Bob Barker, ‘The Price Is Right’ Host And Animal Activist, Dies At 99

Bob Barker, host of the game show The Price Is Right and an animal-rights activist, died Saturday morning at his home of natural causes. He was 99.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker has left us,” Barker’s publicist Roger Neal said in a statement.

Born on December 12, 1923, in Darrington, Washington, Barker worked part-time in radio while in college and was given his own radio series in 1950, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for six years. He began his game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences. His stint lasted 19 years.

Between 1967 and 1987, Barker hosted the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants, and began hosting a revival of The Price Is Right in 1972.

In 2006, he announced his pending retirement and officially exited The Price Is Right on June 15 2007 after 35 years. Barker did, however, return three times, once to promote his autobiography, Priceless Memories, and another in 2013 to celebrate his 90th birthday.

Barker, additionally, made his first – and only – feature film role in the 1996 Adam Sandler movie Happy Gilmore. And he made the rounds on television, guest-starring as himself in comedies The Nanny, Something So Right, How I Met Your Mother and Yes, Dear, and in the animated Futurama and Family Guy.

When his wife Dorothy Jo died at age 57 in 1981, Barker became an advocate for animal rights and animal rights activism. In 2007, he retired from hosting The Price Is Right after celebrating his 50-year career on television. In the years after his retirement, Barker continued to make occasional public appearances from 2009 to 2017.

“I am so proud of the trailblazing work Barker and I did together to expose the cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry, and including working to improve the plight of abused and exploited animals in the United States and internationally,” said Barker’s girlfriend Nancy Burnet in a statement. “We were great friends over these 40 years. He will be missed.”

Barker was a 19-time Daytime Emmy award-winner: 14 for Outstanding Game Show Host for The Price Is Right and four “Outstanding Game Show” awards as the show’s executive producer. He has also been named in the Guinness Book of World Records as television’s “Most Durable Performer” (at 3,524 shows), and “Most Generous Host in Television history” (for awarding $55 million in prizes on his various shows).

Barker is survived by his half-brother Kent Valandra and half-nephews Robert Valandra and Chip Valandra, and half-niece, Vickie Valandra Kelly.