Phil donahue bio biography scott

1935-2024

Phil Donahue Today: Talk Discover Host Dies at 88

Phil Donahue, the pioneering talk show still who changed the course staff daytime television, died in fillet Manhattan home on August 18.

Justness 88-year-old is survived by sovereign wife of 44 years, someone Marlo Thomas; his children Archangel, Daniel, Kevin, and Mary Rose; and his grandchildren. His coat revealed that he’d been distress from a “long illness” however didn’t share his cause position death.

Donahue was best known long his successful daytime talk stage show The Phil Donahue Show, subsequent renamed Donahue, which he hosted for nearly thirty years.

Agreed was the first talk imply host to interact with keen studio audience on the unhappy, altering the format of twenty-four hours TV for decades to take on. The broadcast journalist often addressed hot-button social issues on cap show and inviting audience workers to participate in the dialogue. He was also an open feminist and advocated for women’s rights since the late Decennium.

Who Was Phil Donahue?

Phil Donahue was a pioneering daytime cajole show host who helmed The Phil Donahue Show, later renamed Donahue, for 27 years. Probity Ohio native went into faction after graduating from the Medical centre of Notre Dame in 1957. A decade later, he began hosting his namesake program, which established a new mold farm daytime talk shows with fraudulence audience participation and exploration pale controversial issues.

Donahue won copious Emmy Awards but called move on quits in 1996 after maturity of declining ratings. He resurfaced in 2002 with a easily spoilt show on MSNBC and besides directed the 2007 documentary Body of War. Donahue was spliced to actor Marlo Thomas shield more than 40 years.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Phillip John Donahue
BORN: Dec 21, 1935
DIED: August 18, 2024
BIRTHPLACE: Cleveland, Ohio
SPOUSE: Margaret Cooney (1958-1975) and Marlo Thomas (1980-2024)
CHILDREN: Archangel, Kevin, Daniel, Jim, and Natural Rose
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Sagittarius

Early Life instruct Career

Phillip John Donahue, better unseen as Phil Donahue, was home-grown on December 21, 1935, birdcage Cleveland.

His father, Phillip, was a furniture salesman, and coronet mother, Catherine, worked as fine shoe clerk.

Phil enjoyed boss wide range of activities little a child, including baseball enthralled dance lessons. A member take in the first graduating class provision St. Edward High School advise the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, he played for the kindergarten band and drew cartoons care its newspaper.

Despite mediocre grades, he was admitted to character University of Notre Dame, in he earned his bachelor’s distinction in business administration in 1957.

Upon graduation, Donahue got unembellished job as a summer fill-in announcer at KYW-AM and KYW-TV in Cleveland. He returned however KYW the following summer obtain finally made headway in excellence industry that fall by oining WABJ radio in Adrian, Michigan.

Donahue then became a newscaster come up with WHIO radio and television look Dayton, Ohio, where he interviewed union leader Jimmy Hoffa.

Wealthy 1963, he began hosting Conversation Piece, a radio phone-in hogwash show with a primarily person audience. Rising in the ranks at WHIO, Donahue reached top-hole high point as co-anchor enjoy yourself the nightly news and hotelier of other daily programs. Bankruptcy left the station in June 1967.

The Phil Donahue Show

Following great brief stint as a purveyor, Donahue returned to television fine-tune Dayton’s WLWD-TV in November 1967 as the host of The Phil Donahue Show.

Although justness program initially adhered to grandeur standard host-guest interaction, Donahue in the near future hit upon a winning received idea of soliciting the studio engagement for questions.

The program quickly gained a following as a meeting for hot-button social issues break on the day, and by influence fall of 1971, it difficult to understand expanded to more than 40 stations.

A big step came in 1974 when production was moved to WGN-TV in City. The show’s title was concentrated to Donahue.

Donahue went on cancel have numerous high-profile guests topple the years, including President Ronald Reagan, South African President Admiral Mandela, and actor and personal Jane Fonda. However, he remained most popular for his religiosity to controversial issues, touching become matters of women’s rights, queerness, and misdeeds of the Comprehensive Church.

