Regis Francis Xavier Philbin was born on August 25, 1931, in New York City and grew up in the Bronx. As a teenager, he was a dedicated weightlifter and later boxed while attending the University of Notre Dame. After a stint as a U.S. Navy supply officer, he settled in Los Angeles and broke into television as a stagehand and news writer.

Philbin got his first major network exposure in 1967 on The Joey Bishop Show on ABC. He later hosted A.M. Los Angeles and The Morning Show before launching the nationally syndicated The Regis Philbin Show in 1981. His breakthrough came in 1988 when Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee went national, drawing millions of daily viewers.

In 1999, Philbin became the host of ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The show was an unprecedented hit, airing up to five nights a week at its peak. He hosted until 2002, then returned briefly in 2009. In 2011, he left Live! after 23 years on the show, before permanently retiring from TV work in 2014. He died of natural causes on July 24, 2020, in Greenwich, Connecticut, one month before his 89th birthday.