Phil Donahue, whose daytime talk show "Donahue" ran for three decades and paved the way for the shows of the current generation, died Sunday at his Manhattan home Sunday at the age of 88.
An announcement from his family, including former actress and his wife of 44 years, Marlo Thomas, announced his passing late Sunday night.
The show also known as the Phil Donahue Show ran for 29 seasons (1967-1996). Show hosts like Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jesse Raphael and Montel Williams following in Donahue's footsteps.
Donahue got his start in local television news in Dayton, Ohio, first as a sales representative, then as an on-air reporter at WLWD (now WDTN) TV. When famed television presenter Johnny Gilbert left to take a hosting job in New York, it opened an opportunity for Donahue to host a show.
His vision was to interview one guest for an entire hour, and invite questions from a live audience. "The Donahue Show" went to national syndication in September 1970. He didn't shy away from controversial topics or guests — edgy Miami rap group 2 Live Crew appeared in 1989 — giving them a platform to air their viewpoints; and get questioned on them by the insightful Donahue.
The show won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Talk Series from 1978-81 and in 1985 and '86.
When daytime talk became increasingly saturated into the 1990s with edgy tabloid premises, Donahue continued in his style. That, and his negative view of the U.S. engaging in the Gulf War, hurt his ratings, and his show was dropped in big markets like New York and San Francisco. Choosing to retire rather than get canceled, he retired, and his final episode aired Sept. 13, 1996.
In 2002, Donahue was ranked 29th on TV Guide magazine's list of the "50 Greatest Television Shows of All-Time.
