Phil Donahue, Talk Show Pioneer, Dies at 88

LOS ANGELES, CA — Pioneering talk show host Phil Donahue, “the king of daytime talk,” has died following a long illness, according to media reports. He was 88.

Donahue's family told NBC's “Today” show he died on Sunday night surrounded by family.

Donahue, a house hold name in the 70s, 80s and 90s, paved the way for other daytime TV talk show hosts and shows as the first to incorporate audience participation in a talk show, typically during a full hour with a single guest. He interviewed politicians and took on controversial issues of his era including feminism, homosexuality, consumer protection and civil rights, among hundreds of other topics, giving studio audiences and callers a chance to weigh in.

He often interviewed guests telling deeply personal stories. When dealing with controversial subjects, he famously played the devil's advocate, lobbing hard questions while roaming through the audience.

The format set “The Phil Donahue Show” apart from other interview shows of the 1960s and made it a trendsetter in daytime television, where it was particularly popular with female audiences.

“Just one guest per show? No band?” he remembered being routinely asked in his 1979 memoir, “Donahue, My Own Story.”

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.

When the show became syndicated, it dominated daytime talk shows and racked up up 20 Emmy Awards. Donahue won the esteemed Peabody Award in 1980. The show’s last episode aired in 1996 in New York. That year he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award.

By then, Oprah Winfrey was the queen of talk, expanding on Donahue's format with a softer touch.

Donahue returned briefly to television in 2002, hosting another “Donahue” show on MSNBC. The station canceled it after six months, citing low ratings.

This year President Joe Biden awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Donahue, who was cited as a pioneer of the daytime talk show.

Donahue 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.

He was married for 44 years to actress Marlo Thomas. He is survived by his sister, children, grandchildren and "beloved golden retriever" his family told The Monday Show.

Donahue's family has requested donations be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship Fund in lieu of flowers according to the family's statement.

City News Service the Associated Press and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.