Dubbed ‘the king of daytime talk,’ Donahue was the first to incorporate audience participation in a talk show, typically during a full hour with a single guest
Phil Donahue attends a benefit gala for the 50th anniversary of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 7, 2012.Phil Donahue , whose pioneering daytime talk show launched an indelible television genre that brought success to Oprah Winfrey, Montel Williams , Ellen DeGeneres and many others, has died. He was 88.
Later renamed “Donahue,” the program launched in Dayton, Ohio, in 1967. Donahue’s willingness to explore the hot-button social issues of the day emerged immediately, when he featured atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair as his first guest. He would later air shows on feminism, homosexuality, consumer protection and civil rights, among hundreds of other topics.
The show’s last episode aired in 1996 in New York, where Donahue was living with his wife, actress Marlo Thomas. He met Thomas, the “That Girl” star of the 1960s who was a household name at the time and would later become a regular on “Friends,” when she appeared on his show in 1977.“You are really fascinating,” Donahue told Thomas, grasping her hand. “You are wonderful,” Thomas said back.
He was born Phillip John Donahue on Dec. 21, 1935, part of a middle-class Irish Catholic family in Cleveland. They moved to Centerville, Ohio, when Donahue was a child.
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