Robin Leach, Television Personality

Inspiration Award (2004)

Winner: Heidi von Beltz (Follow Your Heart Foundation)
Received by: Heidi von Beltz, Founder, Follow Your Heart Foundation

About Robin Leach
From a very early age Robin Leach knew he wanted to be involved in the communications world.  During high school at Harrow County Grammar 20 miles from London, he edited the class magazine at age 11 and the school magazine at 14!  At age 15 he became a general news reporter for The Harrow Observer and started a monthly glossy town magazine at age 17.  Leach moved on to the prestigious Daily Mail as Britain's youngest page one reporter at age 18. In 1963, he emigrated to America and wrote for a number of publications (New York Daily News, People, Ladies Home Journal etc.) before launching GO Magazine and then was show business editor of The Star and Rupert Murdoch's worldwide publications for 10 years.

Leach began his television career simultaneously on KABC-TV in Los Angeles and WABC-TV in New York.  In 1980, he joined CNN's "People Tonight" and also helped launch "Entertainment Tonight" for which he was roving editor for its first three years.  In 1983 Robin created Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous which ran 14 unprecedented years. Leach has produced and hosted over 300 hours of TV series and specials including the ABC-TV daytime series Fame Fortune & Romance.  A new updated look at the world's wealthiest people and their platinum possessions "Life of Liuxury" was  broadcast Winter  2003 on the ABC TV network winning top ratings for the night and more specials are in pre-production.

He hosted  a nightly primetime call-in talk show in 1993 to launch the new Television Food Network, a 24-hour cable channel, for which he also acted as spokesman with cable affiliates until 1998.  His weekend series for The Food Network "Gourmet Getaways" began in 1996 with Leach showcasing the world's greatest vacation resorts and their chefs and recipes.  Episodes of the one-hour series were filmed in North Africa, Hawaii, Europe and Asia. For the 4th consecutive year he hosted MTV's World's Most Expensive Videos Countdown special.  He was celebrity judge on PBS's Masterchefs  series and A&E's Top Ten Celebrity Chefs special.  Leach appeared regularly on the syndicated Extra series..He developed a new live latenight special Penthouse  Vegas which he produced and hosted. Robin joined nine other  Hollywood castaways to brave the wild outback of Australia on ABC’s live primetime  February 03  ratings period  program "I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” which  broadcast over 15 consecutive nights with viewers voting live for their favorites

Leach is also a restaurant/chef consultant and his best selling cookbook, Entertaining With The Rich And Famous in 1992, published by Viking in both hardback and soft cover was followed up by Healthy Lifestyles in October 95.  He previously authored three books.He is a lifetime board member of the NY based City Meals on Wheels charitable home food delivery organization and included in his numerous charitable activities is his work with the Alzheimers charity Keep Memory Alive and the Int'l Myeloma Foundation.  Leach maintains a home in Las Vegas, but more often is traveling the world for his various projects---sometimes 200 days and 250,000 miles a year!