Kathie Lee Gifford’s Sweetest Quotes About Former ‘Live’ Cohost Regis Philbin Ahead of His Death

A perfect TV match. After 15 years as broadcast buddies, Kathie Lee Gifford and Regis Philbin had a special connection.

“Kathie Lee, you want to know the best part of my life, my TV life, was in the 15 years I spent with you from 1985 to 2000,” Philbin said during a surprise April 2019 appearance on the Today show before Gifford’s departure. “We stayed friends through the entire game, and it was a lot of fun. Where you are right now I know you’re going to be moving on to a great new career making movies, and since I’ve seen the first one, I know you’re going to be a great success. I really mean it.”

The former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? host and Gifford cohosted Live With Regis and Kathie Lee (originally titled The Morning Show) between 1985 and 2000 when she decided to leave the longtime ABC series. The It's Never Too Late author ultimately joined the Today show, anchoring a daily broadcast with Hoda Kotb. Philbin, for his part, continued hosting Live with new cohost Kelly Ripa. After the Connecticut native’s retirement in 2011, the All My Children alum continued emceeing the morning talk show with Michael Strahan between 2012 and 2016 and Ryan Seacrest, starting in 2017.

Philbin and Gifford, for their parts, remained close despite rival TV broadcasts, and after leaving Live, the late TV host made frequent cameos on Today.

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Nearly 10 years after Philbin’s TV retirement, Us Weekly confirmed that he died at the age of 88.

“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 wrote in a July 2020 statement. “His family and friends are forever grateful for the time we got to spend with him — for his warmth, his legendary sense of humor, and his singular ability to make every day into something worth talking about. We thank his fans and admirers for their incredible support over his 60-year career and ask for privacy as we mourn his loss.”

Gifford, for her part, has since been candid about the loss of her beloved friend.

“There are no words to fully express the love I have for my precious friend, Regis,” the France native wrote via Instagram upon his death. “I simply adored him and every day with him was a gift. We spent 15 years together bantering and bickering and laughing ourselves silly — a tradition and a friendship we shared up to this very day.”

She added: “I smile knowing somewhere in Heaven, at this very moment, he’s making someone laugh. It brings me great comfort knowing that he had a personal relationship with his Lord that brought him great peace.”

Scroll below for Gifford’s sweetest quotes about the late TV icon:

A perfect TV match. After 15 years as broadcast buddies, Kathie Lee Gifford and Regis Philbin had a special connection.

“Kathie Lee, you want to know the best part of my life, my TV life, was in the 15 years I spent with you from 1985 to 2000,” Philbin said during a surprise April 2019 appearance on the Today show before Gifford’s departure. “We stayed friends through the entire game, and it was a lot of fun. Where you are right now I know you’re going to be moving on to a great new career making movies, and since I’ve seen the first one, I know you’re going to be a great success. I really mean it.”

The former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? host and Gifford cohosted Live With Regis and Kathie Lee (originally titled The Morning Show) between 1985 and 2000 when she decided to leave the longtime ABC series. The It's Never Too Late author ultimately joined the Today show, anchoring a daily broadcast with Hoda Kotb. Philbin, for his part, continued hosting Live with new cohost Kelly Ripa. After the Connecticut native’s retirement in 2011, the All My Children alum continued emceeing the morning talk show with Michael Strahan between 2012 and 2016 and Ryan Seacrest, starting in 2017.

Philbin and Gifford, for their parts, remained close despite rival TV broadcasts, and after leaving Live, the late TV host made frequent cameos on Today.

[sendtonews type="float" key="dZiaxWzamb-2831789-14453"]

Nearly 10 years after Philbin’s TV retirement, Us Weekly confirmed that he died at the age of 88.

“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 wrote in a July 2020 statement. “His family and friends are forever grateful for the time we got to spend with him — for his warmth, his legendary sense of humor, and his singular ability to make every day into something worth talking about. We thank his fans and admirers for their incredible support over his 60-year career and ask for privacy as we mourn his loss.”

Gifford, for her part, has since been candid about the loss of her beloved friend.

“There are no words to fully express the love I have for my precious friend, Regis,” the France native wrote via Instagram upon his death. “I simply adored him and every day with him was a gift. We spent 15 years together bantering and bickering and laughing ourselves silly — a tradition and a friendship we shared up to this very day.”

She added: “I smile knowing somewhere in Heaven, at this very moment, he’s making someone laugh. It brings me great comfort knowing that he had a personal relationship with his Lord that brought him great peace.”

Scroll below for Gifford’s sweetest quotes about the late TV icon:

Philbin sent the A Godwink Christmas actress a surprise video message during her final episode of the Today show, in which he called her a “great” person with whom he shared many fond memories.

The late broadcaster’s message left Gifford in tears, noting she was excited that he and wife Joy Philbin were planning to visit her in Greenwich, Connecticut.

“There has never been anyone like him. And there never will be,” Gifford wrote via Instagram shortly after Regis’ death was announced.

Gifford revealed during an appearance on Today that she saw Regis two weeks before his death.

“After they left [my house in Tennessee], I just thought to myself, ‘Lord, Is that the last time I’m gonna see my friend?’ Cause he was failing, I could tell,” she said at the time. “I then called, of course. I don’t know, something told me the other day when I was in Tennessee, ‘Get on a plane and go home. Get on a plane.’ I didn’t know why, but I had learned to listen to that voice. I got on the plane, came home and immediately heard the news about Regis.”

The Then Came You star continued: “[I] called Joy immediately and talked with her. Yesterday, I drove over to her house with a big vat of frutti di mare and every gift wine I had to give to her and the girls. They were in their living room going through pictures. There were just thousands of pictures. We just reminisced for a little while.”

“Every day was fun with Regis,” the actress recalled during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “He was bigger than life. No one talks about themselves by their own name. He would enter any room — whether it was a huge auditorium or just him and me going to lunch — he would enter going ‘Regis is here!’”

She added: “It was always a party with Reg. He lived to make everybody happy. I think that’s why ultimately he was ready to go from this world. He couldn’t go anywhere and be Regis. He couldn’t make people happy anymore.”

In Ripa’s Live Wire book of essays, published in October, she alleged there was a difficult power struggle with Regis when she joined Live. Gifford, for her part, hoped the former soap star’s accounts weren’t true because of her own fond memories with Regis.

“I just know what Regis was to me, Rosanna,” she told Fox News’ Rosanna Scotto. “He was, [for] 15 years, the best partner I could ever have professionally. But he was my friend. We were dear friends and after I left the show … for the next 20 years we became better friends. Dearer friends.”