Longtime tv host and World Warfare II naval aviator Bob Barker died on Aug. 26, 2023, at age 99. He would typically joke about his age, however even nicely into his 70s, his 80s and even his 90s, he refused to let it restrict him.
Barker hosted “The Value Is Proper” for 35 years and “Fact or Penalties” for practically 20 years earlier than that. His struggle scene with Adam Sandler in 1996’s “Comfortable Gilmore” launched him to a wholly new era of followers. Barker was 71 years previous when he filmed “Comfortable Gilmore,” however the pair would go at it once more in 2015, when Barker was 91 years previous.
Throughout that yr’s “Evening Of Too Many Stars” autism applications fundraiser, Sandler visited Barker, pretending to be affected by a damaged hip, within the hospital. It led to a struggle that might “kill” each of them.
The highway to preventing with Adam Sandler was an extended one, nonetheless. He left school to struggle the Japanese first throughout World Warfare II as a naval aviator, however simply by no means bought the possibility.
Robert Barker was born Dec. 12, 1923, in Washington state and was raised on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota as a member of the Sioux tribe. He moved to Springfield, Missouri, together with his household and graduated from highschool there, attending close by Drury School on a basketball scholarship. When the USA entered World Warfare II after the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor, he left school to do his half. He was simply 18 years previous.
“I used to be a fighter pilot within the Navy in the course of the Warfare of 1812,” Barker joked in a 2013 CNN interview at age 81. “Truly it was World Warfare II. Each man within the nation wished to be within the service.”
The younger Barker had by no means been in an airplane earlier than, and he’d by no means considered touchdown a aircraft on a provider — hell, he’d by no means even seen the ocean. It was the Navy’s costume white uniform that satisfied him to affix the ocean service.
“I used to be taking a look at {a magazine} and right here was a full shade web page and it was a younger naval aviator carrying his whites, ” Barker mentioned. “I believed, ‘If I’ll struggle, I wanna go to struggle trying like that man.’ And I went off to the submit workplace, and I joined the Navy as a naval aviation cadet.”
Barker shortly grew to become a talented aviator and noticed the ocean loads of instances. He realized night time flying, dogfighting and provider landings within the FM-2 Wildcat, performed gunnery runs within the F4U Corsair and even performed on the Navy basketball staff. Then the struggle ended. Barker by no means noticed fight.
“I accomplished all aspects of my coaching, together with my qualifying landings on a provider,” Barker mentioned. “I used to be all able to go, and when the enemy heard that I used to be headed for the Pacific, they surrendered. That was the tip of World Warfare II.”
Barker returned to Drury School to complete his schooling after the struggle. Whereas he completed his bachelor’s diploma, he labored at a neighborhood radio station. When he graduated, he and his spouse moved to Florida, the place he started doing bulletins in Lake Price Seaside.
They then moved to California, the place he hosted his personal radio present, “The Bob Barker Present,” for the subsequent six years. When the daytime TV recreation present “Fact or Penalties” began searching for a brand new host, it discovered one in Bob Barker.
He hosted “Fact or Penalties” on NBC between 1956 and 1975. Between 1956 and 1963, the present’s lead-in was the favored recreation present “The Value Is Proper.” “The Value Is Proper” moved to ABC for 2 seasons, then was canceled in 1965. In 1972, CBS was serious about rebooting the present, however provided that Bob Barker was its host. He signed on and hosted the present for the subsequent 35 years.
By 1995, Barker was nonetheless a family identify when he was supplied a job in Adam Sandler’s “Comfortable Gilmore,” the place he would get right into a hard-core fistfight with Sandler’s character. Barker was 71, however not solely insisted he ought to win the struggle, he was additionally going to be doing the preventing.
“I did beat up Comfortable Gilmore. I crushed him,” Barker informed CNN. “The director talked with me about what we had been going to do … He mentioned, ‘Don’t be concerned about these struggle scenes; we’ve a double. He’ll try this.'”
That did not sit nicely with Barker, who had been coaching together with his then-neighbor: Chuck Norris.
“What do you imply you may have a double?” Barker informed “Comfortable Gilmore” director Dennis Dugan. “I understand how to struggle! So he mentioned, ‘OK, OK, you possibly can struggle.'”
The end result was a struggle scene that echoed via the ages. It received the MTV Film Award for Finest Struggle. Everybody who appeared on “The Value Is Proper” wished to speak about it. The scene is so legendary that when Barker retired from tv in 2007, Sandler appeared on “The Value Is Proper” to present its longtime host a correct sendoff.
— Blake Stilwell is reminding you to assist management the pet inhabitants — have your pets spayed or neutered. He could be reached at blake.stilwell@navy.com. He may also be discovered on Fb, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
Hold Up With the Finest in Navy Leisure
Whether or not you are searching for information and leisure, considering of becoming a member of the navy or maintaining with navy life and advantages, Navy.com has you lined. Subscribe to the Navy.com publication to have navy information, updates and assets delivered straight to your inbox.
