From radio to tv, Bob Barker is an icon within the leisure business and a family title amongst generations.
A long time earlier than changing into a beloved recreation present host, Barker was born in Washington State the place his father, Byron John Barker, labored as a excessive line electrician. After spending his adolescence on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota together with his mom, Matilda “Tilly” Valandra, Barker and his mother moved to Missouri after she remarried.
Whereas in highschool, Barker attended an Ella Fitzgerald live performance the place he met his future spouse, Dorothy Jo Gideon. The 2 started courting when he was 15 and married in 1945 whereas he was on go away from the USA Navy Reserve. On the time, Barker needed to be an expert athlete. “My dream was to pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals,” he advised the Tv Academy Basis in March 2008. “Just one factor prevented it. A complete lack of expertise.”
After graduating from faculty, he and Gideon lived in Florida, the place he started his profession in leisure as an announcer for a Palm Seashore radio station. One yr later, upon settling in California, Barker landed his titular radio present, which ran for six years.
After getting his begin on tv because the host of Reality or Penalties – which he helmed from 1956 to 1975, Barker additionally started to host the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants beginning in 1967. The TV persona started his tenure at The Value Is Proper in 1972, which quickly turned his longest gig and his best-known position. He hosted the sport present for 35 years earlier than retiring in 2007.
The sport present host credited his spouse for his profession. “She gave me the boldness to even attempt to do what I got down to do,” Barker advised the Tv Academy Basis in 2008. “She didn’t simply urge me on, she labored proper at my aspect.” Gideon died of lung most cancers in 1981 on the age 57.
“She was forward of her time,” Barker advised Good Morning America in 2007. “She stopped sporting fur coats earlier than anybody was stopping. She turned a vegetarian earlier than individuals had been changing into vegetarian. And I step by step did the identical factor along with her.”
After Gideon’s loss of life, Barker started to grow to be extra outspoken about animal rights. The host began ending episodes of The Value Is Proper with the phrase, “That is Bob Barker reminding you to assist management the pet inhabitants – have your pets spayed or neutered.” He donated hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to a number of colleges to assist the examine of animal rights and spoke out in opposition to the therapy of animals around the globe. In 1995, the activist based the DJ&T Basis – named after his late spouse and mom – which helps animal-neutering packages.
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