Iconic PRICE IS RIGHT Host Bob Barker Dies at 99
By Movieguide® Staff
Bob Barker, whose name became synonymous with popular game show THE PRICE IS RIGHT since his hiring in 1972, died on August 26, 2023. He was 99.
The longtime host helped THE PRICE IS RIGHT become the longest-running game show in North American television history, from 1972 to 2007.
“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.
“Bob Barker was a television legend who was very committed to the Hollywood community as well as being a huge proponent of animal welfare,” Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez added. “He will be missed.”
CNN reported:
While Barker was recognized for his on-screen work with 19 Daytime Emmys, he also earned praise for his activism. The Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals honored Barker with their 2007 President’s Award. The nonprofit animal welfare organization has been helping animals since 1877 with services including cruelty investigations and a disaster animal response team.
Aside from simple activism, the TV veteran championed animal legal and ethics studies at law schools around the world. Barker was named an Honorary Fellow by the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. “Almost single-handedly in little more than a decade, Bob’s sagacity and generosity have propelled animal ethics from a marginal issue into the academic mainstream. This is a colossal achievement,” said University of Oxford Professor Andrew Linzey.
NBC reported of his animal activist charity:
He founded a charity in 1995 that provided just such services for pet owners — the DJ&T Foundation, named after his wife and her mother. His passion for the cause can be traced to the first prize he gave away as host of “The Price Is Right” — a fur coat.
“I went to Mark Goodson and told him I didn’t want to be on the stage with these fur coats,” Barker told “CBS This Morning” in 2013, referring to the show’s producer. “So he took fur coats off our show.”
Barker’s longtime friend Nancy Burnet remembered him for his work in exposing animal cruelty.
“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,” Burnet said in a statement Saturday.
She added that the two had been friends for 40 years. “He will be missed.”
In 2013, Barker donated $1 million to move three captive elephants from the Toronto Zoo to a sanctuary in California.
The same year, Barker returned in a surprise visit to “Price Is Right” and his successor as host, Drew Carey.
Carey took to X to remember his predecessor.
“Very sad day for The Price Is Right family, and animal lovers all over the world,” Carey — who stepped into Barker’s shoes as host of the long-running CBS game show in 2007 — wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) Saturday.
“There hasn’t been a day on set that I didn’t think of Bob Barker and thank him. I will carry his memory in my heart forever,” Carey wrote, adding the hashtag #RIPBobBarker.
Please pray for Barker’s family, friends and fans during this time.
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