San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
TV’S LONGTIME EFFERVESCENT EVERYMAN
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1931-2020
Regis Philbin, the effervescent broadcast personality whose everyman shtick, pithy one-liners and ability to relate to a live studio audience on talk shows such as “Live! With Regis and Kelly” kept him face-to-face with America for seven decades, has died.
Philbin died Friday of natural causes, his family said in a statement. He was 88.
“His family and 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,” Philbin’s family said. “We thank his fans and admirers for their incredible support over his 60-year career and ask for privacy as we mourn his loss.”
Self-effacing and given to amusing and sometimes sarcastic banter about the mundane ups and downs of life — a visit from his mother-in-law, a night at the Mets game — Philbin became a familiar and comfortable guest in America’s living rooms while perfecting the format of television morning talk shows. Known affectionately as “Reege” and “Outregis,” Philbin, who spent his early career in San Diego, made a name for himself guest-hosting “The Tonight Show” and serving as comedian Joey Bishop’s sidekick and announcer on “The Joey Bishop Show” in the 1960s. “Late Show” host David Letterman regarded Philbin as “a master communicator” and had him on his show more than any other guest in the show’s history.
In a 2000 Times interview, when asked what made him likable, Philbin seemed embarrassed by the question.
“I don’t know. It’s a hard thing to answer about yourself,” he said. “I guess it’s good genes. My parents brought me up well, to have pleasure when making people happy.”
Then, he seemed to pause and reconsider, exclaiming (as he was wont to do): “Oh, no! I can see the headlines now! ‘Regis Thinks He’s a Nice Guy! Who Does He Think He Is?!’”
But it was that avuncular charm that endeared him to legions of fans who tuned in for his unscripted tete-atetes each morning as the host of ABC’S “Live!” with co-hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and, later, Kelly Ripa. To preserve authenticity and ensure spontaneity during their conversations, Philbin refused to talk with his cohosts before they went on the air.
At age 80, and after more than 56 years on TV in San Diego, Los Angeles and New York, Philbin departed “Live!” during an emotional finale. Some said Philbin was finally tired of the daily grind and the early hours and wanted an easier life.
Philbin, who co-hosted New Year’s Eve spectacles and was a Rose Parade grand marshal, earned 21 Daytime Emmy nominations, winning four and a lifetime achievement award. He was such a consistent presence on television that, in 2004, he set the Guinness World Record for the most face time on camera when he logged his 15,600th hour.
Philbin also amassed a hefty prime-time following on ABC’S wildly popular game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” which he hosted for three seasons starting in 1999.
He said he took the “Millionaire” gig because his wife thought he needed something to fill his afternoons. “She was out many afternoons, so she said, ‘Why don’t you find something to do?’ I thought it might be something to kill, say, one afternoon a week. I didn’t anticipate the hit that ‘Millionaire’ was going to be.”
And a hit it was: Even his monochromatic shirt-andtie combo became famous. More than just a host, Philbin was a facilitator of dreams, a confidant and, often, therapist. Still, with small fortunes on the line, he could swell waves of selfdoubt in the most confident competitors — and at-home audiences — when he inquired “Is that your final answer?”
Philbin wrote two memoirs, “I’m Only One Man!” and “Who Wants to Be Me?” that recalled his upbringing in the Bronx and credited his parents — first-generation Americans with roots in Ireland and Italy — with his rich gusto for telling stories.
He was born Regis Francis Xavier Philbin in New York on Aug. 25, 1931, named after the Catholic university his father hoped he’d attend. Instead he went to Notre Dame. After graduating in 1952, he spent two years in the U.S. Navy as a supply officer.
While based in San Diego, he started reading about the opportunities in the stillevolving world of television. On his last day in the service, a tough-talking major asked him what he was going to do with the rest of his life.
“I’d like to go into television,” he said hesitantly, “but I don’t know what I could do. I’m not a comedian. I’m not a singer. I’m not a dancer. I’m none of these things but still I’d like to go into it but I don’t know if I have any talent. (The major) said, ‘Don’t you know you could have anything you want in this life, you’ve only got to want it bad enough. Now do you want it?’ and I said, ‘Yes, sir. I want it.’”
So Philbin put out feelers for TV jobs in Hollywood, but when nothing came of it, he returned to New York and became an NBC page, the bottom rung of the television ladder. Six weeks later, he was hired as a stagehand at KCOP-TV in L.A. He progressed into work as a courier, newswriter and producer of a sports telecast. When its sportscaster didn’t show up one day, Philbin filled in.
In 1958, he moved back to San Diego, where he was a feature reporter and substitute news anchor. It was in San Diego that he hit his stride and earned his own program, “That Regis Philbin Show,” an improvised, late-night gabfest on Channel 10. It was pulled after just eight episodes, but it set a path for his future.
In a 1992 interview with the Union-tribune, Philbin reflected on the success of “Live! with Regis & Kathie Lee” and its San Diego roots.
“The kind of show we do validates what I always thought about myself going back to my San Diego days,” Philbin said. “I always had the feeling in my heart that this kind of show could work nationally. But it wasn’t until I came to New York that it happened in a big way.”
In 1970, he married Joy Senese, who was an occasional host on “Live!” and also hosted home improvement shows. Philbin and Senese had two daughters. An earlier marriage to Kay Faylan had ended in divorce in 1968. Together, they also had two children.
Philbin is survived by his wife and three daughters: J.J., Joanna and Amy. He is also survived by two grandchildren. Philbin was preceded in death by his son Daniel, who died in 2014.