Robert William Barker (born December 12, 1923) is an American retired television game show host. He is known for hosting CBS’s The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history. He is also known for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.
Barker was one-eighth Sioux and an official member of the Sioux Tribe, Barker spent most of his childhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. However, he attended high school in Missouri, and met his high school sweetheart and future wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, while attending an Ella Fitzgerald there. Barker obtained a basketball scholarship and attended Drury College in Springfield, Missouri. Barker enlisted as war with the Axis became unavoidable, but was ordered by the Navy to remain at college for two years in order to become a naval aviation cadet. On June 9 1943, at the age of 19, Barker reported for duty, and was commissioned as an Ensign. He underwent preflight training, eventually receiving his insignia at Corpus Cristi in Texas. After this he went through basic training and trained as a fighter pilot. However, Barkerâs active duty missions were solely training-based. He was posted at Banana River Naval Air Station in Florida, making gunnery runs on US Navy Mariner vessels, to train their crews in response to enemy action. In 1945 Barker made use of his leave to marry Dorothy Jo, and was transferred to Grosse Ile, Michigan to train on the F4U Corsair, but the war came to an end before his transfer to the Pacific Theater could come through. After the end of the war, Barker returned to Drury to complete his studies, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics.
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