(KTLA) – Bob Barker, the longtime host of the gameshow “The Price is Right,” has died at the age of 99.
Barker’s publicist Roger Neal confirmed his death to Nexstar on Saturday. Neal told Nexstar that Barker died “peacefully” at his Hollywood Hills home around 8 a.m. Pacific time.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker, has left us,” Neal said in a statement included with his PR firm’s obituary of Barker.
Barker, who was born in 1923 in Darrington, Washington, grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota. He later enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve before beginning his broadcasting career as a radio announcer.
In 1950, Barker and his wife Dorothy Jo Gideon moved to California where Barker landed his own radio show. It was on this show that Barker attracted the attention of game show producer Ralph Edwards, who picked Barker to host “Truth or Consequences” in 1956, according to Barker’s obituary.
Barker hosted “Truth or Consequences” through 1975. But a few years earlier in 1972, he also took on hosting duties for the CBS revival of “The Price Is Right” — previously an NBC game show hosted by Bill Cullen.
Barker remained a constant presence as the host of the daytime TV show for decades. He often used his platform to advocate for animal rights, a passion he shared with longtime friend Nancy Burnet, also his estate’s co-executor.
“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,” wrote Burnet in a statement shared with Nexstar via Barker’s publicist.
For his work on “The Price Is Right,” Barker won 19 Daytime Emmy awards, as well as a Lifetime Achievement award in 1999.
He retired from “The Price Is Right” in 2007, after 35 years as host.
In a statement shared with Nexstar shortly after Barker’s passing, CBS paid tribute to the “iconic” host.
“We lost a beloved member of the CBS family today with the passing of Bob Barker,” CBS wrote. “During his 35 years as host of THE PRICE IS RIGHT, Bob made countless people’s dreams come true and everyone feel like a winner when they were called to ‘come on down.’ In addition to his legendary 50-year career in broadcasting, Bob will be remembered as a dedicated animal rights activist. Daytime television has lost one of its most iconic stars.”
