TV game show host Bob Barker passes away at 99

Emmy Award-winning game show host Bob Barker, who spent five decades with The Price Is Right, passed away at the age of 99. “It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker has left us,” publicist Roger Neal said in a statement on Saturday.

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Before Alex Trebek surpassed him, Barker was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for his continuous hosting of game shows and doling out hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and prizes. In June 2007, Barker announced his retirement after 35 years of hosting The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in television history.

Barker was a strong advocate for animal rights, and donated millions of dollars to animal neutering programs. He was known for ending his shows by saying, “And remember folks, always spay or neuter your pets!”Barker held a weekday TV job continuously for 51 years, which included his years on Truth or Consequences. He won 19 Emmy Awards in total, including 14 for game show host, more than any other performer. He also won four for executive producer of The Price Is Right and received a lifetime achievement Emmy for Daytime Television in 1999. Despite occasionally playing himself (like in the 1996 Adam Sandler film Happy Gilmore), he never performed as an actor, which he attributed to his popularity. He frequently brought his pets to the studio, and his shows were a family affair that were produced by his first wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, his high school sweetheart, until her death from cancer in 1981.

With his resonant speaking voice, he decided to pursue a career in radio after college and tried a number of different positions before settling on audience-participation programming. After working in Florida, he moved to California, where he hosted The Bob Barker Show from 1950 through 1956, when he was tapped by Ralph Edwards, who wanted a daytime host for his show Truth or Consequences.