Bob Barker
Robert William "Bob" Barker (born
December 12,
1923) is an
Emmy Award-winning
American television game show host. He is best known for hosting
CBS's
The Price Is Right since late 1972, making it the longest-running daytime
game show in television history.
Born in
Darrington, Washington, he grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in
Rosebud,
South Dakota, where his mother, Matilda ("Tillie") Valandra, was a schoolteacher. His father, Byron John Barker, was an electrical power foreman who lost his life in a fall from a utility pole in 1929. Bob has a half-brother, Kent Valandra, from Matilda's subsequent remarriage. Both Tillie and Kent have joined the studio audience for numerous tapings of
The Price Is Right.
Barker attended
Drury College in
Springfield, Missouri on a basketball scholarship. He was a member of the Epsilon Beta Chapter of
Sigma Nu fraternity at Drury. His education was interrupted by
World War II. Barker served in the
Navy as a
fighter pilot. However, the war ended before he was assigned to a
seagoing squadron. After the war, he returned to Drury to finish his education, graduating
summa cum laude with a degree in
economics. He was hosting an audience-participation radio show in
Los Angeles, when game show producer
Ralph Edwards happened to be listening and liked Barker's voice and style. In 1956, he took over hosting of the game show
Truth or Consequences. The show made Barker a star; he was clearly a natural whose charisma and charm connected with contestants and viewers. He would host it for 18 years.
Bob Barker and wife, Dorothy Jo were high school sweethearts. On their first date, Bob took D.J. (as he would often call her) to an
Ella Fitzgerald concert. They married in 1945 and remained together for 36 years. They had no children. Years later, it would be Dorothy Jo (as well as Barker's mother Tillie) who inspired Bob to become an advocate of animals. D.J. died of lung cancer on October 19, 1981. He has never remarried after her death. His mother Matilda (Tillie) Valandra lived with him after her second husband passed away until her death in 1993.
Ever since his wife died (
October 19,
1981), Barker has been an outspoken member of the
animal rights movement, and is known for ending every episode of
The Price Is Right since the early 80's by saying, "Help control the pet population. Have your pets
spayed or neutered." This practice would later be followed by now-deceased game show hosts
Jack Barry and
Bert Convy. When the
United States Postal Service created a series of postage stamps on this subject, one of the shows had a small segment whose only purpose was to publicize them. CBS goes out of its way to offer prizes that do not violate Barker's animal rights views (although for the first ten years the shows did feature fur coats as prizes, and Barker has since prohibited the airing of those past episodes that featured fur coat prizes). To this day Bob Barker's "
DJ&T Foundation" funds animal rescue and park facilities all over the country.
Truth or Consequences
Barker started hosting on December 31, 1956, and would continue with the program until 1974. The idea was to mix the original quiz element of game shows with wacky stunts. On the show, people had to answer a trivia question correctly (usually an off-the-wall question that no one would be able to answer correctly) before "Beulah the Buzzer" was sounded. If the contestant could not complete the "Truth" portion, there would be "Consequences," usually a zany and embarrassing stunt.
In many broadcasts, the stunts on
Truth or Consequences included a popular, but emotional, heart-wrenching surprise for a contestant, that being the reunion with a long-lost relative or with an enlisted son or daughter returning from military duty overseas, particularly Vietnam.
The Family Game
In 1967, Barker hosted the short-lived game show
The Family Game, where he would ask children contestants questions about their family's lives, and the parents had to guess how they answered, in a
Newlywed Game-esque fashion.
The Price Is Right
|
Bob Barker on The Price is Right in 2006. |
On September 4, 1972, Barker began his most famous assignment hosting the CBS revival of
The Price Is Right. In the three decades of the CBS version, he has become as synonymous with the show as first host
Bill Cullen was with the
1950sâ€"1960s original.
