Talk:Regis Philbin

Poor Wording In Opening Section
"After Philbin's contract with Live! with Regis and Kelly was not renewed, his final episode of Live aired on November 18, 2011.[10][11]"

This makes it sound like he was pushed out. This is totally not true, and the two cited sources do not have the word 'contract' in them. My source is I listened to him talking about retirement on air for years...about how he'd consider retiring and then a new offer would change his mind. Plus he had been pressured by his wife for years to retire, but the network kept enticing him back. The network did offer him an extension at the end, but he would've required an amazing offer to stay. So yes, his contract did expire, but please change the wording. Here's a source. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2011/11/regis-philbin-it-was-time-to-move-on/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wadexyz (talk • contribs) 18:21, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Needs work
This article needs work?

I think a lot of work has been done. :) --Tinlinkin 12:23, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

It looks pretty good now :) -Wikitoddia 06:15, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

I think that....

Philbin gained his first national exposure in 1967 as Joey Bishop's sidekick on The Joey Bishop Show[19] on television (1967–1969). In a Johnny Carson-Ed McMahon vein, Bishop would playfully tease Philbin and Philbin would take the barbs in stride. Philbin, however, got his feelings wounded when he learned from the network grapevine that ABC executives were dissatisfied with his work. 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.

...should really read...

Philbin gained his first national exposure in 1967 as Joey Bishop's sidekick on The Joey Bishop Show[19] on television (1967–1969). In a Johnny Carson-Ed McMahon vein, Bishop would playfully tease Philbin and Philbin would take the barbs in stride. Philbin, however, got his feelings wounded when he learned from the network grapevine that ABC executives were dissatisfied with his work. Philbin walked off the show on the air unannounced, leaving Bishop to successfully carry the show on his own.

See...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Joey_Bishop_Show_%28talk_show%29

If there was a time when Bishop did the same thing, it needs to be mentioned separately. As a teen at the time (and the son of a boyhood friend of Bishop's), I remember Philbin's walk off, not one by Bishop that may or may not have happened upon the program's cancellation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.249.91.14 (talk) 17:26, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Why no mention of his daughter in law blackmailing him? It was in all the papers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.207.116.55 (talk) 18:12, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Regis and Sarah?
I removed the line: "From 1975 to 1983, he co-hosted what was then known as A.M. Los Angeles and what became "Live with Regis and Sarah" on KABC-TV with Sarah Purcell."

I did not see a mention of "Live with Regis and Sarah" in IMDB, and a Google search only showed entries that mirrored the Wikipedia article. --Tinlinkin 12:29, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Albanian
he's listed as being albanian american is that right
 * Probably not. Anyone care to cite a source for it? He says he's half - Italian here. Mad Jack O&#39;Lantern 02:52, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Wow, and I always thought Regis was Jewish! --M.Neko 09:02, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

here is a video that he admitt that his Albanian... he supposedly half Arbereshe, Albanians of Italy. --Albanau 12:46, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I faintly recall that on Live, he said that he has heard Albanian from his mother, and either he cannot speak it or only knows one or two phrases in Albanian. I don't know if I have a tape of that episode, so I can't verify that. --Tinlinkin 03:31, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

His mother was Italian-Albania. She was from Greci, Italy, in which ethnic Albanians lived. Note that I believe her name was Florence, not Julia, as the entry says (many sources also say his father's name was Frank). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.86.152.42 (talk) 15:03, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

His NNDB profile states that he has Albanian ancestry on his mother's side.Werdnawerdna (talk) 03:46, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Age and birth year
The subject of Regis's age and year of birth always seems to be debatable. A majority of sources I see say 1931, some (including the first version of this Wikipedia article) say 1933, and I have seen the year 1934. The profile of Regis from the website of A&E's Biography has a birth year of 1933. I believe, with what I have observed, that Regis's birth year is 1931. Here's why: Feel free to discuss this, as I will revert Reege's birth year to 1931. --Tinlinkin 03:32, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Regis graduated from Notre Dame in 1953 (supposedly). Assuming that he didn't skip grades in elementary and high school, unless he was very bright or enrolled in some sort of accelerated program, if he was born in 1933, he would have been 20 when he got his bachelor's.
 * On Live with Regis and Kelly, there was a recent episode where Vanessa Minnillo was the guest co-host with Regis. She mentioned some facts about Regis (that she said she got from her father, and the bulk of which seemed to come from Wikipedia), and one of them was that Regis was born in 1931.  He responded, something to the effect of "That's right."  I have a videotape of that episode, but I have to fish it out of my collection.

