He was 88, reports the NY Times.
His death was announced by his family in a statement. The statement did not say where he died or specify the cause.
In a world of annoyances, Philbin was the indignant Everyman, under siege from all sides — by the damned computers, the horrible traffic, the inconsiderate people who were always late. There was no soap in the men’s room. Hailing a cab was hopeless. Losing a wallet in a rental car? Fuhgeddaboudit! Even his own family was down on him for buying a chain saw!
From faceless days as a studio stagehand when television was barely a decade old, to years of struggle as a news writer, TV actor and sidekick to Joey Bishop, Mr. Philbin, with patience, determination and folksy, spontaneous wit, climbed to pre-eminence relatively late in life on talk and game shows.
Regis, as he was universally known, was a television personality for nearly six decades and an ABC superstar since 1988, when his New York talk show went national. But he also wrote five books, appeared in movies, made records as a singer, gave concerts and was a one-man industry of spinoffs, from shirts and ties to medical advice and computer games.
His forte was unscripted talk. Shunning writers and rehearsals, relying on trivia and his own off-the-cuff comments in a 15-minute “host chat” and then on good chemistry with co-hosts and guests, he ad-libbed for 28 years on “The Morning Show” (1983-88), “Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee” (1988-2000), “Live! With Regis” (2000-1) and “Live! With Regis and Kelly” (2001-11).
While still doing his morning show, Mr. Philbin in 1999 became host of the original American version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” Modeled after a highly successful British quiz show, it soared to popularity overnight as the highest-rated prime-time game show in television history. At a time when game shows were often seen as disreputable ghosts of the past, an astonishing 30 million viewers tuned in three nights in a week.
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