Regis Francis Xavier Philbin (born August 25, 1931) is an Emmy Award-winning American television personality and occasional actor known for his roles as a talk show host, game show host, and presenter at various events. Appearing on television since the late 1950s, Philbin is often called (somewhat tongue-in-cheek and alternately attributed to James Brown), "the hardest working man in show business" and holds the Guinness World Record for the most time spent in front of a television camera. His trademarks include his excited manner, his New York Bronx accent, and irreverent ad-libs. He is most widely known for Live with Regis and Kelly, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Million Dollar Password, and for hosting the first season of America's Got Talent.

Early life and career

Philbin was named after Regis High School, a Manhattan Jesuit private school, and after Jesuit Saint Francis Xavier.Fact: date=June 2007 Philbin was born in New York City, New York, the son of Florence and Frank Philbin, who was a personnel director. His father and mother were of Irish and Italian-Albanian heritage, respectively. Although he was born in Manhattan, they lived at 1990 Cruger Avenue in the Van Nest section of the Bronx. It had always been believed that Philbin grew up an only child, but on the February 1, 2007 broadcast of Live with Regis and Kelly, Philbin announced that he did have a brother, Frank M. Philbin, who had died from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma several days earlier. He said that his brother, 20 years younger than he, had asked him to not speak of him on television or in the press.

Regis attended Our Lady of Solace grammar school in the Bronx. He went on to graduate from Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx in 1949 before attending the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated in 1953 with a sociology degree. He later served in the United States Navy and went through a few behind-the-scenes jobs in television and radio before moving into the broadcasting arena.

His first talk show was The Regis Philbin Show on KGTV in San Diego, California. For budgetary reasons, he had no writing staff, leading him to begin each show with what has become his hallmark, the "host chat" segment (influenced by Jack Paar), where he engages his audience (and later on, his co-host) in discussions about his life and the day's events.

Philbin gained his first national exposure in 1967 as Joey Bishop's sidekick on The Joey Bishop Show on television (1967–1969). Bishop liked to tease Philbin, but the teasing stopped after Philbin walked off the set during a taped broadcast, and stayed away for several days.Fact: date=June 2007 When The Joey Bishop Show was canceled, Bishop walked off the show on the air unannounced, leaving Philbin to successfully carry the show on his own.