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Regis Philbin, who has owned a home in Greenwich, turns 85 on Thursday.
The media personality, actor and singer was born Aug. 25, 1931, in the Bronx.
He served in the U.S. Navy as a supply officer and then 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 KOGO-TV (now KGTV) in San Diego, Calif. He is known for hosting talk and game shows since the 1960s .He holds the Guinness World Record for the most time spent in front of a television camera.
He is most widely known as the host of the New York City-based nationally syndicated talk show "Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee" starting in 1988, with co-host Kathie Lee Gifford, which became "Live! with Regis and Kelly," with co-host Kelly Ripa, starting in 2001 and continued until his departure in 2011.
He has also hosted "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," "Million Dollar Password," and the first season of "America's Got Talent."
Philbin is also an author and singer. His two autobiographies (with co-author Bill Zehme), "I'm Only One Man!" (1995) and "Who Wants To Be Me?" (2000), are written in the conversational or anecdotal style of his host chats.
As a singer, Philbin can best be described as a crooner in the style of his favorite singers, Dean Martin, Perry Como, and Frank Sinatra.
He has received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host and for Outstanding Talk Show Host, in 2001. He also received Lifetime Achievement Award from the Daytime Emmy Awards in 2008.
He was inducted into Television Hall of Fame in 2006 and his Guinness World Record of hours before a television camera was updated to 16,100 hours in 2008.
He received a key to the City of New York from Mayor Michael Bloomberg to honor his twenty eight year contribution to New York media in 2011.
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