When The Phil Donahue Show debuted in 1967, it was the first daytime show in the United States to incorporate audience participation.
At the age of 88, Phil Donahue, a trailblazing talk show host in the US, passed away.
Following a protracted illness, Donahue passed away in Manhattan on Sunday. His passing was revealed on NBC’s Today Show, where he frequently appeared between 1979 and 1988.
When The Phil Donahue Show debuted in 1967, it was the first daytime show in the United States to incorporate audience participation.
It was still in vogue in the 1970s and 1980s, winning Donahue multiple Emmy Awards, and talk show hosts like Oprah Winfrey later adopted the format.
Notable for introducing contentious topics like sex, religion, and abortion to daytime television was the Donahue show.
President Joe Biden awarded Donahue the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May.
The White House claimed that “he pioneered the live daytime talk show, holding a mirror up to America.”
“He interviewed everyone from our greatest stars to our forgotten neighbors, uniting us around the toughest issues of our time.”
The actress Marlo Thomas, who starred in the 1960s sitcom That Girl, was married to Donahue for 44 years.
