Regis Philbin, TV and gameshow host, dies aged 88
Regis Philbin, a host who became a beloved fixture of US daytime television, has died. He was 88.
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Philbin’s family confirmed his death in a statement to People magazine, which said he “passed away last night of natural causes, one month shy of his 89th birthday”.
Philbin was a longtime morning talkshow host on ABC, first with Kathie Lee Gifford and then alongside Kelly Ripa before stepping down in 2011. Other credits included Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and America’s Got Talent, both transfers from British TV.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was briefly America’s most popular show, airing as often as five times a week. It generated around $1bn in revenue in its first two years and helped make Philbin a millionaire many times over.
His question to contestants – “Is that your final answer?” – became a national catchphrase and he released a line of monochromactic shirts and ties to match what he wore on set.
“You wait a lifetime for something like that and sometimes it never happens,” Philbin told the Associated Press in 1999.
In 2008, he returned briefly to the quiz show format with Million Dollar Password. He was also given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the daytime Emmys.
Philbin’s family said they and his friends “are forever grateful for the time we got to spend with him. For his warmth, his legendary sense of humor, and his singular ability to make every day into something worth talking about. We thank his fans and admirers for their incredible support over his 60-year career and ask for privacy as we mourn his loss.”
Philbin was born in New York City, served in the US navy and started in TV in California before achieving national fame as sidekick to Rat Pack member Joey Bishop – in part for the way in which, in 1968, he tried to leave the late-night show.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Philbin heard “an ABC exec or two had been bum-rapping him and urging Joey to replace him ‘for the good of the show’. So Regis told Joey he liked him too much to jeopardize his show and walked off.”
Philbin returned, although the show did not last long. Later in life, Bishop said Philbin had walked out in a dispute over pay.
Philbin started hosting ABC’s morning show in 1983. In 1994 he achieved a certain level of international fame by appearing on Seinfeld, in the famous episode The Opposite.
Appearing with Gifford as Kramer promoted his coffee table book about coffee tables, which folded out to be used as a coffee table, Philbin was given a line he didn’t think was funny.
In a 2011 memoir, How I Got This Way, he wrote: “The Seinfeld writers had, for some reason, decided to have me react to Kramer’s antics by repeatedly declaring: ‘This guy’s bonkos!’
“I had never said the word bonkos in my life. I’d never even heard of the word! I mean, it just wasn’t funny – and why should I become the only Seinfeld guest in history who never got a laugh?”
Philbin wrote that he tried to get the line change, but “Jerry, too, thought bonkos was hilarious”.
The lines duly bombed.
“Kramer was a hilarious smash,” Philbin wrote, of actor Michael Richards’ success while spewing coffee all over the TV hosts. “Me and bonkos … we got nothing, not even one laugh. Only silence. I mean, deafening silence.
“I will never forget that silence, nor will I ever get over it. It remains embarrassing to this day.”
In a tweet on Saturday, Donald Trump paid tribute to “one of the greats in the history of television” who he said “had passed on to even greater airwaves”.
“He was a fantastic person, and my friend,” Trump wrote. “He kept telling me to run for president. Holds the record for ‘most live television’, and he did it well. Regis, we love you, and to Joy, his wonderful wife who he loved so much, my warmest condolences!!!”
Philbin’s second wife, Joy, was Bishop’s assistant. She and their daughters JJ and Joanna Philbin survive him, according to People, as does his daughter Amy Philbin with his first wife, Catherine Faylen.
Trump, who is known to place great importance on TV exposure as a measure of fame and success, responded to news of Philbin’s death a little over an hour after People published its story. Last week, the president took 14 hours to respond to news of the death of John Lewis, a civil rights leader who served more than 30 years in Congress.
The president’s reference to Philbin’s record is accurate. The host spent more than 15,000 hours on air, earning recognition in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most broadcast hours logged by a TV personality.
“Every day, you see the record shattered, pal!” Philbin told his viewers. “One more hour!”