In 2002,
The Price Is Right celebrated 30 consecutive years on the air. It is the longest running game show of all time in North America, and is also the longest running five-day-a-week daytime entertainment program (and only
The Tonight Show's 50 years on the air has surpassed it in terms of overall five-day-a-week American entertainment television programming). Overall, in daytime programming (excluding Saturday and Sunday),
The Price Is Right is ranked 6th among the longest-continuing television programs (NBC's
Today ranks the longest, followed by four daytime soap operas:
Guiding Light,
As the World Turns,
General Hospital, and
Days Of Our Lives). It has won its timeslot (11 a.m.
Eastern) for the past 25 years, with its closest competitor (currently
ABC's The View) normally getting about half of
TPiR's ratings.
Barker has recently had success with a
prime time version of
The Price Is Right. This stemmed from the incredibly high ratings for the 30th anniversary show in January 2002. Since then, the prime time specials have returned in spurts for
sweeps weeks and on occasion when CBS's turn in the rotation occurs for the Daytime Emmy Awards, including the post-September 11 terrorist attack themed episodes honoring the different branches of the U.S. Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Coast Guard, etc.) and public safety officers, and later special occasions. Coincidentally, the first of the specials saluting the Armed Forces to air was the Navy, which was Barker's own branch of the military, and both CBS and RTL showed photos from Barker's own time in the Navy.
During the prime time shows, the prizes are more extravagant than in the daytime version, and the cash amounts are higher, with
Plinko,
It's in the Bag, and
Grand Game featuring higher dollar values. In the Showcase Showdown, the $10,000 bonus was replaced during the specials. In the 2002 military specials, $100,000 can be won if the player spins $1.00 in their bonus spin, but was never won. Since 2003, a $1,000,000 prize can be won on the prime time version; this has yet to be won, however there have been a few close calls.
On October 15, 1987, Barker did what other emcees almost never did: he renounced hair dye and allowed his hair to go gray. It was a shock to the studio audience because it hadn't been publicized in advance; it was a shock to the home audience because the change came in the middle of the week at that time. One home viewer famously wrote Barker a letter saying "Bob, You must have had a hell of a night last night!"
Dian Parkinson, a prize model for the show from 1975 to 1993, filed an $8 million suit against Barker for sexual harassment. Barker admitted that he had slept with Parkinson, but stated the "hanky panky" (Barker's words) between them was consensual. Parkinson gave up her legal fight with Barker in 1995.
Barker was involved in more legal trouble with a
The Price is Right model in 1995.
Holly Hallstrom, a model from 1977 to 1995, stated that she had gained 14 pounds because of drugs to treat a hormonal condition, and had been fired for failure to lose weight. Barker responded with a countersuit for slander and libel, and Hallstrom answered back with a suit for wrongful dismissal.The suit by Barker was dropped after five women who worked for
The Price Is Right testified in Hallstrom's behalf.
Five women were dismissed from
The Price Is Right in 2000, as their contracts were not renewed. The ostensible reason for their dismissal was to hire younger models to appeal to a younger demographic and to save costs. (Barker was renewing his own contract on a year to year basis for budget reasons.) Four of the women who were dismissed had testified on Hallstrom's behalf in the Barker countersuit. The women included models
Janice Pennington and
Kathleen Bradley. All of the women dismissed sued for wrongful termination. The cases were settled out of court, although the suit by former production assistant Linda Riegert is still awaiting a trial date.
The plantiffs against Barker have painted a picture of an atmosphere where
The Price Is Right models and employees suffer routine sexual harassment and racial slurs. Supporters of Bob Barker state that Barker's name is dragged into lawsuits and scandalous allegations in the hopes of gaining tabloid attention.
Barker has set a longevity record as holding a weekday TV job continuously for 50 years as of 2006, which includes his years on
Truth or Consequences. Only sportscaster
Vin Scully, who is four years younger than Barker, has held a job longer than Barker in the entertainment industry albeit not a weekday job but seasonal.
At age 82, Barker holds the record of being the oldest man ever to host a game show, and the oldest man ever to host a weekday television program since the inception of network television. Barker is now in his 50th consecutive year on television (network or syndication).
In 2003, Barker celebrated his 80th birthday with a prime-time special on CBS. It featured guest appearances by fan
CĂ©line Dion along with friends talk-show host
Larry King and actor
Chuck Norris. The show also featured taped vignettes from CBS stars like
Ray Romano, the cast of
Becker, and the cast of
Joan of Arcadia.