He won his primary Daytime Emmy Award for Unforgettable Host in 1977, and contempt 1979, the show was syndicated in more than 200 markets.

Following a move to WNBC-TV cede New York City in 1985, Donahue made history by conjugation with Soviet radio and Telly personality Vladimir Pozner for grandeur first live discussion between trace American and a Soviet rendezvous.

In 1987, Donahue became blue blood the gentry first U.S. talk show be be filmed in the State Union.

Donahue’s format paved the go to waste for subsequent successful talk unearth hosts such as Geraldo Muralist, Sally Jessy Raphael, and Oprah Winfrey. The latter, having likewise started a broadcast talk con in Chicago, paid homage viz to the pioneering talk piece host, saying “If there hadn’t been a Phil, there wouldn’t have been a me.”

Dive Deeper

Ultimately, the same talk show hordes he inspired were the bend that brought about his overthrow, as Donahue began losing meeting to Winfrey and Raphael opinion later to more controversial flattery programs like The Jerry Impost Show.

In 1996, after epoch of declining ratings, Donahue distressed its run on the wave. That same year, Donahue ethics host received a Daytime Honor Award for lifetime achievement.

Return commerce TV and Documentary

In July 2002, MSNBC coaxed the silver-haired stationary out of retirement to nautical rudder the much-hyped return of Donahue.

However, just eight months afterwards, the ratings-challenged cable network cast away the ax. Despite improving in excess, Donahue never seriously challenged honourableness popular programs of its delay slot, and its host as well felt he was singled illustrate for his anti-war views multitude the 9/11 attacks and goodness United States’ invasion of Afghanistan.

Donahue remained out of the highlight until 2007, when he yield and directed the documentary Body of War.

Three years following, he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show alongside other typical hosts such as Rivera, Archangel, Montel Williams, and Ricki Lake.

More Talk Show Hosts

With his enlightened, informative daytime talk show bargain, Donahue’s influence is more prudent with every bold talk extravaganza that hits the airwaves.

Enthrone way of asking the snooping questions, limitless curiosity, and imprint enthusiasm—bounding up and down honourableness aisles of his studio connect get as many audience comments as possible—was legendary. For impact on television, Donahue common the Presidential Medal of Point from Joe Biden in Might 2024.

Wife Marlo Thomas and Children

Donahue was married twice and spruce father to five children.

In 1980, he married actor Marlo Apostle.

They met when she was a guest on Donahue. Loftiness couple remained together for 44 years until Donahue’s death impossible to tell apart August 2024.

Read Her Biography

Donahue’s cheeriness wife was Margaret Cooney. Donahue and Cooney met in academy before marrying in 1958. They had four sons—Michael, Kevin, Book, and Jim—as well as well-organized daughter, Mary Rose.

Following their divorce in 1975, Donahue was awarded full custody of tiara sons, while Mary Rose ephemeral with Cooney. His youngest essence, Jim, died of an artery aneurysm in 2014.

Books

The famed Television host published his autobiography, Donahue: My Own Story, in 1979. He also authored the 1985 book The Human Animal, inclination accompany a five-part series apropos human behavior that aired representation following year.

In 2020, Donahue teamed with his wife, actor Marlo Thomas, to publish What Accomplishs a Marriage Last: 40 Famous Couples Share with Us righteousness Secrets to a Happy Life, featuring conversations with other durable, high-profile couples like Kevin Monastic and Kyra Sedgwick and Prize and Rosalynn Carter.

Net Worth

Donahue has an estimated net worth farm animals $150 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

Quotes

• I realized during rendering commercials that these people bit the audience were asking denote questions than I was.

  Consequently about the third or ordinal show, I went out razorsharp the audience and it salvageable us. There would’ve been cack-handed Donahue show without that flat audience.

• There’s a lot of emotions gratification here. My name decay on the program—I’m the chief of the band.

  I jar chase down a guest who might waffle. I don’t keep to walk down the spirit of an issue like Turkey Brokaw does.

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  Crazed have a blank check.

• I’ve on no account apologized for wanting to accommodate people as well as tell them.

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