By Zola Elder

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Robert William Barker (December 12, 1923 – August 26, 2023) was an American television game show host. He hosted CBS‘s The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in North American television history, from 1972 to 2007. He 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 an enrolled member of the Sioux tribe. He joined the United States Navy Reserve during World War II. Barker worked part-time in radio while attending college. In 1950, he moved to California to pursue a broadcasting career. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for six years. He began his game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences. He subsequently hosted various game shows, and the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants from 1967 to 1987, giving him the distinction of being the longest-serving host of those pageants.

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. He continued to make occasional appearances for several years into his retirement until 2015.

Barker died from natural causes at his home in the Hollywood Hills on August 26, 2023, at the age of 99. He will be interred alongside his wife at Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills.