Philip Regan; ‘Singing Cop’ of ‘40s Radio

Philip J. Regan, a popular singer of the 1940s who broke into show business as the “singing cop,” has died. He was 89.

Regan died Sunday in his sleep in Santa Barbara, where he had lived for several years.

A native of Brooklyn, Regan was working for the New York Police Department when fellow officers urged the Irish tenor to enter a talent show. He won an appearance on the George Burns and Gracie Allen radio show, launching a brief but successful career.

In the 1950s, Regan moved into public relations, frequently lobbying and meeting with politicians in Washington on behalf of such clients as Anheuser-Busch and the United Steelworkers Union.

In 1973, he was convicted of trying to buy a Santa Barbara County supervisor’s favorable vote on a condominium rezoning project in Goleta. Hundreds of influential people, including former Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown Sr., wrote letters on Regan’s behalf, urging probation or mitigation of any sentence. Regan served a year in prison for bribery and was later pardoned by Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.

Regan’s wife of 70 years, Jo, died in 1994. He is survived by three of their four children, 18 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in the Santa Barbara suburb of Montecito.

The family has requested that any memorial donations be made to the Motion Picture and Television Fund in Woodland Hills.