The infobox and the beginning of the article state that he was born in 1933, yet he is in the 1931 births category. NNDB state 1931, www.aveleyman.com states 1934. Biography.com states 1933. Does anyone have actual proof of which year he was born in?Werdnawerdna (talk) 03:46, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Birthplace
Regis grew up and was raised in the Bronx, that is well-known. But he was born in Manhattan's West Side. He often references that on Live with Regis and Kelly.

From I'm Only One Man! (by Regis Philbin), page 4:
 * "When I first arrived at WABC-TV in New York, I remember looking down Columbus Avenue and beyond&mdash;where it becomes Ninth Avenue at St. Paul's on 59th Street. I remembered my mother telling me that I was baptized there. And I was born only a few blocks farther&mdash;at Childs Hospital, which was torn down to become Power High School, which was torn down to make way for a high-rise apartment house. But that church remains as it has for over a hundred years. I see it every day. A reminder that my life began on the West Side of Manhattan."

--Tinlinkin 08:20, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

Philbin's nicknames
An editor removed the nicknames paragraph with the reason "Philbin's nicknames are not releveant, especially because they are just short forms of his name." The passage in question is:


 * Philbin is frequently addressed by his first name, which means "king" (a nickname of his). His other nicknames include "Reege" (spelling variants "Rege" or "Reeg"), "Big Daddy", "Big Man", and "#1"; the first of the latter three popularized by his former Live co-host Kathie Lee Gifford, the last two by current co-host Kelly Ripa.

I was never happy with the way the paragraph was written. But I feel the nicknames should be included because Philbin is noted for these nicknames. And people refer to him more often by his first name (in casual usage, at least) than his last. What do others think? Tinlinkin 10:38, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

A Big Accomplishment
Hasn't Regis been on television for more hours (overall) than anyone else in the world? I think I saw that fact in the Guiness Book of World Records, but I can't remember, so I didn't write it. Can anyone else verify the fact that he's been on TV more than anyone else? --Rebelkass 20:04, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Isn't that stated in the article? Quote from Regis Philbin:
 * Philbin set a Guinness World Record for "Most Hours on Camera" on his August 20, 2004 Live show (replacing Hugh Downs), which gave him a total of 15,188 hours on television. On the September 14, 2006 episode of Live, his record was updated to 15,662 hours. His on-air time continues to accumulate.
 * I will include a citation within the week unless someone beats me to it. And if this needs to be stated clearer in the article, feel free to improve it. Tinlinkin 02:02, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

If you combine all the television appearances of Bill Smitrovich, Fred Ward, Richard Mull, and Tom Bergeron, then the four of them combined have a record for most television appearances. 206.192.35.125 (talk) 18:25, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Parents names?
Many sources say his parents' names were Florence and Frank (not Jacob and Julia, as the entry says). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.86.152.42 (talk) 15:05, 15 May 2008 (UTC) His NNDB profile states his parents names as Frank and Florence.Werdnawerdna (talk) 03:51, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Died on May 10 2009?
unless it's vandalism--71.177.165.192 (talk) 09:46, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Is Regis Philbin Jewish?
The following sentence appears in the article:

"He later converted to Judaism, and was circumsized at age 24."

The pronoun "he" is ambiguous here, because the assertion that Regis Philbin is Jewish is so peculiar that it is hard to believe that the pronoun refers to him and not somebody else, his father. This assertion requires a citation and the pronoun needs to be disambiguated.

I am tempted to delete this sentence because the fact that it asserts appears absurd on the face of it, but I wanted to post this first to give the editors of the article the opportunity to confirm this fact, since if it is true, it is very interesting. --SLMarcus (talk) 15:45, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

Nikki Minaj
I remove the Nikki Minaj claim. is there any truth to it b/c i cant find any verific sources that i can use tos upport it, so i hae redacted it forthwith until further evidence is bourne out. User:Smith Jones 18:49, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Joey Bishop Show
That paragraph is confusing. It says Philbin was aggravated, but Bishop walked out. I thought Philbin walked out.

