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Philbin was born in the Bronx, New York City. His father, Francis "Frank" Philbin, a U.S. Marine who served in the Pacific, was of Irish heritage.[12] His mother, Filomena "Florence" (née Boscia), was of Arbëreshë descent. They lived in the Van Nest section of the Bronx.[13] Philbin was raised Roman Catholic.[12] He was supposedly named "Regis" because his father wanted him to attend the prestigious Regis High School. It was long believed that Philbin was 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 (March 1, 1951 – January 27, 2007), who had died from non-Hodgkin lymphoma several days earlier.[14] Philbin said his brother, 20 years younger than he, had asked to not be mentioned on television or in the press.[15]
Philbin attended Our Lady of Solace grammar school in the Bronx,[16] and graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School[1] in the Bronx in 1949 before attending the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated in 1953 with a sociology degree.[14]He later served in the United States Navy as a supply officer, then went through a few behind-the-scenes jobs in television and radio before moving into the broadcasting arena.[14]
In his earliest show business work, Philbin was a page at The Tonight Show in the 1950s.[17] Later, he wrote for Los Angeles talk show host Tom Duggan, and nervously filled in one night when the hard-drinking Duggan didn't show up.[17][18] He also was an announcer on The Tonight Showin 1962.[3] In 1957, Regis left his job as assistant news editor to Baxter Ward at KCOP, Los Angeles to make his fortune in New York. His replacement at KCOP was George Van Valkenburg.
His first talk show was The Regis Philbin Show[1] on KOGO-TV (now 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.
