Happy Birthday, Bob!

Today I am sharing my birthday with a fellow animal lover and a cultural icon.

Happy 83rd Birthday, Bob Barker! :)

I did some sniffing around the internets to bring you some information on the beloved game show host:

Born: Robert William Barker on 12 December 1923

Birthplace: Darrington, Washington
Best known as: The host of TV's The Price Is Right

• He met with congressmen in Washington to try to get elephants banned from circuses and traveling shows.
  
  
• He became a vegetarian in 1979 when he started to promote animal rights after being named the national spokesman for "Be Kind to Animals Week" which culminated in May 1980. He also forbids any fur prizes and animal-tested products and/or prizes from being on The Price Is Right and also does not allow the rerunning of past episodes where those products were offered on the show (except the original Bill Cullen-hosted version, which Barker had no involvement with).
  
  
• He was formerly a host of the Miss USA/Universe Pageants (1967-1987) but stepped down in 1987 when his request for the removal of fur prizes was declined.
  
  
• Dian Parkinson, a prize model for the show from 1975 to 1993, filed an $8 million lawsuit against Barker for sexual harassment. Barker admitted that he had sexual relations with Parkinson but stated the "hanky panky" (Barker's words) between them was consensual. Parkinson gave up her legal fight with Barker in 1995.
  
  
• Barker and Syd Vinnedge, a senior executive with FremantleMedia (formerly Pearson Television) presented $500,000 to the Harvard Law School to fund courses on animal rights law.
  
  
• Has a black belt in karate.
  
  
• Won an MTV Movie Award for his fight scene with Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore, during which he uttered the immortal line, "Now you've had enough... bitch."
  
  
• On October 15, 1987, he renounced hair dye and allowed his hair to go gray.
  
  
• On October 31, 2006, he announced his retirement as host of "The Price Is Right," effective in June, 2007
  
  
• At the end of every episode of The Price is Right which he hosts he says "Help control the pet population. Have your pat spayed or neutered" and very often follows that up with a casual salute and a "Good-bye everybody."

Some quotes from Bob:

"Don't go to them, do not go to movies in which there are animals, because if you do, you are subsidizing animal cruelty."

"I'm a vegetarian - I think there's a strong possibility, had I not become a vegetarian, I would not be working now. I became a vegetarian about 25 years ago, and I did it out of concern for animals. But I immediately began having more energy and feeling better."

"You cannot accept that . . . when you see animals in pictures, you are putting them at risk."

"The only place you see that is at zoos and circuses. When they are under such emotional stress they begin to sway"
(Bob said about a few elephants at the Los Angeles Zoo who are under emotional stress and sway back and fourth for hours at a time).