Regis Philbin, legendary television host, dies at 88

News Network
July 26, 2020

Washington, Jul 26: Regis Philbin, the iconic television personality best-known for his hosting duties on 'Live!' with co-hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Kelly Ripa, and 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,' has died. The beloved star was 88.

According to People Magazine, the longtime television host died on July 24. His family shared a statement on Saturday, "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 and friends are forever grateful for the time we got to spend with him - for his warmth, his legendary sense of humour, 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," the Philbin family says.

Philbin began his iconic career in 1988, as the host of 'Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee' alongside TV presenter Kathie Lee Gifford. After 15 years, Gifford left the ABC show but the pair remained close after her departure.

In 2001, the franchise became 'Live! with Regis and Kelly', co-starring Kelly Ripa before he left in 2011 after 23 years on-air.

From 1999 to 2002, Philbin also served as the original host of the widely popular game show 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.' In addition, the New York City native's hosting credits include 'Million Dollar Password', the first season of 'America's Got Talent', as well as a reoccurring co-host seat on 'Rachael Ray'.

Born on August 25, 1931, Philbin was raised in the Bronx and graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School in 1949 before attending the University of Notre Dame, where he earned a sociology degree in 1953.

After serving in the Navy, Philbin began his career in show business as a writer and made his way in front of the camera in 1961 with a local talk show in San Diego called 'The Regis Philbin Show'. Then in 1967, he became widely known as Joey Bishop's sidekick on 'The Joey Bishop Show'.

After a string of local talk shows, including 'A.M. Los Angeles' and 'Regis Philbin's Saturday Night in St. Louis', the star moved to New York in 1983 to host 'The Morning Show', which was renamed three years later as 'Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee'.

His accolades include Daytime Emmy Awards for outstanding talk show host for 'Live!' in 2001 and 2011 as well as an outstanding game show host for 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'. He also received a Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Daytime Emmy Awards in 2008.

Throughout his career, Philbin had various health issues. He underwent an angioplasty in 1993, followed by triple bypass surgery due to plaque in his arteries in March 2007. In December 2009, the television personality had his hip replaced.

Married twice, Philbin is survived by daughters J.J. Philbin and Joanna Philbin, whom he shared with his wife of 50 years, Joy Philbin. He was also father to daughter Amy Philbin, whom he shared with his first wife Catherine Faylen. Philbin and Faylen had another child, son Daniel Philbin, who died in 2014.

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News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: After donating to UNICEF to combat COVID-19, actor Kareena Kapoor Khan on Thursday announced that she will also contribute to PM-CARES Fund and Maharashtra's CM Relief Fund along with her husband Saif Ali Khan and son Taimur Ali Khan.

Kareena made the announcement through an Instagram post and also urged others to do their bit by doing whatever is possible.

"We extend our support to the PM CARES Fund and the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (Maharashtra)," read an official statement post by Kareena on Instagram.

"In times like these, every helping hand and every rupee raised matters. Do Help wherever possible," the statement further read.

However, the amount of donation hasn't been revealed in the post.

The star couple has joined a list of celebrities including Akshay Kumar, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal and others who too have extended support to PM CARES Fund to fight against coronavirus.

Earlier on March 31, the 'Jab We Met' actor had announced their contribution to UNICEF, GIVE INDIA and the International Association of Human Values (IAHV).

There are 1764 active coronavirus cases in the country, while 150 people have been cured and 50 have died, as per the Union Health Ministry. 

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News Network
February 12,2020

London, Feb 12: Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen is returning to his art roots with a series of short films at London's Tate Modern art gallery, offering a sensory exploration of black identity.

McQueen, who became the first black director to win the best picture Academy Award in 2014 for "12 Years a Slave", is now based between London and Amsterdam and is focused on championing diversity in the film industry.

Visitors to his new exhibition will be greeted by "Static", a film of New York's Statue of Liberty, scrutinising the iconic symbol from every possible angle at very close range against a deafening backdrop of the helicopter from where the footage was filmed.

"What interests Steve is our view of the world, how humans are trying to represent Liberty," said Fiontan Moran, assistant curator of the exhibition.

"7th Nov, 2001" features a still shot of a body while McQueen's cousin Marcus tells of how he accidentally killed his brother, a particularly traumatic experience for the artist.

"Western Deep" is another visceral work, giving a sense through sights and sounds in an interactive installation of the experiences of miners in South Africa, following them to the bottom of the mine.

"Ashes", meanwhile, is a tribute to a young fisherman from Grenada, the island where McQueen's family originated.

The images of beauty and sweetness filmed from his boat are tragically reversed on the other side of the projection screen, which shows a grave commissioned by McQueen for the eponymous young fisherman, who was killed by drug traffickers.

African-American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson (1898-1976) is honoured in "End Credits".

The film shows censored FBI documents detailing the agency's surveillance of Robeson, read by a voice-over artist, for five hours.

"He is... testing the limits of how people can be documented in an era of mass surveillance," said Moran.

In a similarly militant vein, the exhibition features the sculpture "Weight", which was first shown in the prison cell where the writer and playwright Oscar Wilde was imprisoned.

It depicts a golden mosquito net draped over a metal prison bed frame, addressing the theme of confinement and the power of the imagination to break free.

The show runs alongside an exhibition of McQueen's giant portraits of London school classes, many of which appeared on the streets of London last year.

"I remember my first school trip to Tate when I was an impressionable eight-year-old, which was really the moment I gained an understanding that anything is possible," said McQueen, adding it was "where in some ways my journey as an artist first began".

He recently told the Financial Times newspaper the difference between his art films and his feature films was that the former were poetry, the latter like a novel.

"Poetry is condensed, precise, fragmented," he said. "The novel is the yarn".

The exhibition opens on February 13 and runs until May 11.

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News Network
July 27,2020

Mumbai, Jul 27: Reel life villain Sonu Sood turned real life hero once again, this time by gifting a tractor on Sunday to a farmer in a remote village in Andhra Pradesh to help him till the land. The actor came up with the gift after coming through a video clip on Twitter wherein a tomato farmer in Madanapalle in Chittoor district was seen ploughing the land with his two daughters carrying the yoke on their shoulders.

In his instant reaction, Sood promised a pair of ox to the farmer, but later said the family deserved a tractor. "So sending you one. By evening a tractor will be ploughing your fields. Stay blessed," Sood, who acted as a villain in numerous Telugu films, said in a tweet.

True to his word, a new tractor was delivered to the elated farmer Nageswara Rao at his Mahalrajupalle village by Sunday night. Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, who belongs to Chittoor district, hailed the actor's gesture.

"Spoke with @sonusood ji and applauded him for his inspiring effort to send a tractor to Nageswara Rao's family in Chittoor district. Moved by the plight of the family, I have decided to take care of the education of the two daughters and help them pursue their dreams," Naidu said in a tweet.

Rao's elder daughter completed her Intermediate while the second one passed Class 10. Rao used to run a tea stall in Madanapalle before coronavirus left him out of business. He returned to his native Mahalrajupalle village to take up agriculture once again.

Given his penury, he could not hire either a pair of bulls or a tractor to till the land, when his daughters volunteered to help him on the chores. Their plight went viral on social media following which the actor stepped in with help.

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