Phil Donahuethe celebrated King of Daytime Talk, who changed the direction of talk television for nearly three decades as host of the syndicated “The Phil Donahue Show” and later the renamed “Donahue,” died Sunday night (Aug. 18) after a long and unspecified illness. He was 88 and was surrounded by his family, including his wife of 44 years, the actor, producer, author and social activist Marlo Thomas.

From 1969, when his show began airing nationally, until it was canceled in 1996, Donahue was the undisputed pioneer of a type of television debate that for the first time made interaction with the studio audience a regular part of the program. That audience was made up predominantly of women whose opinions were taken seriously. Both “Phil Donahue” and “Donahue” were deliberately shaped by controversial, issue-based topics. He was the first to give a voice to gay rights activists, feminists and anti-war protesters, as well as supporters and opponents of abortion rights. Everyone who came on the show was respected, even porn stars and members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Drawing on an inviting, curious and nonthreatening journalistic style, the silver-haired Donahue’s interviews were penetrating and comprehensive, powerful without being angry or argumentative. He limited his shows to a single subject and usually a single guest. He carried a handheld microphone and bounced from one audience member to the next like a pinball. With high energy, he turned his shows into town hall meetings, giving both sides equal time and focusing on intelligent discussion.

Oprah Winfreywhose own talk show began airing nationally in 1986, thanked Donahue in a post on X on Monday: “There would have been no ‘Oprah Show’ if Phil Donahue hadn’t been the first to prove that daytime talk shows and women’s viewing should be taken seriously,” she wrote. “He was a pioneer. I’m glad I was able to thank him for that. Rest in peace, Phil.”

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In fact, Donahue was a pioneering trailblazer who spawned a whole series of imitators and quasi-imitators on the morning talk show, including Sally Jessy Raphael, Maury Povich, Montel Williams, Jerry Springer, Jenny Jones, Ricki Lake, Geraldo Rivera, Rosie O’Donnell And Ellen DeGeneresBut while some of these shows degenerated into circus-like tabloid spectacles, Donahue never lapsed into the more down-to-earth style. It remained a thinking-people show until the end of its run.

Donahue’s tone, energy and intelligence not only made him a very wealthy man (at the height of his success, he reportedly earned $20 million a year in salary alone); they also helped him get a wife. Donahue met the woman who would be by his side for exactly half of his 88-year life, Thomas, when she was a guest on his show in 1977. He later said it was love at first sight, and that was evident in their electrifying on-air interaction. “You really are fascinating,” Donahue said to Thomas, taking her hand. “You’re wonderful,” Thomas replied. “You’re loving and generous, and you like women, and it’s a pleasure.”

Sheri Singerwho worked on “Donahue” for seven years (1975-1982), first as an associate producer and later as a producer (he won a Daytime Emmy in 1981), recalls being the go-between who initially found Cupid’s arrow its target. “When I picked up Marlo at the end of the live show, she said to me, ‘You know, whoever the woman is in his life, she’s really lucky. Is he dating anyone?’ I remembered Phil being in a casual relationship with someone, but I told her, ‘No, he’s not dating anyone.’ She called a few hours later and asked if she could talk to him. I walked across the hall and asked Phil if that was OK. The rest is history.”

The couple married in 1980 and Thomas became stepmother to the five children (four sons and a daughter) Donahue had fathered in his first marriage.

Donahue was born on December 21, 1935, grew up in Cleveland and began his media career in talk radio and television in the late 1950s. He began his eponymous talk show in Dayton, Ohio, in 1967 before moving the show to Chicago in 1974. Soon, all manner of top entertainers, activists, business leaders, athletes and politicians were jostling to share the microphone with Donahue, from Muhammad Ali To Alice Cooper To Ronald Reagan, John Wayne And Farrah Fawcett. But more than the celebrities, it was the studio audience that proved to be the star of “Donahue” and its most important innovation. He once told WGN-TV, “One day I just walked into the audience and I realized that there would have been no ‘Donahue’ show if I hadn’t somehow inadvertently brought the audience in.”

That was too modest a way of putting it. Donahue gave himself too little credit, because it took a host with his combination of warmth and insight to pull it off so perfectly. Donahue never insulted your intelligence, nor did he try to boost the audience. His interest in the subject always seemed absolutely genuine. That is a major reason why he was given permission to record five episodes in the Soviet Union – in collaboration with Soviet journalist Vladimir Pozner – in January 1987, as well as an interview with the anti-apartheid activist and later South African President Nelson Mandela in March 1990 during Mandela’s first talk show appearance shortly after his release from prison, transmitted via satellite from Lusaka, Zambia.

Donahue was also considered the first television presenter to present a person with AIDS in the early 1980s, when the number of cases was only a few hundred. And he never shied away from a good debate. When the consumer advocate Ralph Nader His show not only covered the topic of automobile safety, but he also invited the recently retired president of General Motors to make a guest appearance.

Singer said Monday that Donahue was unusually generous. When he wrote his autobiography in 1979, several of the show’s staff contributed to various chapters. Donahue divided the substantial amount of money raised from the book’s sales evenly among those involved, something he obviously didn’t have to do.

“That’s how I bought my first house,” she remembers.

Additionally, Singer – who has had a long and successful career as a television and film producer and executive with 45 films to her credit – praised Donahue for being “the most perfect human being I’ve ever known.” She added, “Not only was he a great boss, but he changed my life. He changed the direction of my career. He changed my worldview and helped shape my values ​​growing up.”

Donahue has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award 20 times, won nine Emmys as host of his show, and received a Daytime Emmy Life Achievement Award in 1996. He was also honored with a Peabody Award in 1981 and inducted into the TV Academy Hall of Fame in 1993. Finally, Donahue was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Biden in May.

Survivors are his wife, his children Michael, Daniel, Kevin And Mary Roseand a sister.

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