Bulwark of paternity tests and lifetime supporter of getting out-of-control kids under control, talk show host Maury Povich has more than four decades inside the sordid culture study that is daytime TV.

Born Maurice Richard Povich in 1939, he attended the Lando school in 1957 before graduating from the University of Pennsylvnia in 1962 with a degree in television journalism. Povich garnered claim and recognition early on as co-host of popular D.C. talk show Panorama in ‘67. He continued to build the Povich brand from 1977-1983 as a news anchor in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Philadelphia before returning to Washinton D.C. In 1986, Rupert Murdoch brought Povich to New York to host the tabloid-style talk show, A Current Affair. The show aired from 1986-1990 and while sensational, it retained a thin slice of "compelling human interest" that kept it out of the TV-trash genre.

Next came his biggest success to date: The Maury Povich Show (renamed Maury in 1998). Originally produced by MoPo productions in association with Paramount, it later changed hands and received an NBC Universal makeover. Airing for over 21 seasons, it has outlived many of its competitors in the daytime talk show genre, and in 2012 it showed the highest ratings increase it has seen in over five years. Povich frequently makes the list of higest paid TV personalities, bringing in over 7 million a year. Throughout it's history the show has tackled such hard hitting topics as cheating spouses, out-of-control kids, overly controlling spouses, the plight of little people, the plight of regular people with weird phobias, and most importantly: paternity tests.

Povich has been married to news anchor Connie Chung since 1984; they adopted their son Matthew Jay in 1995. He has two daughters from a previous marriage to Phyllis Minkoff.

[Image via Getty]