The Millionaire - On the drama anthology THE MILLIONAIRE/CBS/1955-60 eccentric billionaire John Beresford Tipton had a peculiar hobby: He gave away a million dollar check-tax free-to total strangers. The checks were delivered by his private secretary, Michael Anthony (Marvin Miller). During the life of the series some $70 million was given away. The first person to receive a check was Amy Moore. She returned the money. Her check was delivered by Mr. McMahon, Tipton's bank executive. TRIVIA NOTE: In the year 2000, Regis Philbin hosted a game show called WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE on the ABC network and routinely gave away close to a million dollars each episode to his contestants. There was a catch. They had to know the correct answers to the multiple choice questions to walk away with the money.