By Legendary day time talk show host and format innovator Phil Donahue has died. He was 88.
In a statement from his family, they reportedly indicate Donahue passed away on Sunday night at his New York City home following a long illness.
Donahue hosted a weekday program for nearly three decades and more than 6,000 episodes of the series which ran from 1967 -1996.
The show famously tackled tough topics from alcoholism to abortion and more, Donahue famously moving around with his audience and blending both questions from them and himself with commentary.
For a good chunk of the 1970s and 1980s, he was the most-watched interviewer on daytime TV with around a 9 million viewer average. He was ultimately dethroned when Oprah Winfrey launched her own talk show in the mid-1980s.
In May, he was among those presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and he is survived by his wife Marlo Thomas.
After he had turned 60 and received 11 Daytime Emmys, Donahue called it quits in 1996, and Winfrey presented him with a Lifetime Achievement honor. “I want to thank you for opening the door so wide, wide enough for me to walk through,” she said. “Had there not been a Phil Donahue, I don’t believe there could have been an Oprah.”
Source: THR
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