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a14 people & arts
Monday 28 august 2023
Bob Barker, dapper ‘Price Is Right’ and ‘Truth or Consequences’

host and animal advocate, dies at 99

tured "physically and men-
tally" for years when being
used for research experi-
ments would find "the first
peace, contentment and
love they have ever known
at Save the Chimps."
In 1997, Barker declined to
be a presenter at the Day-
time Emmy awards cer-
emony because he said it
snubbed game shows by
not airing awards in the
category. He called game
shows "the pillars of day-
time TV."
He had a memorable cam-
eo appearance on the big
screen in 1996, sparring
with Adam Sandler in the
movie "Happy Gilmore." "I
did `The Price Is Right' for
35 years, and they're asking
me how it was to beat up
Adam Sandler," Barker later
FILE - Legendary game show host Bob Barker, 83, waves goodbye as he tapes his final episode of "The Price Is Right," in Los Angeles joked. In 1994, the widowed
on Wednesday, June 6, 2007. Barker signed off from 35 years on the game show and 50 years in daytime TV in the same low-key, Barker was sued for sexual
genial fashion that made him one of daytime TV's biggest stars. harassment by Dian Parkin-
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) son, a "Price is Right" model
By FRAZIER MOORE know exactly where I was, reveal themselves and to said, was the result of be- for 18 years. Barker admit-
AP Television Writer I know exactly how I felt: I watch the excitement and ing content. "I had the op- ted engaging in "hanky
Bob Barker, the enduring, hung up the phone and humor unfold." portunity to do this type panky" with Parkinson from
dapper game show host said to my wife, 'Dorothy Barker well understood the of show and I discovered 1989-91 but said she initiat-
who became a household Jo, I got it!'" attraction of "The Price Is I enjoyed it ... People who ed the relationship. Parkin-
name over a half century Barker stayed with "Truth or Right," in which audience do something that they son dropped the lawsuit in
of hosting "Truth or Conse- Consequences" for 18 years members — invited to thoroughly enjoy and 1995, saying it was hurting
quences" and "The Price Is — including several years in "Come on down!" to the they started doing it when her health.
Right," has died. He was 99. a syndicated version. stage — competed for priz- they're very young, I don't Barker became embroiled
Barker — also a longtime Meanwhile, he began host- es by trying to guess their think they want to stop." in a dispute with another
animal rights activist — ing a resurrected version of retail value. Barker also spent 20 years former "Price Is Right" mod-
died Saturday morning at "The Price Is Right" on CBS "Everyone can identify with as host of the Miss USA el, Holly Hallstrom, who
his home in Los Angeles, in 1972. (The original host in prices, even the president Pageant and the Miss Uni- claimed she was fired in
publicist Roger Neal said. the 1950s and '60s was Bill of the United States. View- verse Pageant. A longtime 1995 because the show's
Barker retired in June 2007, Cullen.) It would become ers at home become in- animal rights activist who producers believed she
telling his studio audience: TV's longest-running game volved because they all daily urged his viewers to was fat. Barker denied the
"I thank you, thank you, show and the last on a have an opinion on the "have your pets spayed or allegations.
thank you for inviting me broadcast network of what bids," Barker once said. neutered" and successfully Born in Darrington, Wash-
into your home for more in TV's early days had num- His own appeal was clear: lobbied to ban fur coats ington, in 1923, Barker
than 50 years." bered dozens. Barker played it straight — as prizes on "The Price Is spent part of his childhood
Barker was working in ra- In all, he taped more than warm, gracious and witty Right," he quit the Miss USA on the Rosebud Indian Res-
dio in 1956 when producer 5,000 shows in his career. — refusing to mock the Pageant in 1987 in protest ervation in South Dakota,
Ralph Edwards invited him He said he was retiring be- game show format or his over the presentation of fur where his widowed mother
to audition as the new host cause "I'm just reaching the contestants. coats to the winners. had taken a teaching job.
of "Truth or Consequences," age where the constant ef- "I want the contestants Among his activities on The family later moved to
a game show in which au- fort to be there and do the to feel as though they're behalf of animals was a Springfield, Mo., where he
dience members had to do show physically is a lot for guests in my home," he said $250,000 donation to Save attended high school. He
wacky stunts — the "conse- me. ... Better (to leave) a in 1996. "Perhaps my feeling the Chimps, the Fort Pierce, served in the Navy in World
quence" — if they failed to year too soon than a year of respect for them comes Florida-based organization War II. He married Dorothy
answer a question — the too late." Comedian Drew across to viewers, and that said in an emailed state- Jo Gideon, his high school
"truth," which was always Carey was chosen to re- may be one of the reasons ment Saturday. sweetheart; she died in
the silly punchline to a rid- place him. why I've lasted." "Bob Barker's kind spirit lives 1981 after 37 years of mar-
dle no one was ever meant Barker was back with Car- As a TV personality, Barker on at Save the Chimps, riage. They had no children.
to furnish. (Q: What did one ey for one show broadcast retained a touch of the where we walk every day Barker was given a lifetime
eye say to another? A: Just in April 2009. He was there old school — for instance, on the road named for him achievement award at
between us, something to promote the publica- no wireless microphone for after his game-changing the 26th annual Daytime
smells.) tion of his memoir, "Price- him. Like the mic itself, the contribution," said Save the Emmy Awards in 1999. He
In a 1996 interview with The less Memories," in which mic cord served him well as Chimps' CEO Ana Paula Ta- closed his acceptance
Associated Press, Barker re- he summed up his joy from a prop, insouciantly flicked vares. At the time of the do- remarks with the signoff:
called receiving the news hosting the show as the op- and finessed. nation, Barker said that he "Have your pets spayed or
that he had been hired: "I portunity "to watch people His career longevity, he hoped chimpanzees tor- neutered."q