Bob Barker, Famed Game Show Host, Dies at 99
Bob Barker, Famed Game Show Host, Dies at 99. When he wasn’t beating up Adam Sandler on a golf course, he was spending more than a half-century presiding over 'Truth or Consequences' and 'The Price Is Right.' Bob Barker, the energetic game show legend who for more than 50 years made every day entertaining as host of Truth or Consequences and The Price Is Right, has died. He was 99.
Barker, who also was celebrated for his animal-rights activism and for one hilarious brawl with Adam Sandler in the 1996 golf comedy Happy Gilmore, died Saturday morning of natural causes in his longtime Hollywood Hills home, his representative, Roger Neal, told The Hollywood Reporter. Barker collected 15 Emmy Awards, including 12 for hosting. He was presented a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 and was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame five years later.
The Guinness World Records named him TV’s Most Durable Performer as well as the Most Generous Host in Television History, having doled out, by its estimation, more than $200 million worth of prizes.
In 1987, Barker stopped coloring his gray hair because of the animal products used in dyes and chastised the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, which he hosted, for their use of furs. While he was doing Truth for nighttime viewing, Barker accepted producer Mark Goodson’s offer to host a daytime show, a new version of The Price Is Right. He said he would have asked for more money had he known that CBS daytime head Bud Grant would not have bought the show unless Barker was on board. Survivors include his half-brother, Kent; half-nephews Robert and Chip; and half-niece Vickie.
Barker, who also was celebrated for his animal-rights activism and for one hilarious brawl with Adam Sandler in the 1996 golf comedy Happy Gilmore, died Saturday morning of natural causes in his longtime Hollywood Hills home, his representative, Roger Neal, told The Hollywood Reporter. Barker collected 15 Emmy Awards, including 12 for hosting. He was presented a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 and was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame five years later.
The Guinness World Records named him TV’s Most Durable Performer as well as the Most Generous Host in Television History, having doled out, by its estimation, more than $200 million worth of prizes.
In 1987, Barker stopped coloring his gray hair because of the animal products used in dyes and chastised the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, which he hosted, for their use of furs. While he was doing Truth for nighttime viewing, Barker accepted producer Mark Goodson’s offer to host a daytime show, a new version of The Price Is Right. He said he would have asked for more money had he known that CBS daytime head Bud Grant would not have bought the show unless Barker was on board. Survivors include his half-brother, Kent; half-nephews Robert and Chip; and half-niece Vickie.
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