Phil Donahue

His most frequent guest was Ralph Nader, for whom Donahue campaigned in 2000. Donahue also briefly hosted a talk show on MSNBC from July 2002 to February 2003. Donahue was one of the most influential talk show hosts and was often referred to as the "king of daytime talk". Oprah Winfrey has said, "If it weren't for Phil Donahue, there would never have been an Oprah Show."[2] In 1996, Donahue was ranked No. Number 42 on TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.[3]

Phil Donahue studied at University of Notre Dame. The recorded working language is American English. Residence is recorded at Manhattan and Cleveland. Works named in the authority record are The Phil Donahue Show. Work by Phil Donahue is recorded in the collections of Museum of Modern Art. Distinctions recorded are Peabody Awards, Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host, Golden Apple Award and Hamptons International Film Festival.

• Name — Phil Donahue • Birth Name — Phillip John Donahue • Born — 21 December 1935 • Birthplace — Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. • Died — 18 August 2024 • Place of death — New York City, U.S. • Occupation — * Talk show host • writer • film producer • Years Active — 1957–2024 • Education — University of Notre Dame (BBA) • Children — 5

Donahue was born on December 21, 1935,[4] into a middle-class, Irish Catholic family in Cleveland, Ohio; his father, Phillip Donahue, was a furniture sales clerk, while his mother, Catherine (née McClory), was a department store shoe clerk.[5] In 1949, he graduated from Our Lady of Angels Elementary School in the West Park neighborhood. In 1953, Donahue was a member of the first graduating class of St. Edward High School, an all-boys college preparatory Catholic private high school in Lakewood, Ohio. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame, with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, in 1957.[7]

Donahue began his career in 1957 as a production assistant at KYW radio and television when that station was in Cleveland. He got a chance to become an announcer one day when the regular announcer failed to show up. After a brief stint as a bank check sorter in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he became program director for WABJ radio in Adrian, Michigan, soon after graduating.[8] He moved on to become a stringer for the CBS Evening News and later, an anchor of the morning newscast at WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio, where his interviews with Jimmy Hoffa and Billie Sol Estes were picked up nationally. While in Dayton, Donahue also hosted Conversation Piece, an afternoon phone-in talk show from 1963 to 1967 on WHIO radio. In Dayton, Donahue interviewed presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, late-night talk show host Johnny Carson,[9] human rights activist Malcolm X, and Vietnam war opponents including Jerry Rubin.[10] In Chicago and New York City, Donahue interviewed Elton John,[11] heavyweight boxing champions Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier,[12] and author and political activist Noam Chomsky.[13]

• Illustration — Donahue (right) with guest Johnny Carson in August 1970 On November 6, 1967, Donahue left WHIO, moving his talk program with The Phil Donahue Show on WLWD (now WDTN), also in Dayton. Initially, the program was shown only on other stations owned by the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation (which would later take the name of its parent Avco Company), which also owned WLWD. But, in January 1970, The Phil Donahue Show entered nationwide syndication. Donahue's syndicated show moved from Dayton, Ohio, to Chicago in 1974; then in 1985, he moved the show to New York City.[14] Ιn 1975, Donahue interviewed the Nazi regime's minister of armaments Albert Speer, some nine years after October 1966, when the convicted war criminal was released from prison.[15] The almost one-hour-and-a-half interview was filmed in Speer's home, in Heidelberg, and broadcast in two parts, on November 20 and 21, 1975.[16] While hosting his own program, Donahue also appeared on NBC's The Today Show as a contributor, from 1979 until 1988.[17] After a 29-year run—26 years in syndication and nearly 7,000 one-hour daily shows—the final original episode of Donahue aired on September 13, 1996.[18]

