Robin Leach

Acting · 1941–2018 · Perivale, London, England

Robin Douglas Leach (29 August 1941 – 24 August 2018) was a British entertainment reporter, writer, columnist and TV personality. After beginning his career as a print journalist, first in England and then in the United States, he became best known for hosting the television series Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous from 1984 to 1995. The show focused on profiling well-known celebrities and their lavish homes, cars and other materialistic details.

Full biography

At age 15 he became a general news reporter for the Harrow Observer, and earned £6 a week after graduation. Leach moved on to the Daily Mail as Britain's youngest "Page One" reporter at age 18. In 1963, he emigrated to the United States, though he maintained his English accent throughout his life (which would become a trademark of his when he began working in television years later). He wrote for several American newspapers, including New York Daily News, People and Ladies' Home Journal, before launching GO Magazine in 1967[3] and then became show business editor of The Star.

Leach got his start in television as a regular contributor to AM Los Angeles, with Regis Philbin and Sarah Purcell on KABC-TV. Other television work included reporting for People Tonight, on CNN and Entertainment Tonight and helping start Good Morning Australia, as well as the Food Network. Leach was also a guest at the World Wrestling Federation's WrestleMania IV, where he read the rules for the championship tournament.

Leach hosted an exposé documentary of Madonna – Madonna Exposed – for the Fox network in March 1993. He also hosted the Lifestyles spinoffs Runaway with the Rich and Famous and Fame, Fortune and Romance, along with future Today Show host Matt Lauer. He also served as the public address announcer for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

From 1999, he resided in Las Vegas. He wrote for the Las Vegas Sun and the daily VegasDeluxe.com website from 2008 through June 2016, when he was hired by Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Review-Journal.

On 20 November 2017, Leach had a stroke while on vacation in Cabo San Lucas. He had another stroke on 20 August 2018, and died under hospice care in Las Vegas on 24 August, at the age of 76.