Bob Barker, famed gameshow presenter, passes away

Bob Barker, the longtime television host, has died at the age of 99 in Los Angeles. He skillfully entertained Americans during his 51-year career on daytime TV, in which he hosted “The Price is Right” and “Truth or Consequences.” A publicist confirmed the news on Saturday, and the entertainment world reacted sorrowfully.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker, has left us,” said publicist Roger Neal, who confirmed that Barker died Saturday morning.

“We lost a beloved member of the CBS family today with the passing of Bob Barker. 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.’ Daytime television has lost one of its most iconic stars,” said CBS, the network that broadcast the long-running program.

Barker worked in radio until 1956, when producer Ralph Edwards saw his potential and invited him to audition for television, specifically for the program “Truth or Consequences.”

For Barker, it was an unforgettable moment. “I know exactly where I was, I know exactly how I felt: I hung up the phone and said to my wife, ‘Dorothy Jo, I’ve got it!’” he recalled in 1996.

Since then, he became a familiar face for American families, who invited him to enter their homes to amuse them with games. His peak of popularity came with “The Price is Right,” a program he hosted from 1972 until his retirement in 2007. “I’ve grown old at your service,” joked the perpetually tan Barker during the 1990s.

After 5,000 recorded programs, he blamed his retirement from television on physical exhaustion and said he didn’t have the same energy anymore. “I’m just getting to the age where the constant effort of being there and doing the show physically is a lot for me. It’s better (to leave) a year earlier than a year too late,” he said at the time. Two years later, he released his autobiography, “Priceless Memories,” which he co-wrote with a book editor from the Los Angeles Times.

A native of Darrington, Washington, he also hosted the “Miss America” and “Miss Universe” pageants from 1967 to 1987. He was a vegetarian and one of the most famous animal rights activists of recent years.