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Regis Francis Xavier Philbin (August 25, 1931 – July 24, 2020) was an American television presenter, talk show host, game show host, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest working man in show business", he held the Guinness World Record for the most hours spent on U.S. television. He is well-known as the original host of the US version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, the most-watched prime-time series of the 1999-2000 US television season.

Philbin died at age 88 because caused due to coronary artery disease at a hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut on July 25 , 2020 one month shy of his 89th birthday as noted in a statement released by his family announcing his death. His funeral was held at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and he was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery, both on the campus of his alma mater, the University of Notre Dame.

Early life and career[]

Philbin was born in the Manhattan borough of New York City on August 25, 1931. His father, Francis "Frank" Philbin, was a U.S. Marine of Irish descent who served in the Pacific. His mother, Filomena ("Florence"; née Boscia), was a member of an Albanian-Italian immigrant family from Greci. Philbin had a Catholic upbringing. He was supposedly named "Regis" because his father wanted him to attend his alma mater, the prestigious Regis High School. It was long believed that he was an only child, but he announced on Live with Regis and Kelly in February 2007 that he had a brother named Frank (March 1, 1951 – January 27, 2007), who had died from non-Hodgkin lymphoma several days earlier. Philbin said his brother had asked not to be mentioned on television or in the press while still alive to protect his privacy.

Philbin was raised in the Van Nest neighborhood of the Bronx. He attended Our Lady of Solace grammar school and graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, Philbin served in the U.S. Navy and got his television start serving as a page for The Tonight Show in the 1950s. He got his first network television exposure in 1967 as Joey Bishop's sidekick on The Joey Bishop Show. Philbin also hosted Million Dollar Password and the first season of America's Got Talent.

He is most widely known as the co-host of the New York City-based nationally syndicated talk show Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee, starting in 1988, which became Live! with Regis and Kelly in 2001, and continued as Live! with Kelly after Philbin's departure in 2011.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?[]

Regis Philbin first millionaire

Regis' first episode of Millionaire

Philbin was the original host of the U.S. version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, an ABC game show that had its roots in Britain. Millionaire was a big ratings success in its 1999 debut, when it was intended as an occasional special series. ABC aired Millionaire as a regular series with frequent episodes, but its viewership slowly declined due to overexposure (mainly due to too many celebrity and special non-celebrity episodes). After Millionaire was canceled, it was retooled in 2002 as a syndicated series hosted by Meredith Vieira. ABC brought back Millionaire in 2004 with Philbin, retitled Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire, a related series that was aired on a more limited basis. Philbin had appeared in 11 episodes of a special edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which started on August 9, 2009, 10th anniversary of the show. He also was a celebrity contestant in this version. Millionaire, in its syndicated format, uses guest hosts for selected weeks during the season and Philbin hosted a week of episodes that aired in November 2009, coinciding with his 2009 surgery.

Philbin's Millionaire hosting duties won him a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host in 2001. In a 2007 Time article, he was listed among the 15 Best Game Show Hosts in History. When Millionaire was honored on GSN's Gameshow Hall of Fame special, Philbin's tenure as the show's host was praised. Leigh Hampton, then executive producer of the syndicated version, said that he "[knew] when to take rein of it and when to sit back and let the contestant be the contestant," and Jennifer Slater of twogirlsandatv.com called him "the sweetest man on television." Philbin himself recalled his own Millionaire tenure on said special with the following statement:

Host of Primetime Millionaire[]

Regis crowned nine million dollar winners during his tenure as the host of primetime Millionaire (two of them won progressive jackpot prizes). These were John Carpenter, Dan Blonsky, Joe Trela, Bob House, Kim Hunt, David Goodman, Kevin Olmstead, Bernie Cullen and Ed Toutant.

His show was more successful than the UK with more top prize winners; by the time Ed Toutant became the ninth U.S. millionaire, the UK version had only two top prize winners: Judith Keppel and David Edwards. Philbin never crowned a female millionaire.

Host of Super Millionaire[]

In 2004, Regis also became host of Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire in which contestants would compete for a top prize of $10,000,000 instead of $1,000,000. Here, no one won the top prize, but Robert Essig walked away with $1,000,000.

The Joey Bishop Show[]

In 1967 , Philbin known as the sidekick of the Joey Bishop Show and end December 26 , 1969 . Philbin gained his first network TV exposure in 1967 as Joey Bishop's sidekick on The Joey Bishop Show on television (1967–1969) .

Famously, sidekick/announcer Regis Philbin walked off the program as a result of the continuous drubbing he had been receiving from critics, stating that the network never wanted him and he feared that he was injuring the series, but he soon returned. This proved to be one of the few installments of the series to top The Tonight Show in the ratings. In 2011, Philbin revealed that Bishop had conceived the walk-off as a stunt.

The show ended on December 26, 1969, with Bishop leaving after his monologue, declaring that this was the last show. Philbin was left to finish the final episode. The time slot was filled by The Dick Cavett Show. Within two years, Bishop was once again a regular guest host on The Tonight Show.

