Posted on 08/26/2023 10:04:39 AM PDT by Drew68
Bob Barker, the iconic American game show host and animal rights activist, has died ... TMZ has learned.
Barker died peacefully at his home Saturday morning in L.A. His rep tells TMZ Bob died of natural causes.
The longtime host of "The Price Is Right" actually got his start in game shows after legendary producer Ralph Edwards discovered him while listening to Bob's radio show and hired him for TV.
Barker started off hosting the iconic hit, "Truth or Consequences" back in 1956, on which he starred until 1975. He also hosted a number of other game shows and programs over the years, including "Dream Girl of '67," "Tattletales," 'Miss Universe,' and most famously ... "The Price is Right," which he produced and hosted until 2007.
Drew Carey took over as host, and the show continues to be extremely popular to this day.
Barker has appeared in a number of other TV shows and films over the years, oftentimes starring as himself. He got into a fight with Adam Sandler in "Happy Gilmore," stood in as Neil Patrick Harris' would-be biological father in "How I Met Your Mother," and played himself in lots of other shows like "Futurama," "Spongebob," "The Nanny," "Martial Law" and many others.
He had several minor bouts of skin cancer over the years, and suffered a nasty fall in in 2015 and 2017 that sent him to the ER. He fell again in 2019, and was treated once more at the hospital. On top of that, he was transported by ambulance twice in 2018 for back issues.
Safe to say, he's had a lot of health scares over the years, especially of late. Of course, when the pandemic hit in 2020 ... we checked in with him to see how we was dealing -- and were pleasantly surprised to learn he was taking it in stride. Self-isolating wasn't a problem.
We last saw him out in the streets of Hollywood back in 2016, when he was complaining to us about a bad foot he was dealing with. We chopped it up with him about TV, residuals, his basketball-playing days, and ... a potential Sandler rematch. He was such a good sport and a sweet guy.
Bob's wife, Dorothy Jos, died of lung cancer in 1981. They had no children, and he never remarried. Bob does, however, have extended family that have helped care for him in his later years.
Bob was 99. RIP.
RIP Bob.
Iconic guy. I always enjoyed him on his shows.
Come on down
I enjoyed watching him on Price is Right. Classy guy and well spoken. The good ole days.
Did he have kids, or was he “spayed or neutered?”
RIP Bob…he had a sense of humor.
Bob always seemed to have a bevy of beauties to compete
I thought he was already deceased. RIP.
Drew Carey is doing a good job.
I have found it increasingly difficult to guess the prices as so many episodes were filmed before the current inflation doom spiral.
I think Drew Carey is the only white game show host left.
Honestly, me too.
Now I must mourn him again.
Agreed. Was great entertainment for many years.
And didn’t he boink them as well?
Wow.
RIP.
Now you've cursed him. He'll be replaced next season by Lizzo.
Greatest game show host ever. Period. RIP.
“In high school, at the age of 15, Barker met and fell in love with his future wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon. Their first date was on Nov. 17, 1939, when he took her to see an Ella Fitzgerald concert. Barker said they “were never separated from then on” – until her death in 1981 from lung cancer.”
Married to the same woman, his only love and never remarried after her death.
RIP Bob, you were a good guy.
Thousands of massive jugs jiggling on that show for decades. Well done, Bob.
Remember watching him on TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES when I was itty-bitty. Then, soon after, I learned there was a place called “Truth or Consequences” New Mexico. I asked my dad to drive me down there so that I could meet Bob Barker.
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