Phil Regan

They didn't call handsome Irish-American tenor Phil Regan the "singing cop" for nothing. Before he became a radio star and occasional movie actor, Regan had been a New York City Police Department detective. Regan switched professions after an assignment to guard a vaudeville party led to his showing off his talents as a singer and piano player to the party goers. A radio producer overheard the Brooklyn-born gumshoe and soon had him performing on radio and television. He began his off-and-on film career in 1934 with The Personality Kid. After a few years at Warner Bros. as a substitute for Dick Powell, Regan moved to Republic, where he enjoyed leading assignments in such musicals as Manhattan Merry-Go-Round (1937) and She Married a Cop (1939). In the 1940s, he starred in a handful of Monogram tunefests, including Swing Parade of 1946. Phil Regan's last screen appearance was a guest spot as himself in MGM's Bert Kalmar-Harry Ruby musical biopic Three Little Words (1950) where he performed alongside Fred Astaire and Red Skelton. In 1951, Regan hosted the Phil Regan Armed Forces Show on radio. During Ronald Reagan's first bid for the California governship, Phil Regan was a staunch supporter and headed Reagan's Democratic political group. In the latter '50s, Regan retired from performing and became a public relations representative.He passed away in 1996 in Santa Barbara. Ca.