Bob Barker

Diagnoses

Vocation

Lifestyle

Notable

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Family

American game show host and TV personality, Barker hosted "The Price is Right" for over three decades; it is the longest-running game show in American TV history. He has won 15 Emmy awards for his work as TV personality and producer as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award in daytime TV. Barker spent his early years on a native American reservation where his mother was a schoolteacher. His father died when he was 6 in 1930; his mother remarried when he was 12 and the family moved to Missouri. With a basketball scholarship, he attended Drury College in Missouri but joined the Navy, becoming a fighter pilot, before he completed his studies. When the war ended and he was discharged from the Navy, Barker returned to Drury College. He landed a job with a radio station to help pay for school and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's in economics. After graduation, he became a host of a Palm Beach, FL radio show, soon after moving to Los Angeles to do another show. But no sooner had he arrived than he had his own TV show, The Bob Barker show. On December 21, 1956, Barker took over "Truth or Consequences" where his career took off. He began hosting "The Price is Right" in 1972. Handsome, likeable, impeccably dressed, always smiling and always tanned, Barker is a gracious host who effortlessly encourages and receives audience participation. Not just a pretty face, he loves to travel, is a Civil War buff, learned Karate, and is an animal-rights activist. In 1987 and in 1988 he refused to continue hosting beauty pageants unless furs were eliminated from the pageantry. Barker has established foundations for spaying dogs and cats and for animal rights activism. His wife of many years died of lung cancer October 19, 1981. He never remarried. In 1994 he was accused of sexual harassment by Dian Parkinson, a model who appeared on the show for 18 years. She alleged that he required sex from her in order for her to keep her job. He refused to settle, saying that their affair was totally consensual and no one had been hurt. Parkinson withdrew her suit in 1995, saying she had neither the money nor the "emotional endurance" to continue. On May 13, 2005 he had surgery for two cancerous lesions caused by sun exposure. After 35 years of emceeing the show, the silver-haired 83-year-old host announced his retirement from “The Price is Right.” He taped his final episode on June 6, 2007. His autobiography, "Priceless Memories," was released in April 2009. Link to Wikipedia biography