Phil Donahue, whose pioneering daytime talk show launched an indelible television genre that brought success to Oprah Winfrey, Montel Williams, Ellen DeGeneres and many others, has died. He was 88.
toronto.citynews.ca
The cause has not been disclosed at this time, though his family said in a statement first shared with NBC’s The Today Show that he died Sunday and was suffering from a “long illness.”
He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended college at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He started broadcasting in 1957 at a radio and television station in his hometown.
Donahue was the first to incorporate audience participation in a talk show, typically during a full hour with a single guest.
“Just one guest per show? No band?” he remembered being routinely asked in his 1979 memoir, “Donahue, my own story.”
Phil Donahue, talk show host legend, dies at 88
Talk show host legend and the "king of daytime talk," Phil Donahue, has died. He was 88 years old.
toronto.citynews.ca
The cause has not been disclosed at this time, though his family said in a statement first shared with NBC’s The Today Show that he died Sunday and was suffering from a “long illness.”
He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended college at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He started broadcasting in 1957 at a radio and television station in his hometown.
Donahue was the first to incorporate audience participation in a talk show, typically during a full hour with a single guest.
“Just one guest per show? No band?” he remembered being routinely asked in his 1979 memoir, “Donahue, my own story.”
