If there is anyone that knows how to keep an audience entertained, it’s former The Price Is Right host Bob Barker. Bob began hosting the CBS game show in 1972. After 35 years, he retired from hosting in 2007 at the age of 83. Still, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest game show hosts of all time.
Even before hosting America’s longest-running game show, Bob hosted NBC’s Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975. He hosted both shows simultaneously for three years before Truth or Consequences went off the air. The 14-time Daytime Emmy winner was succeeded by Drew Carey to host The Price Is Right. Bob offered Drew some advice before he stepped into the hosting role.
“I knew I could never be Bob, and I wasn’t going to try to be Bob,” Drew told People in September 2021. “We went out to lunch, and his advice was, ‘Don’t try to copy me. Just make it your own show.’”
Bob’s work on The Price Is Right as both a host and executive producer earned him a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. He previously held the Guinness World Record for the most television episodes hosted with 6,700. Late Jeopardy! host, Alex Trebek, broke the record in 2014 with 6,829 episodes.
Bob was married to his wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, for 36 years. She died in 1981 after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Bob told ABC News in 2009 that he “never had any inclination to remarry.” The pair did not have any children together. Families across America welcomed him into their homes for over three decades and that was more than enough for the Washington native. In 2013, Bob shared in an interview what retired life was really like.
“I’m so busy, actually, that I think sometimes about going back into TV to get some rest! I loved what I was doing,” he said. “I did two shows — Truth or Consequences and Price — and I loved them both. I had great fun, and every morning, I got up ready to go. I never got up going ‘I don’t wanna go to work today.’ Anyone who doesn’t enjoy his or her job, I have sympathy for. It’s important to love what you’re doing, and I did.”
Scroll down to see some of Bob’s best quotes about being a legendary game show host.
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