Phil Donahue, the groundbreaking host of ‘The Phil Donahue Show’, has passed away at the age of 87. Remembering his legacy and impact on daytime television.
Phil Donahue, the self-styled “king of daytime talk”, passed away Sunday after a lengthy illness. The originator of the genre that eventually gave rise to such personalities as Oprah Winfrey, Montel Jordan and Ellen Degeneres, he was the first to incorporate audience participation in a talk show, dedicating a full hour to interviewing a single guest.
He was born Phillip John Donahue to middle class Irish Catholic parents in Cleveland, Ohio on December 21, 1935.
Almost from the start, Donahue distinguished himself as a scholar and a serious student of humanity. He ranked first in his 1953 graduating class at St. Edward High, a prep school nestled in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood.
He went on to similar stellar achievements at the much-respected University of Notre Dame, earning a business administration degree prior to matriculation in 1957.
Donahue eventually left the Catholic Church, citing personal reasons for doing so in his autobiography — although he stated that “a little piece” of his faith would always be with him.
Donahue’s breakout opportunity came after early jobs he’d held in radio and television led to a chance to host a radio talk show that was moving to WLWD TV’s daytime lineup in Dayton, OH in 1967. The show later moved to Chicago, IL in 1974, eventually finishing its run in New York City.
In 1977, Donahue met actress Marlo Thomas, star of the 1960s TV hit series “That Girl” on his show, eventually marrying her. The show also featured discussions with people from various walks of life — from politicians, spiritual leaders, doctors, homemakers, activists and entertainers who found themselves “passing through” Second City. A frequent guest was his Chicago neighbor, famed humorist and syndicated columnist Erma Bombeck.
Donahue admitted that hitting upon the show’s winning formula was a happy accident. “It may have been a full three years before any of us began to understand that our program was something special,” Donahue wrote. “The show’s style had developed not by genius but by necessity. The familiar talk-show heads were not available to us in Dayton, Ohio. … The result was improvisation. That lent the production a freedom that persisted as it achieved Number 1 status in its genre.
With an amiable style and a head of salt-and-pepper hair, Donahue boxed with Muhammed Ali. He played football with Alice Cooper. His guests gave cooking lessons, taught break dancing and, more controversially, described “mansharing,” being a mistress, lesbian motherhood or — with the help of gathered video that got shows banned in certain cities — how natural childbirth, abortion or reverse vasectomies worked.
An appearance on “Donahue” became a must for important politicians, activists, athletes, business leaders and entertainers, from Hubert H. Humphrey to Ronald Reagan, Gloria Steinem to Anita Bryant, Lee Iacocca to Ray Kroc, John Wayne to Farrah Fawcett-Majors.
Outside of his famous talk show, Donahue pursued several other projects.Most noteworthy among these was a partnership with Soviet journalist Vladimir Posner, presenting a groundbreaking television discussion series at the height of the Cold War of the 1980s. This then-controversial U.S.-Soviet Bridge featured simultaneous broadcasts from the United States and the Soviet Union, where studio audiences asked questions of one another. Donahue and Posner also co-hosted a weekly issues roundtable, Posner/Donahue, on CNBC in the 1990s.
Donahue also co-directed the 2006 documentary “Body of War,” which received an Oscar nomination.https://apnews.com/article/phil-donahue-dead-337b3630524a576407c1119f590d1dd4
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