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Once believed to be the major reason for the downfall of Western Civilization, tabloid talk show host/ actor Jerry Springer was born on February 13, 1944, in London, England, in an underground station during the Blitz after his family fled from the Nazis. Jerry attended Forest Hills High School, Tulane University and the Northwestern University School of Law. He also was a political campaign aide for late U.S. senator Robert Kennedy and used to be the Democratic Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. Jerry is most famous for his talk show, which made its debut on Sept. 20, 1991, and which deals with the delicate subjects of adulterers, paternity tests, post-op transsexuals as well as insightful interviews with the Ku Klux Klan, the Nation of Islam and other forms of trailer trash. His film credits include appearances as himself in the movies "Meet Wally Sparks," "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," "Kissing A Fool" and "Sugar & Spice." Jerry also has competed on the third series of "Dancing With The Stars," finishing in fifth place, and starred as himself on "The Simpsons" episode "Treehouse of Horror IX."

Best-known for his long-running and infamously trashy TV talk show, U.K.-born Jerry Springer first entered the public eye as a politician, running a failed congressional campaign and later serving briefly as the mayor of Cincinnati, OH. Springer segued into TV news in the 1980s with a series of on-air editorials before becoming Cincinnati's most-watched anchor on the local NBC affiliate, a gig he held on to until 1993. The Jerry Springer Show premiered in 1991 and was at first a straight-forward political and current-event show. However, before long, Springer upped the sensational aspects of the show in an attempt to boost ratings. And while he garnered plenty of criticism for the lowest-common-denominator antics, the show did indeed become a hit. In 1998, Springer lampooned himself and his show in Ringmaster, a feature film that was met with low box-office performance and unanimous critical panning. He also played himself in a brief appearance in the hit film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. In 2007, after an unsuccessful stab at liberal talk radio, Springer appeared on the fourth season of ABC's hit reality competition Dancing with the Stars. While he was declared one of the season's worst dancers, Springer stuck with the genre, taking over for Regis Philbin later that year as host of the reality talent show America's Got Talent. Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

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