Phil Donahue Passed Away!

Phil Donahue was a legend.

The longtime talk show host, podcaster and activist has passed away. 

Before Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, Steve Wilkos, Rikki Lake, Jenny Jones, Dr. Phil, Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael and Mort Downey, there was Phil Donahue.

A controversial figure who was a progressive icon and a leading voice against George W. Bush's campaign to engage war with Iraq. Donahue's shows have often focused on issues that divide liberals and conservatives in the United States, such as abortion, consumer protection, civil rights and war issues. 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 March 2003. Donahue is one of the most influential talk show hosts and has been called the "king of daytime talk". Oprah Winfrey has said, "If it weren't for Phil Donahue, there would never have been an Oprah Show". In 1996, Donahue was ranked #42 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.

Donahue died Sunday night of an undisclosed illness, according to a family statement provided to ABC News by a representative for Donahue's wife of 44 years, Marlo Thomas.

Donahue was born into a middle-income, Irish Catholic family in Cleveland, Ohio; his father, Phillip Donahue, was a furniture sales clerk and his mother, Catherine (née McClory) was a department store shoe clerk. 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.

The family requests in lieu of flowers that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship Fund, according to the statement.

After working as a local TV reporter in his native Ohio and launching a talk show on local CBS affiliate WHIO in Dayton, he moved his "The Phil Donahue Show" to the local NBC affiliate WLWD (now WDTN), also in Dayton, in 1967. Three years later, it entered nationwide syndication, now titled simply "Donahue."

Phil married actress/activist Marlo Thomas. They were supporters of St. Jude's Children Research. 

The show would run for 26 years in syndication, produced at NBC's 30 Rockefeller Plaza, until its last show in September 1996.

"Donahue" rose to national prominence for its compelling guests and its pioneering, open-forum interview style, where audience members could ask questions of the guest and fans could call in to the show. That format was soon emulated by others who followed, including Oprah Winfrey and Sally Jessy Raphael.

"We knew if we were to have any chance to succeed, you know, we couldn't be talking about juvenile delinquency or, you know, all these broad, very imprecise issues that are often discussed at Rotary Club meetings and other places. We knew we had to have personalities who moved you to go to that phone and make a phone call," said Donahue, discussing the show with the Television Academy Foundation.

Among the topics Donahue chose to highlight on his show were breakdancing, which was was new to national audiences after originating in New York City when Donahue featured it in 1983.

Donahue also prompted conversations around fringe figures, like Ku Klux Klansman David Duke, whom he interviewed in 1978.

"You don't fix racism by throwing a blanket over the people who are racist. Put them on, let's hear them," said Donahue, discussing the Duke interview with the Television Academy Foundation.

In May, President Joe Biden gave Phil Donahue the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Marlo Thomas was award one as well. She appears in the back.

Donahue earned 20 career Emmy Awards for "Donahue" and, in 1992, the Television Academy inducted him into its Hall of Fame. In 1980, he was awarded a personal Peabody Award, recognized for his "sensitive yet probing interviews, his ability to ask the tough questions without seeming to offend, his knack for getting to the heart of the matter are all important. Above all, Phil Donahue brings to his interviews and discussions what has been characterized as an 'innate sense of honesty.'”

In May, Donahue was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden. He was lauded at the ceremony as pioneering "the live daytime talk show, holding a mirror up to America," and for "[interviewing] everyone from our greatest stars to our forgotten neighbors, uniting us around the toughest issues of our time,"

Donahue is survived by his wife, actress Marlo Thomas, as well as "his sister, his children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever Charlie," according to the family statement.

Donahue went to MSNBC and famously criticized Bush and Republicans for being "gun ho" with Iraq and protecting the interests of Israel. He was fired from the network soon after. He inspired Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell.

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. 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, human rights activist Malcolm X and Vietnam war opponents including Jerry Rubin. In Chicago and New York City, Donahue interviewed Elton John, heavyweight boxing champions Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, and author and political activist Noam Chomsky.