On this date in 1956, popular emcee and producer Ralph Edwards turned over the hosting duties of his hit television show Truth or Consequences to a relatively-unknown talent he’d heard on a regional west coast radio show. That young host, just 33 at the time, was Bob Barker.

Truth or Consquences was mostly a stunt show in which contestants were asked a trivia question they had to answer before a buzzer, nicknamed Beulah, would sound. Everyone knew that the buzzer always sounded just a second or so after Bob asked the question, and that was the point: the contestants weren’t supposed to answer the question, they were supposed to participate in the stunt the producers had thought up. Barker once joked that on one occasion, someone did correctly answer his riddle. So he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a follow-up question and the contestant ended up doing the stunt anyway.

From time to time, the show would venture away from silly stunts to surprise audience members by reuniting them with family members they hadn’t seen in years. Barker did his own contestant selection in those days, talking to the audience before the cameras began rolling to select those who had interesting stories to tell. On the air, he proved early on that he was a master at interviewing people, listening to their answers, and making them the stars of the show. And in doing so, he made himself a star.

Barker would continue hosting that show for 18 years. Even before Truth or Consequences wrapped production in 1974, he had already been tapped by CBS to host a revival of a Goodson-Todman game show from the fifties and sixties, The New Price is Right.

The remake made its debut on September 4, 1972, and has been going strong ever since. Since that debut, Barker has won a total of 17 Emmy^® Awards, more than any other single performer. He has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as “Television’s Most Durable Performer,” for more than 3,400 consecutive television appearances, and as “Most Generous Host in Television History” for giving away more than $55 million in cash and prizes. (That was several years ago; CBS now says that figure has at least quadrupled.)

In the 1970s and 1980s, he hosted the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, until a dispute over furs awarded in the prize package ended his involvement with the shows. Barker, an animal-rights activist, refused to participate if the program’s producers continued to reward winners with fur coats. When they were unable to remove the coats because of contractual obligations, Barker walked. Since sometime in the early 1980s, he has ended each episode of The Price is Right with a reminder for pet owners to have their animals spayed or neutered.

At one of the show’s anniversary shows, producer Mark Goodson joked that when he dies, he hoped to come back as one of Barker’s dogs, implying that he knew he would be well cared for. Then Barker reminded Goodson of that spay and neuter plug and Goodson quickly changed his mind.

‘Price’ became television’s longest continuously-running daytime network game show (a long title) in the mid 1980s. Eventually, over the years, each of the qualifiers have disappeared; it is now the longest-running game in television history, and one of the longest running entertainment shows in television history. Of daytime weekday programs, it is currently the sixth-longest-running, behind Today, Guiding Light, As the World Turns, General Hospital and Days of Our Lives.

On October 15, 1987, Barker surprised his audience by his decision to stop using hair dye. His new appearance from that first “white hair” episode, shown on the right, came as quite a shock to home viewers, because that show aired in the middle of a week, the day after a show aired in which he had his usual dark hair. Barker later quipped that the “overnight” change prompted one viewer to write to Bob that he must have had “one hell of a night.”

Viewer reaction was overwhelmingly supportive, and he hasn’t tinted his hair since. Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, Let’s Make a Deal’s Monty Hall and Family Feud’s new host, John O’Hurley, have likewise rejected hair dye.

In March, 1998, to celebrate the 5,000th episode of The Price is Right, CBS renamed its legendary stage 33 at Television City, where Carol Burnett taped her variety series and where other legends like Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Bob Hope and Ed Sullivan performed as the Bob Barker Studio. It was the first time the network had named one of its studios there after a performer.

In 2004, Barker received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

To mark the date Ralph Edwards first called him to say that he’d gotten the job as host of Truth or Consequences, Barker would meet him for lunch and have a champaign toast. This practice continued until Edwards’ death in 2005.

In October of this year, Barker announced that at the end of this season, the show’s 35th, he will retire at age 83, making him the oldest man ever to host a game show and the oldest man ever to host a daytime network program.

With more than 6,000 episodes of ‘Price’ in the can, he will have left an amazing legacy of daytime entertainment. Attempting to pick a single favorite moment is next to impossible for me. One of them is this one, which is a testament to Bob’s ability to roll with the punches when something goes wrong.

There will never be another Bob Barker. And daytime television won’t be as good next season, because he won’t be on it giving away refrigerators.

Happy anniversary, Bob! And thanks for half a century of fun and games.