Robin Leach, the host of the popular syndicated television show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, in Las Vegas, April 11, 2014.ALEX FEDEROWICZ/The New York Times News Service
A publicist says Robin Leach, whose voice crystalized the opulent 1980s on the TV show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” has died. He was 76.
Leach’s family said through a public relations firm that he died Friday.
Leach gave frenzied descriptions of yachts, mansions and private jets in his English accent on the syndicated show that ran for a decade.
He signed off by hoping viewers would have “champagne wishes and caviar dreams,” a phrase that became a cultural touchstone.
Leach’s voice was constantly parodied. Both Harry Shearer and Dana Carvey did Leach on “Saturday Night Live.”
Leach began his career as a print journalist in Britain. He came to the U.S. where he wrote for the New York Daily News and People magazine before finding his calling in television.