“Forgotten Hollywood”- Simply Regis…

Posted on July 25, 2020 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

“`Regis Philbin was a genial host of talk programs and game shows and he was always an open book about his private life while live on screen. His most lingering images are from Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. REGIS PHILBIN ->

“`Regis Philbin grew up in the New York borough of the Bronx. After leaving the Navy in 1955, he talked his way into a meeting with the head programmer at Southern California’s KCOP-TV. He found work parking cars, then progressed into work as a stagehand, newswriter, courier, and producer of a sports telecast. He also briefly served as a page on The Tonight Show.

“`In the early 1960s, KOGO-TV in San Diego began producing The Regis Philbin Show for a national audience.  The program of music and celebrity interviews was taped two weeks before each airing. It was canceled after four months.

“`In 1967, Philbin was hired as announcer and sidekick to comic Joey Bishop on his network show. When he heard that he was going to be fired because of poor ratings, Philbin tearfully announced he was leaving on July 12, 1968, walking off during a live broadcast. He returned three days later after letters of support poured in.

“`After eventually teaming with Kathie Lee, Philbin had finally entered America’s psyche in a big way.  Kelly Ripa would replace Kathie Lee in 2000 and the morning show enjoyed similar success.

“`Philbin’s work as a game-show host cemented his legacy. Forbes reported that two-thirds of ABC’s operating profit in 2000 was due to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He became a regular guest on the late-night talk program circuit, and often was used by David Letterman in his manic sketches.

“`Philbin worked over fifteen thousand hours, earning him recognition in the Guinness Book of World Records for most broadcast hours logged in by a television personality; the record previously held by Hugh Downs, who died a couple of weeks ago.

“`The disarming Regis Philbin was eighty-eight.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 25th, 2020 at 3:13 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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