The cast of “Live!” gave an emotional tribute to the late Regis Philbin during Monday’s episode.
Co-hosts Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest honored Philbin, who passed away from natural causes Friday. Philbin hosted “Live!” from 1988 until 2011 when he officially retired from the show.
“It’s been a very difficult and emotional day for all of us at ‘Live,'” Seacrest began. “Kelly, I know a tough weekend for you especially because you worked with our dear friend, a friend that passed away over the weekend, Regis Philbin. A legend on television. A best friend to so many of us who didn’t even know him, across the country.” (RELATED: Regis Philbin Dies At The Age Of 88)
“As people get older, you always know that certain things are inevitable, and passing away is one of those things, but Regis is one of the people that we all believed, I think, would somehow figure out a way around the inevitable,” Ripa added. “It was not in the cards.”
Producer Michael Gelman, who joined the show in 2005, also spoke about Philbin on the show.
“I came to Regis as a kid and he took a chance on me,” Gelman said. “He was responsible for my career, my family, he was there when I met my wife.”
I grew up watching “Live! With Regis and Kelly” and I adored that show. Philbin was the most charismatic person to ever grace a television screen and it was hard to not want to hear everything he had to say.
He will be dearly missed by everyone who got the opportunity to be entertained by him.