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Bob Barker

Born in Darrington, Washington, he grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Rosebud, South Dakota, where his mother was a schoolteacher.

He went to Drury College in Springfield, Missouri on a basketball scholarship, earned a degree in economics, then entered the Navy to fight World War II. He was hosting an audience-participation radio show in L.A., when game show producer Ralph Edwards happened to be listening and liked Barker's voice and . The show made Barker a star; he was clearly a natural whose charisma and charm connected with contestants and viewers. He would host it for 19 years.

Mr. Barker was a member of the Epsilon Beta Chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity when he was in college at Drury College.

In 1937, at the age of 14, Barker met future wife, Dorothy Jo, at an Ella Fitzgerald concert. Dorothy Jo died of lung cancer on October 19, 1981. His mother Matilda Valandra lived with him until her death in 1993.

Barker is an outspoken member of the animal rights movement, and is known for ending each episode of his game show This practice would later be followed by now-deceased game show hosts Jack Barry and Bert Convy. When the United States Postal Service created a series of postage stamps on this subject, one of the shows had a small segment whose only purpose was to publicize them. He forced CBS to stop offering Porsche cars as prizes after one appearance when he learned they were involved in animal testing. CBS goes out of its way to offer prizes that do not violate Barker's animal rights views (though for the first ten years shows did feature fur coats as prizes, and Barker has since prohibited the airing of such past episodes that featured fur coats as prizes).

, where Barker would ask children contestants questions about their family's lives, and the parents had to guess how they answered, in a

In 1972, Barker began his most famous assignment hosting the CBS revival of In the three decades of the CBS version, he has become as synonymous with the show as first host Bill Cullen was with the 1950s–60s original.

On September 4, 2002, celebrated 30 consecutive years on the air. It is the longest running game show of all time in North America, and is also the longest running five-day-a-week daytime entertainment program (and only s 50 years on the air has surpassed it in terms of overall five-day-a-week American entertainment television programming).

That same year, on March 1st the 6000th episode of hit the air. On this episode, the daytime winnings record (which had been $88,865 since 1992), was broken by a woman named Amy Rempel. She won $97,130.

Barker has recently had success with a prime time version of This stemmed from the incredibly high ratings for the 30th anniversary show in January 2002. Since then, the prime time specials have returned in spurts for sweeps weeks, sometimes with themes such as honoring the different branches of the U.S. armed forces (Army, Navy, Coast Guard, etc.) and American colleges. During the prime time shows, the prizes are more extravagant than in the daytime version, and the cash amounts are higher. Usually $11,000 can be won by spinning the big wheel and getting $1.00, and spinning $1.00 on one's bonus spin. A $1,000,000 prize can be won on the prime time version; this has yet to be won, however there have been a few close calls.

In 1993, he was accused of sexually harassing one of the show's models, Dian Parkinson, who had also appeared nude in Playboy magazine. Barker admitted to sexual involvement with Parkinson in the late 1980s. Barker allegedly asked another of the show's models, Holly Hallstrom, to lie in his favor. When she refused, he threatened her with "early retirement", and later fired her, claiming she was overweight. She has since filed a lawsuit of her own against Barker. Ultimately, Parkinson dropped the charges, as it was costing too much money and affecting her health. Linda Riegert supported Hallstrom's claims, and said that Barker retaliated by calling her a "fucking idiot" in front of the audience. Claudia Jordan, a model, and Sylvia Clement-Henry, a producer's assistant, are also suing Barker for sexual harassment, wrongful termination and racial discrimination. Their lawyer described Barker as "probably the most vicious man I've met in my life" and "a monster." [1]

Barker has set a longevity record as holding a weekday TV job continuously for 49 years as of 2005, which includes his years on Truth or Consequences. Only sportscaster Vin Scully, who is four years younger than Barker, has held a job longer than Barker in the entertainment industry.

At age 83, Barker holds the record of being the oldest man ever to host a game show, and the oldest man ever to host a weekday television program since the inception of network television.

In 2003, Barker celebrated his 80th birthday with a prime-time special on CBS. It featured guest appearances by fan Céline Dion along with friends talk-show host Larry King and actor (and Barker's karate instructor) Chuck Norris. The show also featured taped vignettes from CBS stars like Ray Romano, the cast of Becker, and the cast of Joan of Arcadia.

Barker has won 15 Emmy Awards in total. 12 were for Outstanding Game Show Host, even more than any other performer. He has also won twice for Executive Producer of The Price Is Right and received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Daytime Television in 1999.

In 1997, he and Adam Sandler won the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight for , CBS dedicated the soundstage where the show has been produced since 1972, in honor of Barker.

In 2004, Barker was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.

. In one scene, Barker beats up Gilmore after an altercation arising from their teaming up in a Pro-Am Golf Tournament. Gilmore fights back and briefly gets the upper hand, declaring, "The price is wrong." Bob then gets up, and knocks him down a grassy hill declaring "I think you've had enough." Barker reportedly accepted the role when he learned he would get to win the fight with Sandler[2]. "It took 46 years from the time I first came to Hollywood for me to land a movie role," Barker said about his role in . Barker sat in Richard Dawson's former place during the first week of Dawson's permanent absence from the show.Barker is a black-belt in karate, and took lessons under Chuck Norris; he also has a red belt in Tang Soo Do karate under Norris.Barker got a letter from a viewer who watched The Price Is Right and noticed that his hair went from dark to grey the very next day. The viewer said, "Bob, you must have had a hell of a night!"Barker would have a traditional luncheon with Ralph Edwards every December 21, until Edwards died in 2005.