Legendary talk show host Phil Donahue dead at 88 after long illness

Phil Donahue, a pioneering talk show host whose program reinvented daytime television, died at the age of 88 after a long-term illness, his family told NBC News.

"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," said a statement from his family to NBC.

Donahue, who originally based his show in Dayton, Ohio, began his career as a nationally syndicated host in 1970. "The Phil Donahue Show" won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Talk Series six times during its run that ended in 1996. In 2002, TV Guide named Donahue's program one of the 50 greatest shows on TV.

The show was widely seen as a precursor to the explosion of talk shows in front of live studio audiences, such as "Oprah" and "The Jerry Springer Show." In a conversation between Oprah Winfrey and Donahue in 2002, Winfrey gave Donahue some credit for her career.

"You've probably heard me say that I wouldn't have my career as I know it if it weren't for you. Did you know you were paving the way for a black woman?" Winfrey said. "You invented the one-topic format while doing what I believe all social justice does: allow people to see that they aren't alone."

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He also worked as a correspondent for NBC's "Today" show and briefly hosted a program on MSNBC.

Prior to launching his TV career, he hosted a radio program on WHIO radio in Dayton. In 2003, he was named to the Dayton Area Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Donahue grew up in Cleveland before graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1957. Later that year, he started his career as a production assistant at a Cleveland radio station.

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Earlier this year, President Joe Biden awarded Donahue with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"Before social media and clickbait news, Phil Donahue broadcast the power of personal stories in living rooms all across America," President Biden said earlier this year. "He helped change hearts and minds through honest and open dialogue. And over the course of a defining career in television and through thousands of daily conversations, Phil Donahue steered the nation’s discourse and spoke to our better angels. I wish you were still speaking there, pal. It made a big difference."