Mike Bongiorno, 85, a TV host who popularized quiz shows for generations of Italians and became a symbol of national television, died Tuesday of a heart attack at his home in Monte Carlo.
Nicknamed "the Quiz King," Mr. Bongiorno was one of Italy's most enduring and beloved TV personalities. His gaffes were legendary and his greeting to viewers - "Allegria!" or "Cheers!" - a trademark.
He appeared on RAI state TV on its first day of programming in the early 1950s and went on to host a series of successful quiz shows - many of them adaptations of U.S. shows. Millions of Italians watched as he asked sometimes impossible questions of his contestants.
Born in New York, Mr. Bongiorno moved to his mother's hometown of Turin Italy as a young boy. During World War II, he took part in the Italian resistance. He was captured by the Gestapo and then deported to a German concentration camp before being freed thanks to a prisoner-of-war exchange.
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