Bob Barker

Robert William Barker, born December 12, 1923 is an American television game show host best known for The Price Is Right.

Childhood

Born in Darrington, Washington, he grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Rosebud, South Dakota, where his mother was a schoolteacher.

College

Mr. Barker went to 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 L.A., 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.

Marriage

In 1937, at the age of 14, Barker met future wife, Dorothy Jo, at an Ella Fitzgerald concert. Dorothy Jo died of lung cancer on October 19, 1981. His mother Matilda Valandra lived with him until her death in 1993.

Animal rights

Barker is an outspoken member of the animal rights movement, and is known for ending each episode of his game show The Price is Right by saying: "Help control the pet population, have your pet 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 (though for the first ten years shows did feature fur coats as prizes, and Barker has since prohibited the airing of such past episodes that featured fur coats as prizes).

Game show career

Truth Or Consequences

Bob started hosting on December 31, 1956. 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-renching 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

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 1950s?60s 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).

That same year, on March 1st the 6000th episode of The Price is Right hit the air. On this episode, the daytime winnings record (which had been $88,865 since 1992), was broken by a woman named Amy Rempel. She won $97,130.

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, sometimes with themes such as honoring the different branches of the U.S. armed forces (Army, Navy, Coast Guard, etc.) and American colleges. During the prime time shows, the prizes are more extravagant than in the daytime version, and the cash amounts are higher. Usually $11,000 can be won by spinning the big wheel and getting $1.00, and spinning $1.00 on one's bonus spin. 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. In the 2002 specials, $100,000 can be won if the player spins $1.00 in their bonus spin, but was never won.

Sexual harassment claims

In 1993, he was accused of sexually harassing one of the show's models, Dian Parkinson, who had also appeared nude in Playboy magazine. Barker admitted to sexual involvement with Parkinson in the late 1980s. Barker allegedly asked another of the show's models, Holly Hallstrom, to lie in his favor. When she refused, he threatened her with "early retirement", and later fired her, claiming she was overweight. She has since filed a lawsuit of her own against Barker. Ultimately, Parkinson dropped the charges, as it was costing too much money and affecting her health. Linda Riegert supported Hallstrom's claims, and said that Barker retaliated by calling her a "fucking idiot" in front of the audience. Claudia Jordan, a model, and Sylvia Clement-Henry, a producer's assistant, are also suing Barker for sexual harassment, wrongful termination and racial discrimination. Their lawyer described Barker as "probably the most vicious man I've met in my life" and "a monster." 1

Old age records and celebration

Barker has set a longevity record as holding a weekday TV job continuously for 49 years as of 2005, 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.

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.

In 2003, Barker celebrated his 80th birthday with a prime-time special on CBS. It featured guest appearances by fan Céline 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.

Awards and recognition

Barker has won 15 Emmy Awards in total. 12 were for Outstanding Game Show Host, even 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

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.

Filmography

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." Barker reportedly accepted the role when he learned he would get to win the fight with Sandler2. "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

He received that chance again in 2000 and 2001 when he was asked to voice himself on the hit Fox shows Futurama and Family Guy. He appeared in the Futurama episode "Lesser Of Two Evils" in 2000, followed by the Family Guy episode "Screwed The Pooch" in 2001.

Trivia

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*Barker was a 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 the show.

*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!"

*Barker would have a traditional luncheon with Ralph Edwards every December 21, until Edwards died in 2005.

*Bob Barker Biography
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*Bob Barker at NNDB
*Bob Barker Yahoo! group
*Bob Barker at Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

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