Phil Donahue, Legendary Daytime Talk Show Host, Dies at 88
Phil Donahue, Legendary Daytime Talk Show Host, Dies at 88
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Phil Donahue, Legendary Daytime Talk Show Host, Dies at 88
The Emmy-winning 'Donahue' talk show host and media personality died following a long illness, his family said
By Jill Menze and Dave Quinn Updated on August 19, 2024 10:34AM EDT
Renowned “King of Daytime Talk” Phil Donahue, who created and hosted the The Phil Donahue Show, died on Sunday, Aug. 18 at the age of 88, PEOPLE can confirm.
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In a statement first reported by the Today show on Monday, Aug. 19, Donahue's family said the groundbreaking TV talk show journalist died in his home surrounded by his family including his wife of 44 years — actress Marlo Thomas — as well as "his sister, his children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie."
The statement noted he "passed away peacefully following a long illness."
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Donahue's family requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship Fund.
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Phil Donahue holds Emmy he received as "Outstanding Host"
Phil Donahue. Bettman
Born on Dec. 21, 1935, Donahue grew up in Cleveland and began his media career in the late 1950s in talk radio and television. He started his eponymous talk show in 1967 in Dayton, Ohio. The show gained credibility and acclaim for tackling controversial topics and taking viewers behind bars for a weeklong series at the Ohio state penitentiary in 1971.
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The Phil Donahue Show devoted its hour-long broadcast to single issues including child abuse in the Catholic Church, feminism and race relations, and it was the first to allow audience members to ask guests questions. In 1974, once he relocated the show to Chicago and changed its name to Donahue, the host found his niche while innovating the daytime format.
"When Phil came to Chicago, he found his most important element — the Chicago studio audience," Ron Weiner, the former director of Donahue, told WGN-TV in 2023. "From that point, the program really took off."
Phil Donahue
Phil Donahue. Courtesy of the Donahue Family
Donahue added, "One day, I just went out in the audience, and it's clear there would be no Donahue show if I hadn't somehow accidentally brought in the audience."
The show then moved to New York City in January 1985. While broadcasting live from 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Donahue continued to break new ground in daytime TV, interviewing politicians, activists, musicians, athletes and actors.
He was the pioneering host to tape five episodes in the Soviet Union in January 1987, per the Tampa Bay Times. In March 1990, Donahue interviewed Nelson Mandela in his first appearance on a talk show via satellite from Lusaka, Zambia. The show hosted the leading televised debate between Democratic presidential contenders Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown Jr. in April 1992 — without an audience, moderator or commercial break.
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Muhammad Ali,Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes ,Ken Norton appear on the Phil Donahue show
The Ring Magazine/Getty
Marlo Thomas Celebrates Husband Phil Donahue's 88th Birthday by Toasting a Custom Cocktail with Pals (Exclusive)
Other notable celebrity guests over the years included Sammy Davis Jr., Ralph Nader, Elton John, Gloria Steinem, Gregory Peck, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Dolly Parton, Muhammad Ali, Michael J. Fox, Roseanne Barr, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor and many more.
Donahue went on to win 20 Emmy Awards (10 for outstanding host and 10 for the talk show itself) and pave the way for other daytime hosts such as Geraldo Rivera, Sally Jessy Raphael, Ricki Lake, Montel Williams and Oprah Winfrey — whose show, like Donahue's, had roots in Chicago.
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"If there had been no Phil Donahue show, there would be no Oprah Winfrey Show," Winfrey wrote in the September 2002 issue of O, the Oprah Magazine. "He was the first to acknowledge that women are interested in more than mascara tips and cake recipes — that we're intelligent, we're concerned about the world around us and we want the best possible lives for ourselves."
New York City remained the talk show's home until its final taping after 29 years on air in September 1996. Following a six-year hiatus, its namesake returned to primetime TV in 2002 to host Donahue, an interview-driven program. However, MSNBC canceled the self-titled show in February 2003 due to low viewership, per The New York Times. After the show's cancellation, he wrote, co-directed and produced the 2007 documentary Body of War.
Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas attend the "Hillary" New York Premiere
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
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Donahue married his second wife, Thomas, in 1980 after the two first met in 1977 when she was a guest on his talk show. In a throwback post on Facebook, Thomas shared that "it was instant chemistry." The couple later co-authored th
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