Jan. 17, 2005
Vegas: Leach's Legacy

By STEVE FRIESS

The Special Collections library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, houses, among other things, an impressive set of Dean Martin memorabilia. "We get many items that other special-collections people would find out of the ordinary," says director Peter Michel. And now it's getting another: more than 400 VHS tapes of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." (The tapes were donated to the journalism school, but the library will house them.) The show's host, rotund Brit Robin Leach, lives in a Vegas mansion once owned by Sacramento Kings owner Gavin Maloof, and continues to shove microphones in the faces of casino-hopping stars for local and national shows at the age of 63; he had the tapes in his vault.

Michel is not sure what scholarly value the gift has. "I have to scratch my head," he says, "although this could be considered a documentation of popular culture." Leach, who will be honored at a party with UNLV's president this week, tells NEWSWEEK that he holds an important place in the annals of "peeking through celebrity keyholes," which can't be argued. From the E! network—which launched by airing "Lifestyles" reruns—to MTV's "Cribs," to InStyle magazine, the Leach format is omnipresent. The tapes, he says, "might improve somebody's editing, writing or broadcast skills."

###