Also, it says he gained his first national exposure with the Bishop show in 1967, but the article earlier says he replaced Steve Allen on a show in 1964. Glkanter (talk) 15:05, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

Early Regis TV
All of the biography information I have seen says that Regis started his career as a talk show host in San Diego in the mid-60's. When I first moved to LA in Feb 1963, Regis was on a local channel in the early afternoon. After a few weeks, he vanished. In March or April I moved to San Diego County and there he was! Perhaps his local LA show wasn't considered a talk show... 98.219.100.103 (talk) 14:37, 4 April 2011 (UTC) jingles 4/4/11 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.219.100.103 (talk) 14:34, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Neutral Desription of Political Beliefs
"While coming from a somewhat liberal Bronx upbringing, he has transformed into a barely cloaked right wing Republican..." - This clearly fails the neutral point of view which must be the guiding force in an encyclopedia. A more neutral approach would be "While coming from a somewhat liberal Bronx upbringing, he has become a conservative Republican". Of course, allowing the pendulum to swing the other direction would have the description "While coming from a somewhat liberal Bronx upbringing, he has matured as a conservative Republican..." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.64.0.252 (talk) 17:10, 24 May 2011 (UTC)
 * It's not cited in any case - it's just some editor's opinion. So it's gone. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:41, 24 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks - NPOV tag removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.64.0.252 (talk) 21:33, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Early Regis TV
Regis received another award from the Guinness people on today's LIVE! with Regis and Kelly, which indicated his total hours on tv covers 52 years. This would mean he first appeared on local tv in southern California sometime in 1959, which isn't actually stated in your thorough and interesting bio. Prwhitmey (talk) 19:17, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

God Speed Big Reeg !
Wishing Big Reeg all the best ... CINCG jr IXth 24.45.45.30 (talk) 15:15, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Wishing him the best as well. Superemmy868 (talk) 21:10, 13 March 2013 (UTC)

Miami Dolphins
Did I not hear something correctly? Thought I heard on the radio that Regis Philbin is going to coach the Miami Dolphins for the 2012 season. 206.192.35.125 (talk) 18:20, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I guess it didn't happen. Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 16:25, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

In other sports news, I just saw him on FoxNews talking about joining "Fox Sports News" as it is kicked off: “I’ll be coming over to the new Fox Sports News, one hour every day.” Regis Philbin “We get started August 19.” Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 20:20, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

Albanian
His parents are immigrant from Albania. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.204.69.112 (talk) 16:57, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

Departure from Live!
There's hardly any details in here about his departure from Live! The lead says "After Philbin's contract with Live! with Regis and Kelly was not renewed" but does not go on to elaborate in anyway. Surely the end of a 28 year end run on a popular TV show deserves a little more mention. 71.16.78.252 (talk) 13:57, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

personal section
I removed some irrelevant and unsourced information on his children and grandchildren (example: the birth weight of one of his grandchildren).209.212.5.67 (talk) 19:42, 6 March 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 25 July 2020
Conflicting dates of death 71.203.8.99 (talk) 19:46, 25 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Appears to be "24 July" in all instances here. – Thjarkur (talk) 20:13, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

Nominated for the main page at ITN
-Ad Orientem (talk) 01:15, 26 July 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 27 July 2020
The page notes that his spouse died in 2020. This is an error. Gbouskila (talk) 15:10, 27 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Corrected the entry. I believe "death/died" in the spouse parameter should be indicated only if the spouse's death ended the marriage. MPFitz1968 (talk) 16:09, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

