Game present host Bob Barker has died on the age of 99.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker has left us,” publicist Roger Neal stated in a press release.

Barker, whose profession spanned greater than eight many years, was finest generally known as the longtime host of The Price Is Right on CBS. In 2002, he broke Johnny Carson’s document for steady performances on the identical community TV present.

Barker started internet hosting The Price is Right when Richard Nixon was within the White House. He remained with the present for 35 years earlier than retiring in 2007. Even on the finish of his profession, the then-80-something host was nonetheless taping 5 exhibits per week.

At a press convention held on his final day, Barker stated as a lot as he seemed ahead to retirement, on the brink of tape that ultimate present wasn’t simple.

“I really had myself worked up in an emotional state,” he stated, “and I thought, I’ve got to go over there and do this show — straighten yourself out, Barker!”

Born in 1923, Barker grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the place his mom was a schoolteacher. He by no means thought his future profession would require cake make-up, the glare of digital camera lights or video games like Plinko and Cliffhanger.

“I wanted to pitch for the Saint Louis Cardinals. That was my dream,” Barker stated. “And the only thing that prevented it was a total lack of talent.”

Instead, Barker pitched in with the World War II effort. He served as a Navy fighter pilot, though he by no means noticed fight. After the struggle, he returned to complete school and took a job internet hosting a radio present in Los Angeles. That finally launched his profession, and his subsequent job was internet hosting TV’s Truth or Consequences.

That gig lasted for 18 years, twice the common lifespan for many TV stars — and for Barker, it was only a warm-up.

Bob Barker poses amongst a sea of prizes on the 6,000th taping of The Price Is Right, in 2004. Barker, who hosted the present for many years, was twice named TV’s “Most Durable Performer” by Guinness World Records.

Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

cover caption

toggle caption

Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Bob Barker poses amongst a sea of prizes on the 6,000th taping of The Price Is Right, in 2004. Barker, who hosted the present for many years, was twice named TV’s “Most Durable Performer” by Guinness World Records.

Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

It was his function on The Price Is Right that cemented his fame. From 1972 on, Barker’s face was a well-known presence within the residing rooms of everybody from little outdated women, to children residence sick from college. He even had a following amongst school college students who claimed to set class schedules across the present.

The present’s easy format — common folks attempting to guess the worth of widespread family merchandise, from Windex to washing machines — appealed to followers, and the present did not change a lot over 4 many years. Nor did the host, besides as soon as: when Barker stopped dying his hair. Seemingly in a single day, he went from darkish hair to white. It’s some of the talked-about occasions in Price Is Right historical past.

“The audience just gasped,” Barker stated. “And I got a card from a man in the Midwest. He said, ‘Bob, you must have had one hell of a night!’ “

As a pop icon, Barker landed cameo appearances on TV exhibits like Futurama and Family Guy — in addition to a number of film roles. He performed himself within the 1996 film Happy Gilmore. In one scene, Barker, a karate black belt in actual life, teaches star Adam Sandler a memorable lesson by knocking him out in a golf course brawl (video comprises cursing).

“They were talking about making Happy Gilmore 2, and Adam’s doctor said that he didn’t think Adam could take another beating like I gave him,” Barker as soon as stated.

In 1994, a former Price is Right mannequin, Dian Parkinson, sued Barker for sexual harassment. The host claimed what he described as an “affair” was consensual and Parkinson finally dropped the lawsuit.

Barker used his fame to advertise one other nice ardour, animal rights. In 1988, after 21 years internet hosting the Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants, Barker resigned when producers refused to eradicate fur coats from prize packages.

He established and endowed a basis funding spaying and neutering providers throughout the U.S., and in his later years, Barker donated massive sums to varied legislation faculties to advertise the research of animal rights. Each day, he ended The Price Is Right with the identical phrases: “This is Bob Barker, reminding you: Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered.”

Barker earned greater than a dozen Emmys and was twice named TV’s “Most Durable Performer” by Guinness World Records.

The Saint Louis Cardinals by no means knew what they missed.