LAS VEGAS- Robin Leach, the debonair TV host who regaled audiences with talk of “champagne wishes and caviar dreams,” has died, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
He was 76.
John Katsilometes, a writer for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where Leach was working as a columnist before his death, said on Twitter Leach had suffered a stroke and had been hospitalized since November.
Born in London, Leach was a veteran journalist best known for his syndicated TV show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” which ran from 1984 to 1995.
Leach’s family issued a statement to the Review-Journal confirming his death.
“Despite the past 10 months, what a beautiful life he had. Our Dad, Grandpa, Brother, Uncle and friend Robin Leach passed away peacefully last night at 1:50 a.m.,” the family said in a statement. “Everyone’s support and love over the past, almost one year, has been incredible and we are so grateful.”
Leach began his career in newspapers, writing for the Daily Mail, People and the New York Daily News. He moved to the U.S. in the early 1960s becoming editor of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid Star. He later helped launch “Entertainment Tonight,” through Paramount Television, before co-creating and hosting “Lifestyles.”
In a 2016 interview with the Hollywood Reporter when he joined the paper, Leach said, “It’s been a good life, and it’s always been a good life. I have been rewarded very nicely.”
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