Date of death dispute
Regis died on July 25 2020, according to his cemetery tombstone. I have tried to rectify the error of July 24, numerous times. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.74.111.54 (talk) 17:19, 7 June 2021 (UTC)
 * A pic of the cemetery tombstone in question is found at, which was in one of the IP's edit summaries. It was uploaded to the FindAGrave.com web site, which is not reliable per WP:RSP. The IP also left a link, in another of their edit summaries, to the FindAGrave page with Philbin's information and photos here; in the statistics, above the photos, the date of death they show is July 24, 2020 (inconsistent with the tombstone photo, but reflecting what reliable sources in this article say). The tombstone can be seen as a primary source, but as this has not been verified (as authentic) by independent, reliable secondary sources, we can't accept it as evidence to change the death date as listed in the article. MPFitz1968 (talk) 17:41, 7 June 2021 (UTC)
 * It seems at lest one source (TMZ) has Saturday the 25th as date of death. Eccekevin (talk) 00:18, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Might need additional sources, as it's unclear as to TMZ's overall reliability concerning this kind of information, per WP:TMZ. MPFitz1968 (talk) 00:02, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Absolutely, I am just pointing out that the anonymous IP editor who keeps changing it might be right. It's a tricky situation, when all RS sources might have the wrong date, when the tombstone and maybe one other source might have the right one. Eccekevin (talk) 00:18, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

I have restored the date of death to July 24, 2020, for now, and have tagged the date as disputed in the lede. This date should not be changed back to the 25th unless/until more reliable sources (NOT, absolutely NOT, FindAGrave.com or the pic of the gravestone there) have been established to justify a date change. Even then, there's going to be dispute, as the huge volume of reliable sources already cited go with the 24th at this time. MPFitz1968 (talk) 17:34, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

What I've found from the sources cited to back the date:


 * People - "died on July 24, PEOPLE confirms" (2020)
 * Entertainment Tonight - "Regis Philbin died at the age of 88 last Friday" (July 24, 2020)
 * TMZ - "pronounced dead Saturday" (July 25, 2020) (cite in Eccekevin's post above)
 * South Bend Tribune - "who died Friday of natural causes" (July 24, 2020)
 * Yahoo! News - "who died Friday at the age of 88" (July 24, 2020)
 * another TMZ source, which seems to contradict itself - "who died Friday of heart disease" and "As we previously reported, Philbin [died] early Saturday after suffering a heart attack at his home"

MPFitz1968 (talk) 17:46, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

And other sources scattered about the article:


 * The Sportster - "On Friday, Regis Philbin, best known as a daytime television talk show host, died of natural causes at 88" (July 24, 2020)
 * Forbes - "died on Friday, July 24 at the age of 88"
 * Variety - "the TV veteran who died on July 24 at 88"
 * Catholic Voice Omaha - "Game show and talk show host Regis Francis Xavier Philbin died July 24 at 88"

Should be enough to illustrate the established date of death by reliable sources, though TMZ being the only one in this set right now that says otherwise, and is a questionable source at WP:RSP. MPFitz1968 (talk) 18:13, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

And something more recent, from Today about five months ago (11 months after Philbin's passing), still going with July 24, 2020 as the date of death, which they also did at the announcement of his death as well:

"who died last year on July 24 at age 88"

So it appears to be established well after his passing. Won't go into finding other more recent sources about this; most may say the same thing, but if there is something reliable that says a different date, please share. MPFitz1968 (talk) 19:24, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't think that it's in doubt that most reliable sources say the 24th, that much is clear. This is a clear example of WP:VERIFY: Wikipedia publishes what RS say, not the truth. This might be a case in which the majority of sources have it incorrectly (these publications usually just latch onto others for these details, so it's plausible that a few big sources said 24 and all others went along). But regardless, we have to stick to 24th since the RS say so. I do agree with the note of dispute you added. Ultimately, the most important primary source is the death certificate, and if RS even publish it or correct this, but until then it must stay as is per policy. As a final note, this actually happens often, with Wikipedia publishing the wrong birthday (more often than death day) of celebrities, and then RS using wikipedia as a source and perpetuating a cycle. I found another source too that claims 25, but yes, it seems like the vast majority have the 24th. Eccekevin (talk) 23:06, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

The latest IP edits to the article brought up two sources, both from YouTube, which show the gravestone and the July 25, 2020 date of death. (I went thru the videos to see when the gravestone appears and placed the timestamps in the video URLs.) These stand a better chance at presenting the gravestone as being authentic, rather than just a still photograph. Definitely two independent videos about the gravestone from Notre Dame cemetery, with the latter addressing the question about the date the media has reported as the day Philbin passed. Thoughts? MPFitz1968 (talk) 18:57, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

