TV host Regis Philbin set for heart surgery

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Regis Philbin, the longtime U.S. daytime television personality and former host of the hit game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," said on Monday he will undergo open-heart surgery later this week.

"There's some plaque in some arteries and I got to get it cleaned out," Philbin, 75, told viewers and co-host Kelly Ripa during a regular broadcast of their syndicated talk show "Live with Regis and Kelly."

A spokeswoman for the program said Philbin would be out for at least five weeks as he recovers from the operation.

Philbin said doctors recommended the surgery following tests after he experienced chest pains, shortness of breath and other symptoms of clogged arteries.

He said he had hoped to "get away" with a less-invasive angioplasty procedure, as he had done about 14 years ago, but doctors advised he would be better off with the surgery.

"Darn it, I don't want to do it. Nobody wants to do it, I guess. But they tell me ... it should be the bypass," he said.

Philbin said he had consulted recently with late-night TV host David Letterman, who underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2000.

"He highly recommends it. He would like to do it again, I think," Philbin joked.

Ripa sought to reassure her co-host on the air, recalling that her father and uncles had all emerged from similar surgery in fine condition, and she promised to dress up in a nurse's costume and give Philbin a sponge bath while he's recovering.

"That'll be funny. I'll look forward to that," he said.

Philbin has been a national morning TV fixture since 1989, when he began co-hosting "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee," which became "Live with Regis and Kelly" after Ripa took Kathie Lee Gifford's place as his on-air partner in 2001.

He also helped create a prime-time sensation as host of ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which debuted in the summer of 1999 and helped usher in a new wave of game shows and reality shows to American television. Last summer, he returned to prime time to host NBC's showbiz competition "America's Got Talent."

Reuters/Nielsen