Hollywood Tributes Pour In For Television Veteran Bob Barker

As news broke Saturday that game show host turned animal rights activist Bob Barker had died, celebrities, friends, and collaborators released statements and took to social media to pay their respects and mark his passing. 

Those tributes will likely be the sole memorial for the longtime The Price Is Right host, who—per Entertainment Tonight—will not have a funeral or memorial service. According to Barker representative Roger Neal (who also announced his client’s death Saturday), the 99-year-old host will be quietly buried at Hollywood’s Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery, in a plot next to his wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, who died in 1981.

Bob Barker prepares to punch Adam Sandler in a scene from the film ‘Happy Gilmore’, 1996. (Photo by Universal/Getty Images)

Archive Photos/Getty Images

Actor and comedian Adam Sandler, whose fictional brawl with Barker in 1996 film Happy Gilmore showed viewers a different side of the beloved game show veteran, was one of the first to note his passing. “The man. The myth. The best,” Sandler wrote via Instagram. “Such a sweet funny guy to hang out with. Loved talking to him. Loved laughing with him. Loved him kicking the crap out of me. He will be missed by everyone I know! Heartbreaking day.”

Bob Barker and Nancy Burnet attend the Animal Defenders International gala on October 13, 2012 in Hollywood, California. Photo: Tibrina Hobson/FilmMagic

Tibrina Hobson

Nancy Burnet, who (per People) was Barker’s companion from 1983 to his death as well as the director of his animal rights nonprofit, the DJ&T Foundation, released a statement noting their time together, as well as their shared activism. “I am so proud of the trailblazing work Barker and I did together to expose the cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry and including working to improve the plight of abused and exploited animals in the United States and internationally,” she said. “We were great friends over these 40 yrs. He will be missed.”