More on death date
I stumbled on the year-old discussion about Regis' death date above. And since I stumbled across the years long debate about Scott Baio's birth year earlier this year and helped sort it out, i figured I'd take a fresh look here. It appears to me Regis Philbin most likely died on July 25, not July 24 (as the article currently says, based on using RS). And by this, I mean he died after midnight Eastern US Time on July 24. People magazine broke the news of his death before any other outlet, at 3:02pm Eastern US Time (ET) on July 25, 2020. That article starts with a contradiction that is not immediately obvious: "The longtime television host died on July 24, PEOPLE confirms. 'We are deeply saddened to share that our beloved Regis Philbin passed away last night of natural causes, one month shy of his 89th birthday,' his family shares with PEOPLE in an exclusive statement on Saturday." We learn from this text that People learned from a statement from the family that Regis "passed away last night"--which doesn't say whether he died before or after midnight. But it does say "one month shy of his 89th birthday". Regis' birthday was August 25. The most reasonable implication of that statement is that Regis died after midnight on July 24 (thus on July 25). Yes, the PEOPLE article starts by saying he died on July 24, but the family statement which is the source for that claim does not back that up. It is a simple and understandable error made in a rush to publish a breaking story. And the error was repeated broadly. Based on tweets, I can see TMZ was reporting his death by 3:12pm ET (ten minutes later). That original article is missing and appears lumped into an article updated a few times later in the day, which says "A source tells TMZ Regis died early Saturday after suffering a heart attack at his home, possibly the one in Connecticut -- although, we have not confirmed that with the family at this point." I'd say this unnamed source would normally be less trustworthy, but it actually merely confirms the July 25 reading of the family statement. And obviously, we see that his gravestone says july 25. I don't credit a gravestone as always being 100% correct just because someone chiseled something into a rock, but the gravestone also confirms the July 25 of the family statement. Pinging User:MPFitz1968 and User:Eccekevin who did good digging last year. If a death certificate would help clear this up, I'm happy to go look for it.--Milowent • hasspoken 19:28, 24 October 2022 (UTC)
 * I also see the death date has been attempted to be updated to July 25 a number of times by IP address editors. See e.g.,, , ("I am a friend of the Philbin family and know for a fact he died on the 25th of Jul"), , , , , ("I am a family friend"), .  I call this the "grandkid editor" issue. I don't know who these editors are but its not uncommon for a family member to try to fix a date on wikipedia without knowledge of how we do things around here.  You don't see repeated activity like this for no reason.--Milowent • hasspoken  21:09, 24 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Having heard no complaints (though acknowledging people don't hang on Regis' talk page every day, I suppose) I have gone ahead and edited the page to update the death date to July 25. I hope any discussion, should it be necessary, can continue here.--Milowent • hasspoken  18:02, 1 November 2022 (UTC)
 * I support this. Eccekevin (talk) 20:16, 1 November 2022 (UTC)
 * I agree with this discussion, but the page as it stands is written confusingly. There's a clear reference to the idea that his date of death was disputed, but no further reference - just a vaguely conspiratorial statement that "His tombstone states his date of death as July 25, 2020, creating a discrepancy with what was reported in the media." Is a one-day discrepancy really worth remarking upon at all, outside of the talk page? Or did you just keep that statement there to forestall people editing the death date back to the 24th again? N nebulosa (talk) 11:13, 8 March 2023 (UTC)

Proposed merge of Joy Philbin into Regis Philbin
Doesn't seem to have any accomplishments other than being married to Regis Philbin. The two shows she hosted don't have their own articles, and most sources give no mention of her even so much as existing prior to the marriage. Ten Pound Hammer • (What did I screw up now?) 23:41, 16 March 2024 (UTC)


 * you've commented on this page before; any thoughts? Ten Pound Hammer • (What did I screw up now?) 23:33, 5 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Pinging all of you for feedback since you've posted here before. Ten Pound Hammer • (What did I screw up now?) 21:30, 26 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Re-pinging      Ten Pound Hammer • (What did I screw up now?) 20:44, 5 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Support Merge No credible claim to stand alone notability. -Ad Orientem (talk) 21:02, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * After my battle over fixing Regis' death date, I haven't waded back into Regis related issues, so I don't know if Joy merits her own article. I know this is not relevant to notability, but i see it averages 311 page views a day, so some people definitely want to see it.--Milowent • hasspoken  12:07, 6 June 2024 (UTC)