Currently, Barker does not plan to retire anytime soon, saying that it is tough to walk away from a top-rated show that he thoroughly enjoys doing. [
1]
Barker has won 17
Emmy Awards in total. Twelve were for Outstanding Game Show Host, more than any other performer. He has also won twice for Executive Producer of The Price Is Right and received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Daytime Television in 1999.
In 1997, he and
Adam Sandler won the
MTV Movie Award for Best Fight for
Happy Gilmore, and became the oldest winner of any MTV award, at 73.
In March 1998, on the 5000th episode of
The Price Is Right, CBS dedicated the soundstage where the show has been produced since 1972 in honor of Barker.
In 2004, Barker was inducted into the
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.
In 1996, Barker played himself in the
Adam Sandler comedy movie
Happy Gilmore. In one scene, Barker beats up Gilmore after an altercation arising from their teaming up in a Pro-Am Golf Tournament. Gilmore fights back and briefly gets the upper hand, declaring, "The price is wrong, bitch!" Bob then gets up, and knocks him down a grassy hill declaring "I think you've had enough...bitch!" Barker reportedly accepted the role when he learned he would get to win the fight with Sandler [
2]. "It took 46 years from the time I first came to Hollywood for me to land a movie role," Barker said about his role in
Gilmore. "I hope I won't have to wait that long for the next offer." [
3] The scene won the "Best Fight" award at that year's
MTV Movie Awards.
He appeared in the
Futurama episode
Lesser of Two Evils in 2000, followed by the
Family Guy episode
Screwed the Pooch in 2001. He would then appear on another Family Guy episode,
The Fat Guy Strangler, in 2005.
Barker also in the late 1990's played the father of Mel Harris on a few episodes of the NBC sitcom "Something So Right."
He made a cameo appearance on
The Bold and the Beautiful in 2002.
His health problems started in
1991, after Barker complained of having
vision problems, while exercising. After a visit to the doctors, they sent him to see a
neurologist, where the doctors told Barker he had a mild
stroke. He soon recovered and went back to work.
While he was in
Washington, D.C., making a speech on elephants, trying to get them banned from circuses to traveling shows, Barker was hospitalized at
George Washington University Hospital on
September 16,
1999, with a mini
stroke, which was a cartoid in his left artery, to clear out a serious blockage, that carried blood to the brain. The producers of
The Price is Right stopped taping due to Barker's second health problem that he also had to undergo surgery. His surgery was so successful that he returned to work a few weeks later.
Three years later, Barker also had two health crises, after taping the
season finale on
The Price is Right and while lying out on the sun, he was hospitalized, once again, with a
stroke, on
May 31,
2002, and six weeks later, on
July 11,
2002, he underwent
prostate surgery both at
George Washington University Hospital in
Washington, D.C.. Both surgeries were successful.
In July 2006, Barker had a minor injury with his left hand. On the July 15, 2006 episode of
The Late Late Show, he jokingly stated that he broke it by
karate chopping "countless desks" (something he later proceeded to do to host
Craig Ferguson's desk).
*Barker was a semi-regular panelist on the game shows
Tattletales (with wife Dorothy Jo) and
Match Game. Barker sat in
Richard Dawson's former place during the first week of Dawson's permanent absence from
Match Game.
*Barker, the
Beauties, and
Rod Roddy all played in a week-long tournament on CBS's
Family Feud with Ray Combs against the cast of
The Young and the Restless in a battle of the daytime shows in November 1991 with money donated to charity.
*Barker got a letter from a viewer who watched
The Price Is Right and noticed that his hair went from dark to grey the very next day. The viewer said, "Bob, you must have had a hell of a night!" The two episodes were in reality taped several weeks apart.
*Bob allowed his hair to turn grey in 1987, when at one time while tinting his hair to a permanent color, it turned purple. CBS executives were hesitant about the move, but the ratings remained strong, if not stronger.
Monty Hall and
Alex Trebek would follow this practice thereafter.
*Barker would have a luncheon with
Ralph Edwards every
December 21, until Edwards died in 2005.
