Iconic Talk Show Host Phil Donahue Dies At Age 88

The Hollywood Reporter reports:

Phil Donahue, the talk show innovator who changed the conversation and the course of daytime television with the weekday program he hosted for nearly three decades, has died. He was 88. Donahue died Sunday night surrounded by his family following a long illness, his family told the Today show.

Survivors include his wife of 44 years, That Girl star Marlo Thomas. They met when she was a guest on his show — he was a divorced single father living with and raising his four sons at the time — before marrying in May 1980. He is also survived by his sister, his children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie.

The Cleveland native hosted more than 6,000 iterations of The Phil Donahue Show, from the first, broadcast from a Dayton, Ohio station on Nov. 7, 1967, through the last, seen nationwide on syndication via Multimedia Entertainment, on Sept. 13, 1996.

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BREAKING: Television icon Phil Donahue dies at 88. pic.twitter.com/hzLlC5p5pb

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 19, 2024