Regis Philbin, the iconic television personality best known for her presenter duties on “Live! With Regis and Kelly” and “Who wants to be a millionaire,” died at the age of 88.
The family confirmed the news of his shocking death in a statement to Fox News on Saturday.
“We are deeply saddened to share that our beloved Regis Philbin passed away last night from natural causes, a month before his 89th birthday,” his family said.
“His family and friends are always grateful for the time we spent with him, for his warmth, his legendary sense of humor and his unique ability to make every day something worth talking about. We thank his fans and admirers for her incredible support throughout her 60-year career and asking for privacy as we mourn her loss. “
REGIS FILIN SAYS GOODBYE IN THE MORNING AFTER 28 YEARS
Regis Philbin died of natural causes, his family confirmed to Fox News on Saturday.
(Reuters)
Born in New York, Regis Francis Xavier Philbin was born on August 25, 1993. He was named after his father’s alma mater, Regis High School in Manhattan. Philbin graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx before moving on to Notre Dame, where he majored in sociology.
After college, Philbin joined the US Navy, then embarked on his decades-long television career as a set designer and delivery man for a station in Los Angeles, California. Soon after, he became a news writer and was offered a job as a sports commentator.
Philbin went to San Diego as news anchor for KOGO-TV. His first shot at the national show came a few years later as a partner for Joey Bishop on ABC’s “The Joey Bishop Show”. Philbin then went on to KHJ-TV in Los Angeles, where he presented “That Regis Philbin Show”. The show was canceled due to the power of Johnny Carson’s rating, but it took Philbin to the Midwest for “Regis Philbin’s Saturday Night in St. Louis.”
After three years of traveling to St. Louis each week for a local Saturday night show, Philbin became a star on local morning television, first in Los Angeles and then in New York. In 1985, he joined Kathie Lee Johnson, a year before he married former soccer star Frank Gifford, and the show went national in 1988.
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Celebrities routinely stopped by Philbin’s syndicated morning show of the same name, but his heart was in the first 15 minutes, when he and co-host Kathie Lee Gifford, on “Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee” from 1985-2000 – o Kelly Ripa – in “Live! with Regis and Kelly” from 2001 until her retirement in 2011, she joked about the events of the day. Viewers laughed at Philbin’s false outrage at not getting the best restaurant seat that night. previous or for being chased by his partner.
Talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford (R) hugs her co-host Regis Philbin during Gifford’s last appearance on his popular morning show “Live With Regis and Kathie Lee” on July 28, 2000.
(Reuters)
“I’m even a little scared,” he told The Associated Press in 2008, when asked how he does a show every day. “You get up in the morning and say, ‘What did I do last night so I could talk? What is new in the newspaper? How are we going to fill those 20 minutes? “” I’m not going to say that it always works brilliantly, but somehow we connect more often than we don’t. “
He was the host of prime-time game show “Who wants to be a millionaire,” briefly the most popular show on television at the turn of the century. ABC aired the family show five times a week. Generating about $ 1 billion in revenue in its first two years, ABC had said it was the most profitable show in television history, and it helped Philbin become a millionaire many times.
Philbin’s question to the contestants, “Is that your final answer?” it became a national slogan. He was even a fashion pioneer; He pulled out a line of monochromatic shirts and ties to match what he was wearing on set.
“You wait a lifetime for something like that and sometimes it never happens,” Philbin told the AP in 1999.
After rushing into an entertainment career, Philbin logged over 15,000 hours on the air, earning him recognition in the Guinness Book of Records for the highest number of broadcast hours recorded by a television personality, a record previously maintained by Hugh Downs.
REGIS PHILBIN AT THE START OF MICHAEL STRAHAN: ABC WAS GOING BEHIND THE BACK OF KELLY RIPA
Although it is likely that more people today have heard the accented question “Who wants to be a millionaire?” Repeated by Anil Kapoor in “Slumdog Millionaire”, Regis Philbin was the one who gave him a New York accent in the US version of the Game Show, which tells with more than 100 versions worldwide.
