Trivia

He was repeatedly proposed (but never nominated) for Life Senatorship in Italy's Parliament.

2007: Received a degree honoris causa in "Television, cinema and multi medial production" from the IULM University.

He was so famous in Italy that, upon his death, condolences were issued by President Giorgio Napolitano, Premier Silvio Berlusconi, Vatican Radio, and Bongiorno's favorite soccer (football) team.

During WWII, he worked for the Italian resistance. He was captured, deported to a concentration camp, and later freed in a prisoner-of-war exchange.

He was born in New York, but moved to Turin, Italy, his mother's hometown, as a child.

Grandfather of Stella, Elia, Luce (Nicolò's children) and Margherita (Michele's daughter). Father-in-law of Tarin Meneghello and Agnese Visconti.

From 1956 until 1961 he was the partner of actress Flora Lillo.

In January 2004, after 50 years of Italian TV and 3,125 episodes of La ruota della fortuna (1987), he was still actively hosting quiz shows and had a relevant position in the hierarchy of Mediaset Group, the Silvio Berlusconi's Television Company.

Mike Bongiorno was an American Italian television presenter. After a few experiences in the U.S., he started working on RAI in the 1950s and was considered to be the most popular host in Italy.

During World War II, he abandoned his studies and joined a group of Italian partisans. He was captured and spent seven months in the San Vittore Prison in Milan and was then deported to a German concentration camp. He was liberated before the end of the war due to an exchange of war prisoners between the United States and Germany. He returned to New York and in 1946 started work at the radio headquarters of Il Progresso Italo-Americano ("The Italian American Progress") newspaper.