• Illustration — Donahue during a 1980 episode In the 1980s, during the Cold War period of openness by the USSR, Donahue and Soviet journalist Vladimir Pozner co-hosted a series of televised discussions, known as the U.S.–Soviet Space Bridge, among everyday citizens of the Soviet Union and the United States.[19] It was the first event of its kind in broadcasting history: Donahue hosted an audience in a U.S. city while Pozner hosted an audience in a Soviet city, all on one television program. Members of both audiences asked each other questions about both nations. While the governments of both nations were preparing for the possibility of nuclear war, Donahue said: "We reached out instead of lashed out." From 1991 to 1994 Donahue and Pozner co-hosted Pozner/Donahue, a weekly, issues-oriented roundtable program, which aired both on CNBC and in syndication.[20] His wife Marlo Thomas created a children's version in 1988 entitled Free to Be... A Family. Donahue and Pozner became long-time friends after the experience.[21]

In July 2002, Donahue returned to television after seven years of retirement to host a show called Donahue on MSNBC.[22] On February 25, 2003, MSNBC canceled the show.[23][24] Soon after the show's cancellation, an internal MSNBC memo was leaked to the press stating that Donahue should be fired because he opposed the imminent U.S. invasion of Iraq and that he would be a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war"[25] and that his program could be "a home for the liberal anti-war agenda".[26] Donahue commented in 2007 that the management of MSNBC, owned at the time by General Electric, a major defense contractor, required that "we have two conservative (guests) for every liberal. I was counted as two liberals."[27]

In 2006, Donahue served as co-director with independent filmmaker Ellen Spiro for the feature documentary film Body of War. The film tells the story of Tomas Young, a severely disabled Iraq War veteran and his turbulent postwar adjustments. In November 2007, the film was named as one of fifteen documentaries to be in consideration for an Oscar nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[28]

In June 2013, Donahue and numerous other celebrities appeared in a video showing support for Chelsea Manning.[29][30] Donahue was interviewed for the documentary film Finding Vivian Maier (2013), about the posthumously recognized American street photographer and an acquaintance of his from the 1970s.[31] On May 24 and 25, 2016, Donahue spoke at Ralph Nader's "Breaking Through Power" conference at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.[32][33]

• Illustration — Marlo Thomas and Donahue in February 2012 In 1958, Donahue married Margaret Cooney and they had five children – Michael, Kevin, Daniel, Mary Rose, and James. They divorced in 1975, after which Margaret returned to her native New Mexico, remarried, and retired from public view.[37] The family had lived in Centerville, Ohio, across the street from Erma Bombeck, a humorist who would become one of his contemporaries as a national voice in the 1970s and 1980s.[38] For a brief period in the 1970s, Donahue employed photographer Vivian Maier as a nanny for his children. Donahue married actress Marlo Thomas on May 21, 1980.[39] He and Thomas had no children together. In 1999, Donahue was considered as a host for the game show Greed along with Keith Olbermann, but Chuck Woolery was hired instead.[40] Regarding his religion, Donahue had stated: "I will always be a Catholic. But I want my church to join the human race and finally walk away from this anti-sexual theology." He also said that he is not "a very good Catholic", and that he did not think it was necessary to have his first marriage annulled.[41] He had expressed admiration of Pope Francis.[42] In early August 2014, Donahue's youngest son, James Donahue, died suddenly at the age of 51 due to a ruptured aortic aneurysm.[43]

Donahue died following a long illness at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, on August 18, 2024, at the age of 88.[45][46]

In 2020, Donahue was portrayed by Tom O'Keefe in the TV series Mrs. America.

Phil Donahue was recorded at birth as Phillip John Donahue. He also worked under the name Phil Donahue. The authorities additionally record the heading Phillip John Donahue. His recorded language was American English. His recorded confession was Catholicism. He married Marlo Thomas.

Phil Donahue is recorded with the occupation television presenter. Recorded with the occupation talk show host. Recorded with the occupation film director. Recorded as having received Peabody Awards, Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host and Golden Apple Award. Within the Encyclopedia. Connected to 1 other published record in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.