rights advocate. He hosted CBS's The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in North American television history, from 1972 to 2007. Barker also hosted Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.
Born in Darrington, Washington, in modest circumstances, Barker spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation and was a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Barker joined the United States Navy Reserve during World War II. He worked part-time in radio while attending college. In 1950, Barker moved to California to pursue a broadcasting career. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for six years. Barker began his game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences.
Barker began hosting The Price Is Right in 1972. He became an advocate for animal rights and of animal rights activism, supporting groups such as the United Activists for Animal Rights, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In 2007, Barker retired from hosting The Price Is Right after celebrating his 50-year career on television. Regarded as a pop culture icon, Barker continued to make occasional appearances for several years into his retirement until 2015.

Early life

Robert William Barker was born on December 12, 1923, in Darrington, Washington, and spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota. The U.S. Indian Census Rolls, 1885–1940, list Barker as a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, which the tribe publicly confirmed. His mother, Matilda Valandra, was a schoolteacher; his father, Byron John Barker, was the foreman on the electrical high line through the state of Washington. As Barker's father was one-quarter Sioux, and his mother non-Native, Barker was one-eighth Sioux. Barker attended the grade school on the Rosebud Reservation where his mother was a teacher. Barker once said, "I've always bragged about being part Indian, because they are a people to be proud of. And the Sioux were the greatest warriors of them all."
Barker met his future wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, at an Ella Fitzgerald concert while he was attending high school in Missouri; they began dating when he was 15. Barker attended Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, on a basketball athletic scholarship. He was a member of the Epsilon Beta chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity at Drury. Barker joined the United States Navy Reserve in 1943 during World War II to train as a fighter pilot but did not serve in combat. On January 12, 1945, while on leave from the military, Barker married Dorothy Jo. After the war, he returned to Drury to finish his education, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics.

Career

Broadcasting

While attending college in Drury, Barker worked his first media job at KTTS-FM Radio in Springfield. He and his wife left Springfield and moved to Lake Worth Beach, Florida, and Barker was news editor and announcer at nearby WWPG 1340 AM in Palm Beach. In 1950, he moved to California to advance his broadcasting career. Barker was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for the next six years from Burbank. He was hosting an audience-participation radio show on KNX in Los Angeles when game show producer Ralph Edwards, who was looking for a new host to replace Jack Bailey on the daytime-television version of his long-running show, Truth or Consequences, happened to be listening and liked Barker's voice and style.

Game shows

''Truth or Consequences'' (1956–1975)

Barker started hosting Truth or Consequences on December 31, 1956, and continued with the program until 1975.

''The Price Is Right'' (1972–2007)

In early 1972, Mark Goodson and Bill Todman began shopping a modernized revival of The Price Is Right, with Dennis James as host. NBC bought the syndicated nighttime version of the Show first with James at the helm. CBS expressed interest in the series. Due to a contractual obligation and the fact that James was already viewed as the "NBC" Host, CBS wanted Bob Barker as the daytime host. After some initial resistance, Barker instead offered to host another upcoming CBS game show, Jack Barry's The Joker's Wild to allow James to host Price, but CBS rejected this proposal. In December 1974, James stepped in to host the daytime The Price Is Right for a week when Barker was ill. James was the only person to substitute on the daytime version of the show while Barker was hosting. In 1977, James' contract was not renewed, and Barker took over as host of the nighttime edition of The Price Is Right until its cancellation in 1980.
On September 4, 1972, Barker began hosting the CBS revival of The Price Is Right.
On October 15, 1987, Barker did what other MCs almost never did then: he stopped using hair dye and let his hair go gray, its natural color by that time.
On October 31, 2006, Barker announced that he would retire from The Price Is Right in June 2007. Barker taped his final episode on June 6, 2007, with the show airing twice on June 15; once in Daytime and once on Primetime. On October 15, 2007, Drew Carey took over hosting duties on the show.
After his retirement, Barker made three return appearances to The Price is Right. He first appeared on the episode that aired on April 16, 2009, to promote his new autobiography, Priceless Memories. Barker appeared in the Showcase round at the end of the show. Barker made another guest appearance on the show to celebrate his 90th birthday, which aired on December 12, 2013. Barker announced a contestant for the first time ever on the show, along with one showcase. Barker's last appearance was a surprise appearance on April 1, 2015, for an April Fools' Day switch where he took Carey's place at the show's intro. Barker hosted the first bid and pricing game of that day before handing the hosting duties back to Carey; Barker later appeared during the showcase.