Host of the 10th Anniversary Special[]

Ken Basin

Ken Basin and his million dollar question

In 2009, the show celebrated 10 years on the air and Regis was chosen to host the show. In the final episode of the special, Regis almost crowned his first millionaire in eight years, and America's first in six years, when Ken Basin got to the million dollar question. However, he answered his question incorrectly and lost $475,000, becoming the first person ever on the U.S. version to miss the final question. The drought of top prize winners would continue for another three months until Sam Murray won the Tournament of Ten and a million dollars on November 20, 2009.

At the end of the last episode, he introduced Meredith Vieira as the celebrity contestant who would be playing for $50,000, but Meredith reveals that the celebrity is actually him, although he didn't switch seats with her, much to his surprise. Despite this being so sudden, he had a charity to play for, Cardinal Hayes High School in Bronx, New York, the high school he attended. The Phone-a-Friends he had available were Alan Alda and Donald Trump. His question was:

$50,000 (1 of 1) - Not timed
Which of the following has never been the answer to a winning million dollar question on the primetime version of "Millionaire"?
"Double Dip" lifeline used.
⬥ A: Richard Nixon ⬥ B: Peru
⬥ C: The Grapes of Wrath ⬥ D: 93 million
At first, Regis did not know the answer until Meredith reminded him of John Carpenter, in which he remembered that the answer to his question was Richard Nixon. He then remembered that 93 million was also one too. Stuck between "Peru" and "The Grapes of Wrath," he used Double Dip and makes "Peru" his first guess, which was wrong. He then went for "The Grapes of Wrath" and wins $50,000 for Cardinal Hayes High School.

Richard Nixon - John Carpenter
Peru - David Goodman
93 million - Dan Blonsky

Total Winnings: $50,000

He was the only celebrity contestant to use the Double Dip lifeline. Also, while thinking about the question, he mentions having had eight million dollar winners, not nine.

Host of Syndicated Millionaire[]

From 2007 to 2011, when Vieira was working as a co-host of Today along with her role as the host of the daytime version of Millionaire, guest hosts have appeared during the second half of each season. Regis Philbin was one of those hosts from November 30 through December 4, 2009.

He made another appearance during the same season to ask a contestant a Celebrity Question about his other show, Live with Regis and Kelly and the name of the "quirky awards show" they have each year, which features a "Best Regis" category. The contestant was able to give the correct answer of "The Relly Awards."

He made another appearance during the same season to ask a contestant, Jesse Thomas a Celebrity Question about a classic episode of Seinfeld what Kramer promotes for appearing on his other show, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. The contestant uses Ask the Expert and gives expert, Donny Deutsch the question. He guess the incorrect answer of "Brassiere for Men". The goes with that and leaves with $5,000. The correct answer is "Coffee table book".

Regis Philbin tribute

'Before we bring this show to a close, I want to take a moment to mention the real host of this program: A delightful man named Regis. Everyone knew him by his first name. I had the pleasure of knowing Regis personally, and spending time with him and his wife Joy at my home - at his home, and I will tell you. He was exactly the same off the air, as he was on it. He was so much fun, so full of energy, and truly one of the all-time great television personalities. Regis was here with us on this set to visit us, and to support us the day we started taping which meant a lot to me. And to honor him, our producer Michael Davies, ABC, Sony and I are making donations to his favorite charities: The Food Bank, New York City and the center for the homeless in South Bend, in the name of the Philbin family. We'd like to send love to Joy and Regis, uh, his daughters, and-and grandchildren. This show "Millionaire", is one of the most popular shows ever. 1.30 million Americans tuned in every night to watch it largely because of this man, Regis Philbin!'
-- Jimmy Kimmel (2020)

Trivia[]

  • Regis competed on Celebrity Jeopardy! three times: First in 1992, placing second in his game and winning $10,000 for charity. His second appearance was in 1998, placing third and again winning $10,000. His third and final appearance was during the two-week Celebrity special in 2006, winning his game and $50,000 for charity.
  • He was also a panelist on ESPN's 2 Minute Drill, in which the game's two-minute clock utilizes the ticking sound from the Phone-a-Friend lifeline.
  • He appeared at Times Square in the intro of the first of two nights Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Canadian Edition, hosted by Pamela Wallin.
  • One of his songs, back when he was a singer, "Where or When", was played during the credits of the first episode of the second season of the Jimmy Kimmel-hosted reboot as a tribute after his death.
Health and death[]

From the Regis Philbin has a television legendary host , Philbin is there are many times about rhymes for health and , Here goes:

Philbin had an angioplasty in 1993. On March 14, 2007, he underwent triple bypass surgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center because of plaque in his arteries. Prior to the surgery, Philbin talked with David Letterman, for whom he had substituted on Late Show with David Letterman during Letterman's own quintuple bypass surgery. Following Philbin's successful heart surgery, he returned to the show on April 26. On December 1, 2009, Philbin had hip replacement surgery. He returned to his regular hosting duties on January 4, 2010. In May 2010, he underwent surgery to have a blood clot removed from his calf, and returned to work the next day.

Philbin died from a heart attack due to coronary artery disease at a hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut, on July 25, 2020, one month shy of his 89th birthday as noted in a statement released by his family announcing his death. His funeral was held at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and he was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery, both on the campus of his alma mater, the University of Notre Dame.

Preceded by
N/A
U.S. Hosts
Regis Philbin
Succeeded by
Meredith Vieira
Preceded by
Steve Nash
10th Anniversary Celebrity Contestant
Regis Philbin
Succeeded by
N/A
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