Phil Donahue, Iconic Talk Show Host, Dies at 88
Phil Donahue, the influential talk show host, has died. He was 88.
Donahue’s death was confirmed in a statement from his family to the media. The statement reads, “Groundbreaking TV talk show journalist Phil Donahue died Sunday night at home surrounded by his wife of 44 years Marlo Thomas, his sister, his children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever Charlie. Donahue was 88 years old and passed away peacefully following a long illness.”
Details regarding his long illness were not immediately disclosed.
Donahue was best known for his nationally syndicated talk show, aptly named The Phil Donahue Show, which was later renamed to Donahue. The talk shows ran from November 1967 to September 1996. The Phil Donahue Show started as a local talk show on Dayton, Ohio’s WLWD. In 1970, three years after debuting, the talk show was nationally syndicated.
Donahue was the first talk show host to interact with his studio audience. He also didn’t shy away from the controversial topics of the day and used his hour-long show to focus on a singular topic with multiple guests. This format went on to be the structure for many talk shows that followed, including The Oprah Winfrey Show.
In 2002, Oprah published an interview with Donahue in her O Magazine. In the preface of the interview, Oprah wrote, “If there had been no ‘Phil Donahue’ show, there would be no ‘Oprah Winfrey’ show. He was the first to acknowledge that women are interested in more than mascara tips and cake recipes—that we’re intelligent, we’re concerned about the world around us, and we want the best possible lives for ourselves.”
In that interview, Oprah asks Donahue, “You were the first to recognize that women had concerns that no one else in television acknowledged. Was that conscious?” Donahue responded, in part, “I’d like you to think I’m a visionary, but no. The people around me who were making decisions about who we had on the show were women … I started complaining less about the ideas women brought me. When we looked up, we discovered we were doing something nobody else was.”
Donahue has been married to actress Marlo Thomas since 1980. Prior to marrying Thomas, Donahue was married to Margaret Cooney from 1958 to 1975. Donahue and Cooney had five children. Their youngest child, James, died suddenly in 2014 at age 51 from a ruptured aortic aneurysm.
Donahue was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden in 2024.
