Celebrating Bob Barker on His 100th Birthday

Bob Barker, the beloved host of The Price Is Right, known for his comforting charm and deadpan humor, would have turned 100 today. The TV icon passed away last August. Barker was a highly prolific TV show host and headlined The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007. Additionally, Barker hosted Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.

Barker is also fondly remembered for an iconic turn in the 1996 Adam Sandler comedy, Happy Gilmore. In the scene, the charming TV host brawls with Sandler’s belligerent golfer character. According to Golfweek, Barker trained with Chuck Norris and was more than up to the task.

Fans of the beloved host took to social media to pay tribute to Barker on what would have been his 100th birthday. “Nothing says sick day at grandma’s more than watching Bob Barker at 10 am before Young & The Restless. Happy Heavenly Birthday to the legend,” one fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Another fan shared a famous gaffe of Barker accidentally walking through the wrong shot on The Price is Right.

Robert William Barker was born in Darrington, Washington, on Dec. 12, 1923. At the age of 6, he relocated to a Sioux Indian reservation in Mission, South Dakota, with his mother after his father’s workplace accident. His mother, Matilda, a schoolteacher, remarried and moved to Missouri. After a two-year stint in the Navy during World War II, Barker returned to Missouri to pursue a degree in economics at Drury College (now Drury University).

Barker got a job at a Florida radio station, and his smooth delivery made him famous. In 1950, he moved to California to start his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, in Burbank. TV producers noticed him, and he landed his first game show, Truth or Consequences, on NBC in 1956. He hosted the show for an impressive 18 years until it ended.

Bob Barker Hosted Well Beyond ‘The Price is Right’

Bob Barker presented prizes on The Price Is Right, the longest-running daytime game show in television history, until his retirement. In addition to his role as host on the show, he emceed the Miss Universe and Miss America pageants for 20 years, starting in 1967. Furthermore, he graced the New Year’s Day Tournament of Roses Parade with his hosting talents for a similar duration, from 1969.

Of course, Barker was also a longtime animal rights activist. He famously ended each episode of The Price Is Right urging viewers to, “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.”

In 1995, he established the DJ&T Foundation, a charity offering services for pet owners. Named after his wife and her mother, the foundation aimed to provide such services. Additionally, in 2013, Barker donated $1 million to relocate three captive elephants from the Toronto Zoo to a sanctuary in California.

ncG1vNJzZminlKS6psDEq2Wcp51kvaa7z6WcaKyYmnqxvsicnGaho2K%2FqrPHrWScnZyar7Ot06KloGWSpK9ursCrop6qXaS7brTIrGRqaGCptW6uyKuroZyRrnw%3D