Film and other TV appearances

In addition to the game shows for which he became famous, Barker also hosted the annual/biennial Pillsbury Bake-Off. In 1978, he was the first host to have a male category champ. From 1969-1988 he also co-hosted CBS's coverage of the Rose Parade from Pasadena, California. On September 7, 2009, Barker was a special guest host for WWE Raw in Rosemont, Illinois. Aired during a period when nearly every episode of the weekly wrestling show featured a celebrity guest host, with mixed results, Barker's appearance has been ranked the best of nearly 80 hosts. Barker also agreed to be a rotating guest co-host on The Huckabee Show, a daily TV talk show hosted by Mike Huckabee. Barker first appeared on the show on July 29, 2010.
Barker's fame from his television hosting roles also saw him become a popular guest on other shows, including as a semi-regular panelist on the game shows Tattletales and Match Game. Barker sat in Richard Dawson's former place during the first week after Dawson permanently left Match Game. Barker also made appearances on various talk shows such as: Dinah!, Larry King Live, The Arsenio Hall Show, Crook & Chase, Donny & Marie, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Wayne Brady Show, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
Barker often appeared in fiction as himself, usually in a cameo appearance, in shows including The Nanny, The Bold and the Beautiful ''Futurama, and How I Met Your Mother. In 1996, Barker played himself in the Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore. In one scene, Barker beats up Gilmore after an altercation arising from their teaming up in a Pro-Am Golf Tournament. According to Sandler, the original choice for that scene was Ed McMahon, but Sandler said that McMahon was not fond of the script and they got Barker because of Chuck Norris training Barker in the martial arts. In 2007, during a CBS prime-time special commemorating Barker's career, the fight scene from Happy Gilmore was shown, after which Sandler made a surprise appearance on stage to read a poem paying tribute to Barker. In 2015, during Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars" benefit show to battle autism, Barker and Sandler reunited for a video featuring the two of them in a follow-up fight at the hospital, which ends with both of them dying and going to heaven.
However, Barker did play characters apart from himself in Bonanza, as a character named Mort in the 1960 episode "Denver McKee", and as a small business owner named Bob Barnacle in "Sanctuary!", an episode of the Nickelodeon animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.
About one year after his retirement from The Price Is Right'', Barker appeared in a public service announcement promoting the transition to digital television in the United States. The advertisement was produced under the first proposed date of February 16, 2009, for the transition. He later appeared in a commercial for State Farm Insurance's "Magic Jingle" campaign, where he made "a new car!" appear for a woman whose previous car was totaled by a giant concrete cylinder. In another TV advertisement, Barker endorsed David Jolly, a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for the 2014 Florida's 13th congressional district special election. Jolly won the nomination and ultimately won the seat.
Barker was honored after his death with an hour-long TV special celebrating his life. It aired on August 31, 2023.

Personal life

Barker was married to Dorothy Jo Gideon from 1945 until her death from lung cancer at age 57 in 1981.
From 1983 until his death, Barker was in a long-term relationship with Nancy Burnet, a self-described "radical" animal rights activist nearly 20 years younger than Barker. By mutual decision, Barker and Burnet were never married and lived in separate residences throughout their relationship. Barker had no children with either woman, stating that he had seen friends who had poor relationships with their children and felt like he was too busy to properly raise a child; as of 2007, Barker stated that he had no regrets about his decision.
From the late 2000s onward, Burnet described the relationship as a platonic friendship, even as Barker had become more interested in remarrying; she recalled a 2011 incident where Barker drafted a prenuptial agreement for Burnet's lawyer to review and revise as she felt fit, which she refused. Burnet managed Barker's health and diet in retirement.