(ABC)
“Every day, you see the record broken, buddy!” Philbin would tell the viewers. “Another hour!”
In 2008, he briefly returned to the contest format with “Million Dollar Password”. She also collected the Lifetime Achievement Award for Daytime Emmy Awards.
He was the kind of television personality easy to tease and easy to love.
When his son Danny met his future wife, “we were talking about our families,” Danny told USA Today. “I said, ‘Do you know that Regis and Kathie Lee show?’ And she said, ‘I hate that show.’ And I said, ‘That’s my dad.’ “
However, Philbin was the favorite of the ironic icon of a younger generation, David Letterman. When Letterman announced that he had to have heart surgery, he was on the air for Philbin, who was also there for Letterman’s first day back after his recovery.
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Letterman returned the favor, appearing on the Philbin show when he returned to the air in April 2007 after undergoing heart bypass surgery.
Television presenter Regis Philbin says goodbye to co-host Kelly Ripa (R) during his final show of “Live With Regis and Kelly” in New York, November 18, 2011.
(Reuters)
In a 2008 interview with the Associated Press, Philbin said he saw “bringing out the best in his guests” as “a specialty.”
“The time constraints mean you have to get straight to the point, you have to make it worthwhile, go to the commercial, start again. Play that clip. Say goodbye,” he said.
Philbin’s second wife, Joy, was Bishop’s assistant.
“He is the little one who protests the injustices of life, from criminal waves to paper cuts,” wrote the magazine. “The ranting is punctuated by Kathie Lee’s familiar cry of ‘Oh Reege,’ spoken at times with brotherly sympathy and at other times with teacher admonition.”
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The smooth disputes and poignant exasperation in Philbin and Gifford’s onscreen relationship was familiar to anyone with a long-lasting relationship.
Regis Philbin on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”.
(Getty)
“No arguments, no harsh words all this time,” Philbin told a theater audience in 2000. “Well, there was a time when I didn’t speak to her for two weeks. I didn’t want to interrupt her.
Gifford left the show in 2000. After a trial period for a replacement, soap star Ripa, then better known as “All My Children,” filled the place.
The same scammer who parked cars in Hollywood worked just as hard to get the job in “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”
“I begged my way,” he told People magazine. “There was a short list and it was not on it. I called my agent and we made a total assault on ABC in Los Angeles. “
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Television personality Regis Philbin attends a press conference about her “Live with Regis and Kelly” game at ABC Studios on November 17, 2011 in New York City.
(Bennett Raglin / WireImage)
The audience responded to Philbin’s warm and comical touch on paper. Later, he jokingly referred to himself as the man who saved ABC. It wasn’t complete hyperbole: ABC was struggling in the rankings before the game became a smash hit. Forbes reported that two-thirds of ABC’s operating profit in 2000 was due to “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”
“It is better to be warm,” he told the AP. “It’s fun. I know this business. I was perfectly happy with my morning show. People would ask me,” What’s next? “There’s nothing ahead. There’s no more mountains to climb. Trust me when I tell you everything I wanted when I started. this show in 1961 was to be a national success. “
The primetime game quickly sold out due to overuse and ended in 2002.
Regis Philbin and wife Joy Philbin during Regis Philbin honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his television accomplishments on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California, United States.
(Steve Grayson / WireImage)
Philbin enjoyed a parallel singing career that started when he sang “Pennies from Heaven” to Bing Crosby on the Bishop show. He said a record company called him the next day and made an album.
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Despite the fact that Lifetime’s “Regis Philbin Styles of Health” series in the 1980s was part of his extensive resume, Philbin had health problems. Doctors performed angioplasty to relieve a blocked artery in 1993. He underwent bypass surgery in 2007 at age 75.
He is survived by his wife, Joy, and daughters JJ and Joanna Philbin, as well as daughter Amy Philbin with his first wife, Catherine Faylen, according to People.
Melissa Leon and The Associated Press of Fox News contributed to this report.
