BOB BARKER
Name: Robert William Barker
Born: 12 December 1923 Darrington, Washington, USA
Robert William "Bob" Barker (born December 12, 1923) is a nineteen-time Emmy
Award-winning former American television game show host. He is best known for
hosting CBS's The Price Is Right since September 4, 1972, making it the longest-running
daytime game show in North American television history. After holding the job
for nearly 35 years and having been in television for 50 years, Barker retired
in June 2007.
Barker was born in Darrington, Washington, and spent most of his youth on the
Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. His mother, Matilda ("Tillie")
Valandra (nee Matilda Kent Tarleton), was a school teacher; his father, Byron
John Barker, was an electrical power foreman, who died in a fall from a utility
pole in 1929. Barker has a half-brother, Kent Valandra, from Matilda's
subsequent re-marriage. In the 1940s the family moved to Springfield, Missouri,
where Barker graduated from Central High School. He also was in a three-piece
jazz band called "The Scatters" in the mid-1940s.
Barker attended Drury College (now Drury University) in Springfield, on a
basketball scholarship. He was a member of the Epsilon Beta Chapter of Sigma Nu
fraternity at Drury. His education was interrupted by World War II. Barker
served in the Navy as a fighter pilot. However, the war ended before he was
assigned to a seagoing squadron. After the war, he returned to Drury to finish
his education, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics. While
attending Drury, Barker worked his first "media job", at KTTS-FM Radio, in
Springfield.
Barker left Springfield and worked at a radio station in Florida before landing
another radio job in California. He was hosting an audience-participation radio
show on KNX (AM) in Los Angeles when game show producer Ralph Edwards happened
to be listening and liked Barker's voice and style.
Name: Robert William Barker
Born: 12 December 1923 Darrington, Washington, USA
Robert William "Bob" Barker (born December 12, 1923) is a nineteen-time Emmy
Award-winning former American television game show host. He is best known for
hosting CBS's The Price Is Right since September 4, 1972, making it the longest-running
daytime game show in North American television history. After holding the job
for nearly 35 years and having been in television for 50 years, Barker retired
in June 2007.
Barker was born in Darrington, Washington, and spent most of his youth on the
Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. His mother, Matilda ("Tillie")
Valandra (nee Matilda Kent Tarleton), was a school teacher; his father, Byron
John Barker, was an electrical power foreman, who died in a fall from a utility
pole in 1929. Barker has a half-brother, Kent Valandra, from Matilda's
subsequent re-marriage. In the 1940s the family moved to Springfield, Missouri,
where Barker graduated from Central High School. He also was in a three-piece
jazz band called "The Scatters" in the mid-1940s.
Barker attended Drury College (now Drury University) in Springfield, on a
basketball scholarship. He was a member of the Epsilon Beta Chapter of Sigma Nu
fraternity at Drury. His education was interrupted by World War II. Barker
served in the Navy as a fighter pilot. However, the war ended before he was
assigned to a seagoing squadron. After the war, he returned to Drury to finish
his education, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics. While
attending Drury, Barker worked his first "media job", at KTTS-FM Radio, in
Springfield.
Barker left Springfield and worked at a radio station in Florida before landing
another radio job in California. He was hosting an audience-participation radio
show on KNX (AM) in Los Angeles when game show producer Ralph Edwards happened
to be listening and liked Barker's voice and style.