Jerry Springer's Life in Photos

The polarizing TV personality died on April 27 at 79 years old

Jerry Springer's Early Years

Jerry Springer was born in London on Feb. 13, 1944, the son of Richard and Margot, who fled Nazi Germany in 1939. At 5 years old, his parents moved the family (which includes older sister Evelyn) to the U.S., where Springer attended high school in Queens, New York, before moving on to Tulane University in New Orleans and law school at Northwestern.

Jerry Springer's Political Career and Personal Life

In 1969, Springer moved to Cincinnati, where he joined a law firm and took an interest in politics. "I was ticked off about the war," he told PEOPLE in a 1994 interview. After spending some time with the Army at Fort Knox, he joined the city council in 1971 and later became vice-mayor.

In 1973, Springer wed Micki Velten, whom he'd met on a blind date years prior.

However, Springer's personal and professional lives took a tumble in 1974 when it was discovered he'd solicited prostitutes on more than one occasion.

"I realized that I couldn't live my life with that hanging over my head, so I told my wife and my family, and then I told her family," he recounted to PEOPLE. He resigned from his political work, coming clean in a press conference.

In 1976, he and Velten welcomed their only child, daughter Katie. She was born legally blind, deaf in one ear and without nasal passages.

"That's the end of the sad story," Springer told PEOPLE in 1994. "The happy story is that she is a bright, exceptional kid who has really overcome a lot."

''She's pretty much of a ham,'' he added of Katie. ''She probably gets that from me.''

In 1977, despite his past indiscretions, Springer was elected mayor of Cincinnati at just 33 years old. He served for four years, after which he ran for governor; after losing, he joined Cincinnati's WLWT as a commentator, bringing the show to No. 1 in the ratings.

Springer and Velten divorced in 1994. "My heart just wasn't in it anymore," he told PEOPLE at the time.

'Jerry Springer' Debuts on TV

In 1992, Springer moved to Chicago with his eponymous talk show and quickly caught the attention of another Windy City TV celeb: Oprah Winfrey.

According to a 1994 PEOPLE profile, Winfrey offered to show Springer around town — and he asked for her autograph. "This is scary," he shared at the time of going up against daytime talk titans like Winfrey, Phil Donahue and Jenny Jones, among others. "I'm competing against some pretty major people. I don't want to screw up."

Jerry Springer Dominates Daytime TV

He didn't. The show quickly rose in the ratings — often rivaling Winfrey — thanks to its off-color brand of content and on-screen fights.

"Sometimes we have a show, and a hockey game breaks out," Springer joked to PEOPLE in 1995. "I've seen more fights than Ali."

To critics who called the show trashy or even accused it of being fake, he said, "It's entertainment … lighten up."

The show made a celebrity out of bodyguard Steve Wilkos, continued to lead the daytime charge and even found itself the subject of some serious situations, like when a guest was murdered hours after her episode aired in 2000 (her ex-husband was later arrested, charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison).

In 2018, after around 4,000 episodes, the show was quietly canceled.

Jerry Springer on 'Judge Jerry'

In 2019, Springer moved on to his next project, Judge Jerry, which ran for 200 episodes before ending in 2022.

"I love doing it," he told PEOPLE in 2019. "It's the first grown-up job I've had in 30 years." He even revealed that his brother-in-law created his gavel from a tree he chopped down on his property. "It's beautiful," said Springer.

Jerry Springer in Pop Culture

Throughout his career, Springer had cameos in myriad TV shows and movies, from a 1993 spot on Married ... with Children and 1998's V.I.P. (pictured, with Pamela Anderson) to Ringmaster (a 1998 movie based on his life and book of the same name) and more recently, Sharkando 3.

Jerry Springer on 'Dancing with the Stars'

In 2006, Springer took a spin in the ballroom on season 3 of Dancing with the Stars, coming in fifth place with partner Kym Johnson.

In a sweet moment, Springer revealed that he went on the show in part to learn the waltz for his daughter's wedding, calling it, "my king-of-the-world moment." He added to PEOPLE after that particular episode, "Tonight, I danced for an audience of one."

Jerry Springer on 'America's Got Talent'

Springer's reality TV work continued in 2007 when he came on as host of America's Got Talent (here, with David Hasselhoff) for one year.

Jerry Springer's Other Projects

Springer seemingly never stopped moving: he considered Senate runs in 2000 and 2004, and even a run for governor of Ohio in 2018, though never got serious about any.

He hit Broadway in Chicago for a brief run as Billy Flynn in 2007.

In 1995, he even put out a country album, Dr. Talk, inspired in part by his talk show.

"It occurred to me that the themes of country music are consistent with the talk show themes: broken relationships, divorce, cheating, who slept with whose dog," he told PEOPLE at the time. "Basically, country is a talk show put to music."

Jerry Springer on 'The Masked Singer'

Most recently, Springer appeared on season 8 of The Masked Singer in 2022 as the Beetle, going home on episode five.

"I thought my grandson would get a kick out of this," he told EW of joining. "I couldn't think of a reason not to do it. It was just fun."

On April 27, 2023, Springer died at home outside of Chicago following a brief illness. He was 79 years old.

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