TV legend Bob Barker, best known for hosting “The Price Is Right” for 35 years, has died, Page Six can confirm. He is 99 years old.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC that ever lived, Bob Barker has left us,” his rep told us on Saturday.
A spokesperson for CBS, the network behind “Price Is Right,” added in a statement to Page Six, “We lost a beloved member of the CBS family today with the passing of Bob Barker.
“In 35 years as host of ‘The Price Is Right’ Bob has made many people’s dreams come true and everyone feels like a winner when they are called to ‘come down.'”
The rep concluded, “In addition to his legendary 50-year career in broadcasting, Bob will be remembered as a dedicated animal rights activist. Daytime television has lost one of its most iconic stars.”
Bob Barker has died, Page Six can confirm.Getty Images
According to TMZ, the game show host died peacefully at his Los Angeles home Saturday morning of “natural causes.”
In January 2019, Barker was injured after a spill at his home in the Hollywood Hills.
He was treated by paramedics at the scene and was not taken for further treatment at the time.
The previous year, Barker was hospitalized in Los Angeles twice in one month for severe back pain. After a second hospitalization, her manager said she was doing better under a doctor’s care.
The former host also went to the hospital in 2017 after hitting his head at his home.
The legendary TV host turned 99.WireImage
Robert William Barker was born on December 12, 1923 in Darrington, Wash., to parents Byron Barker and Matilda Tarleton Barker.
Although Barker was born in Washington, he grew up in Mission, SD, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. In high school, Barker’s family moved to Springfield, Mo., where he eventually earned a basketball scholarship to Drury College (now Drury University).
While Barker was in college, the US entered World War II and he went on to become a Naval Aviation Cadet, earning his wings at Corpus Christi in 1944.
The following year he married his high school sweetheart, Dorothy Jo Gideon. Barker was awaiting assignment in Michigan when the war ended and returned to Drury to finish school.
Barker grew up in South Dakota before his TV career.Getty Images
It was there that he got into hosting by working at a local radio station, where he accidentally made his first screen appearance.
“I never learned to speak. I never studied drama. I never acted in a school play. I have never been in front of an audience and I was on duty there as an announcer. Ted Tucker, bless him, didn’t show up,” Barker said during an Emmys interview in 2000.
“I didn’t even have time to be nervous. I’m out there doing it live.”
After the show, Barker’s wife felt she had found her calling. The couple moved to Los Angeles so Barker could continue his career in broadcasting.
Barker hosted “The Price Is Right” for 35 years.Getty Images
In 1956, Barker hosted the popular game show, “Truth or Consequences,” which ran until 1975. He went on to host shows including “End of the Rainbow,” “The Family Game,” “Simon Says” and “That’s the Line I am.” In 1972, he hosted “The Price is Right,” cementing his legacy.
Barker spent 35 years as host of the show before retiring in 2007. He won 19 Daytime Emmys for “The Price Is Right,” and in 1999 was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
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In 2004, Barker was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. He has also been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a stage named after him at the CBS Television City studio complex.
Barker is an award-winning host and a Television Academy Hall of Fame inductee in 2004.FilmMagic
“From the bottom of my heart, I thank the television audience, because they have allowed me to earn a living for 50 years doing something that I really enjoy. They’ve invited me into their home every day for half a century,” he said upon retiring from “The Price is Right.”
During her time on the popular game show, Barker had several lawsuits filed against her from several women alleging harassment and wrongful termination. In 1994, Dian Parkinson, one of the show’s models, sued Barker for $8 million.
According to Time magazine, she claimed she was forced to have sex with Barker to keep her job before she was fired.
Barker previously faced multiple harassment and wrongful termination allegations.Getty Images
Barker released a statement at the time saying the couple had been in a consensual relationship for more than a year. Parkinson later dropped the lawsuit when he could not afford the legal fees.
Another model, Holly Hallstrom, sued Barker the following year, claiming she was fired for gaining weight and refusing to tell the press fake news about Parkinson’s. Hallstrom won a settlement.
Outside of his 50-year hosting career, Barker also appeared as himself on various TV shows including “The Nanny,” “Futurama,” “How I Met Your Mother” and “Yes, Dear.” Perhaps her most famous cameo as herself in “Happy Gilmore” when she and Adam Sandler fight during a golf tournament, leading to the now famous line, “The price is wrong, bitch.”
Barker’s rep confirmed his death to Page Six with “deep sadness.” Getty Images
Barker also dedicated the better half of his life as an animal rights activist and PETA supporter. She resigned as host of the “Miss Universe” and “Miss USA” pageants after 20 years in 1987 because officials gave out fur coats as awards.
In 1994, Barker founded the DJ&T foundation, named after Gideon and his mother, to fund spay and neuter clinics. At the end of each “Price is Right” episode, Barker would tell viewers, “Help control the pet population. Get your pets spayed or neutered.”
Gideon, who died of lung cancer in 1981, and Barker had no children during their 36-year marriage.
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