Longtime game show host and animal rights activist Bob Barker has died. He was 99.
The former “The Price is Right” host died peacefully at home of natural causes on Saturday morning in L.A. his rep Roger Neal confirmed to the Daily News. “It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker, has left us,” Neal said.
Barker’s longtime friend Nancy Burnet, who has overseen his care for the past several years, is co-executor of the daytime TV icon’s estate.
“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. “We were great friends over these 40 years. He will be missed.”
For 35 years, Barker invited studio audience guests to “Come on down!” for a chance to win items ranging from automobiles to vacation packages. In 1982 — a decade after taking over the program — he began closing each show by reminding viewers to help control the pet population by having their dogs and cats spayed and neutered.
“Bob made countless people’s dreams come true and everyone feel like a winner when they were called to ‘Come on down,'” CBS said in a statement. The statement added: “Daytime television has lost one of its most iconic stars.”
Prior to moving to CBS’s “The Price is Right,” Barker spent nearly 20 years hosting the game show “Truth or Consequences.”
He wrote of both experiences in his 2009 memoir “Priceless Memories.”
Barker returned three times to host “The Price is Right” after his June 2007 retirement. His final appearance was for an April Fool’s Day segment in 2015, after which he passed the reins back to comedian Drew Carey, who succeeded Barker.
Barker was born in Washington state and raised on a South Dakota reservation. He married Dorothy Jo Gideon in 1945. They stayed together until her death in 1981. They married while Barker was on leave from the U.S. Navy in 1945.
Dec. 12 would have marked a century of life for Barker, who made his film debut punching Adam Sandler’s character in the 1996 golf film “Happy Gilmore,” which earned him an MTV Movie Award.
“I’m old, but I’m tough,” he told “Entertainment Tonight” while talking about that scene.
He said he studied martial arts with film star Chuck Norris for eight years, who always outfought him.
“But I got Adam!” he joked.
Sandler honored his co-star on Instagram, writing, “The man. The myth. The best. Such a sweet funny guy to hang out with. Loved talking to him. Loved laughing with him. Loved him kicking the crap out of me. He will be missed by everyone I know! Heartbreaking day. Love to Bob always and his family! Thanks for all you gave us!”
Barker also made cameos as himself on several TV shows including “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “The Nanny.”
A longtime vegetarian, Barker will be remembered by many for his animal activism as much as his TV and film work. The animal rights organization PETA, to which Barker donated a great deal of money as well as his appearance in an ad, honored his legacy in a statement Saturday.
“Bob’s influence on the entertainment industry is indisputable, but what mattered to him most was using his voice and prominent position to protect animals.”
In 1988, he announced his withdrawal from the Miss Universe beauty pageant he’d hosted for more than 20 years because officials insisted on rewarding fur coats to participants.
“I cannot do them [the pageants] as long as they give away fur coats,” he protested. “This involves morality.?
Though Barker’s image was clean for most of his career, it was not wholly unmarred. A former “Price is Right” model sued the show’s star in 1994, accusing him of sexual misconduct while they were colleagues. Barker claimed he was in a consensual relationship with Playboy model turned “Barker’s Beauty” Dian Parkinson from 1989 to 1991, but denied wrongdoing. The pair worked together for 18 years.
Barker announced his impending exit from “The Price is Right” in good humor in 2006, while correctly predicting he still had several good years in him.
“I will be 83 years old on Dec. 12,” he told viewers, “And I’ve decided to retire while I’m still young.”
