Robin Leach

 

"Champagne wishes and caviar dreams."

Robin Douglas Leach was born in London, England on August 29, 1941.  As a young man, he attended the Harrow County School for Boys, where he first became interested in journalism, serving as editor of the school newspaper.  By the time he was 15, he was already a news reporter for the local paper.

When he was 18, Leach went to work for the Daily Mail, the same British tabloid that shows up on your Facebook page every day.  He was the youngest "Page One" reporter on staff, a record he still holds to this day.  Four years later, he emigrated to the United States (legally), where he went to work for such publications as the New York Daily News, the Ladies Home Journal and People.  He later became Show Business Editor for that classic American tabloid The Star.  

In the 1970s, he began appearing on television, as a regular contributor on AM Los Angeles, hosted by Regis Philbin and Sarah Purcell.  From there, he went national, reporting for both CNN and Entertainment Tonight. 

In 1984, he began hosting the show for which he is most famously associated, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.  It ran in syndication for the next twelve years, making Leach a household name.  When the show was canceled in 1995, he'd stay in the public spotlight, appearing as himself on such programs as Boy Meets World, The Surreal Life, and Celebrity Wife Swap, wherein his wife Judith went to live with Eric Roberts, whose wife Eliza visited Leach at his home in Las Vegas.

In 2017, Leach suffered a stroke while on vacation in Cabo San Lucas.  He'd never fully recover, eventually ending up in hospice care, where he suffered a second stroke in 2018.  By now the clock was ticking, and he ultimately passed on August 24th.  He was just 76 years old.

Robin Leach was laid to rest at Palm Memorial Park in Las Vegas.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• In 1994, Leach co-authored a celebrity cookbook with the ridiculous title The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Cookbook: Recipes and Entertaining Secrets From the Most Extraordinary People in the World.  Pick up a copy from Amazon.
  
  
• In 1988, the producers of the ABC sit-com Sledge Hammer! asked Leach to introduce their first season finale, where he bluntly told the audience it was a ratings grab, which ultimately worked.  Check it out on YouTube.
  
  
• In 1993, Leach hosted an unauthorized documentary of the material girl herself entitled Madonna Exposed.  Before the program aired, he gave Madonna a cell phone number, inviting her to call in at any point to refute the show's claims, which she did not.  You can watch the film in its entirety on YouTube.
  
  
• Palm Memorial Park is also the final resting place of comedian Redd Foxx, previously profiled by this blog.