*In a humorous ending to
The Price is Right Salutes the U.S. Navy, it shows Barker walking out of the studio and getting into a taxi cab, which transports him to New York to host the
Daytime Emmy Awards.
*Barker trained and earned his black belt in the martial arts with action celebrity and famous black belt
Chuck Norris. Norris was one of the many guest stars on the special primetime
The Price Is Right celebrating Bob's 80th birthday. Other guests included
Ray Romano,
Charlie Sheen,
Celine Dion, and
Larry King.
*Barker has appeared on numerous talk shows, such
The Rosie O'Donnell Show,
The Arsenio Hall Show,
The Wayne Brady Show,
Late Show with David Letterman,
Crook & Chase, and
Larry King Live.
*Barker had Adam Sandler make a cameo appearance on
The Price Is Right for the
"Happy Gilmore showcase."
*Works closely with
Betty White as an advocate for animal rights.
*He became a vegetarian in 1979 when he started to promote animal rights after being named the national spokesman for "Be Kind To Animals Week" which culminated in May 1980. He also forbids any fur prizes and animal-tested products and/or prizes from being on
The Price Is Right and also doesn't allow the rerunning of past episodes where those products were offered on the show (sans the original
Bill Cullen-hosted version, which Barker had no involvement with).
*Barker is a sports enthusiast, and plays golf and practices martial arts on a daily basis.
*He appeared as a sub-host on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1966.
*He loves history and collects military figurines; his main area of interest is the US Civil War.
*Was formerly a host of the
Miss USA/
Universe Pageants (1967-1987), but stepped down in 1987 when his request for the removal of fur prizes was declined.
*Created and hosted "The Bob Barker Fun and Games Show" from 1978 to 1986 which was a combination of stunt particpation in the style of
Truth Or Consequences and pricing games such as the
Price Is Right in which Bob traveled throughout the United States and Canada selling out various arenas and venues.
*Played the father of Mel Harris on a few episodes of the NBC sitcom
Something So Right.
*In December 2002, Bob appeared on Hollywood Squares/H2 three times in the same week to do some outro segments during Game Show Week. (It was that week where Bergeron would assume the center square and Marshall have a one-day hosting gig.) The first one had Tom Bergeron mentioning that Hollywood Squares/H2 was taped at the Bob Barker studio, the same studio where "The Price is Right" is taped. Following that, Barker appears on screen and asks Tom for rent money. In the second, he's talking to host
Tom Bergeron, telling him "I remember watching Hollywood Squares with my good friend
Peter Marshall... Who's hosting now?" In the last, Tom replaces Bob Barker's name on the plaque outside of Bob Barker Studios/Studio 33 (where both shows taped) with his name written in marker on a piece of tape. Bob would later remove the tape, then look at the camera and say "As if!" Bob and the TPIR models also were guests on Hollywood Squares in 1987 when
John Davidson was the host.
*In the 1970s, he was the host of the annual/biennial Pillsbury Bake-Off (The bake-off went every two years starting in 1976). In the 1978 Bake-Off, he was the first host to have a male category champ.
*Barker had
Tyra Banks guest star as a model on one episode of
The Price is Right for a few segments after Banks told Barker how big of a fan she was of the show.
*Many other game show emcees made guest appearances on
The Price is Right, usually in hilarious segments involving the cast and Barker. Some of the hosts include
Bob Eubanks,
Bert Convy,
Bob Goen,
Ray Combs and the original host of
The Price is Right Bill Cullen.
*Two popular segments on
The Price is Right involved Bob interviewing the models and interacting with the announcer (Johnny Olson or Rod Roddy). The model interview was a throwback to Barker's experience hosting beauty pageants. Both segments have been removed from the show due to time constraints.
*Appeared on the popular NBC TV Western
Bonanza, playing a character named Mort in the 1960 episode "Denver McKee."
*
Bob Barker Bio: CBS*
Bob Barker Bio: Free Info Society*
Bob Barker Yahoo! group*
Bob Barker at Academy of Television Arts & Sciences*
DJ&T Foundation
