Celebrated Television Host Bob Barker Dies at 99

Game show host and television personality Bob Barker died last Saturday at 99, just months before his 100th birthday. Barker was perhaps best known for his 35-year long stint as host of The Price is Right, where he ended every broadcast with a plea for pet owners to get their pets spayed or neutered.

Barker was born in 1923 in Washington and was raised in South Dakota on an Indian reservation (Barker was one-eighth Sioux). After serving in World War II, he began his broadcasting career in 1950. In 1956, he began hosting the gameshow Truth or Consequences. In the 1975, he began hosting The Price is Right, from which he retired in 2007 and was replaced as host by Drew Carey.

He also had several acting roles, including in Happy Gilmore and Spongebob Squarepants.

 

Pioneering TV Journalist Barbara Walters Dies at 93

Pioneering television journalist Barbara Walters died Friday at 93. Walters' history in media largely coincided with women's involvement in the industry, with Walters breaking many of the barriers female journalists faced.

Walters was born September 25, 1929 in Boston, Massachusetts. She attended Sarah Lawrence University, graduating with a degree in English in 1951. 

Walters began working in advertising before landing a job at NBC's New York affiliate WNBT-TV (now WNBC), where she wrote press releases. 

She joined NBC's The Today Show in 1961, first as a writer before appearing as a 'Today Girl,' where she presented news pieces that were seen as lighter topics. She began doing more serious pieces, and though she was famously prohibited from asking questions to guests until her male cohosts asked their questions, she was finally made cohost of the show in 1974. 

In 1976, she moved to ABC, where she cohosted ABC Evening News until 1978. In 1976, she moderated the final presidential debate between incumbent Gerald Ford and eventual winner Jimmy Carter.

Walter was known for conducting interviews with notable figures including Fidel Castro, Margaret Thatcher, Jiang Zemin, and Monica Lewinsky. 

In 1997, she co-created The View on ABC, and served as co-host until 2014. 

She had her final ABC appearance in 2015 with an interview with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Her last public appearance was in 2016. 

She died at home in Manhattan on December 30, 2022. 

Children's Book Author Beverly Cleary Dies at 104

 

Cleary, who died this week at 104, pictured
here around age 39 with her cat, "Kitty"

Beloved children's book author Beverly Cleary died Thursday at the age of 104, just a few weeks shy of her 105th birthday. The centenarian's career, which spanned nearly five decades, produced numerous works with familiar characters such as Romona and Quimby Beezus, Henry Huggins, and Ralph S. Mouse. 

Cleary was born in McMinnville, Oregon, on April 12, 1916, prior to America's entry into World War I. Cleary graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1938 and from the University of Washington in 1939 with a second bachelor's degree in library science. She worked as a librarian for the next decade and married her husband Clarence in 1940. Clarence died in 1999. 

In 1950, Cleary's first book Henry Huggins was published. She continued publishing books until 1999, when she retired from active writing. In 1975, she won the Laura Ingalls Wilder award for her contribution to children's literature. Her characters Romona and Quimby Beezus were brought to the big screen in 2010 in Romona and Beezus, starring Selena Gomez and Joey King. Cleary was also honored with a residence hall named after her at UC Berkeley. 

After Cleary's death in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, tributes began pouring in from fellow authors, such as Judy Blume, and from politicians, actors, and others who said they were influenced by her works.