Daytime Talk Legend Phil Donahue, Dead At 88

NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Phil Donahue, a pioneer of the daytime tv speak present format, died on Sunday night time, his household mentioned. He was 88.

His household didn’t present a reason for dying for the previous TV star, however mentioned that he had been affected by a “lengthy sickness.”

Born and raised in Ohio, Donahue graduated from the College of Notre Dame in 1957, with a Bachelor of Enterprise Administration diploma and landed his first function within the tv trade that very same yr when he was employed as a manufacturing assistant at Cleveland’s KYW, which operated each a radio and tv station within the Cleveland market.

After relocating to Dayton for a job as anchor of the morning newscast at WHIO-TV, Donahue additionally hosted an interview present Dialog Piece, the place he interviewed figures comparable to presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, boxing legend Muhammed Ali, and linguist/political commentator Noam Chomsky.

In 1967, he launched the Phil Donahue present on the Dayton tv station WLWD and the present was picked up for nationwide syndication three years later. The present would go on to a 29-year-run with greater than 7,000 one-hour episodes and paving the best way for the daytime speak present explosion of the Nineteen Nineties alongside hosts comparable to Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Springer, and Sally Jesse Raphael earlier than lastly coming to an finish in 1996.

Alongside along with his daytime speak present, Donahue hosted co-hosted Pozner/Donahue alongside Russian journalist Vladimir Pozner. The round-table format present mentioned social, political, and cultural points between the Soviet Union and the U.S. till 1997.

In 2002, Donahue returned to the air with a brand new present in MSNBC however the present was short-lived and was canceled, apparently over Donahue’s opposition to the Invasion of Iraq.

With a profession that spanned a long time, Donahue accrued a formidable assortment of accolades, together with 20 Daytime Emmy Awards, together with eight trophies for Excellent Speak Present Host and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.

He was additionally a Peabody Recipient, a member of the Academy of Tv Arts & Sciences Corridor of Fame and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2024.

He’s survived by his spouse Marlo Thomas and 4 kids.