Phil Donahue Was ‘Loving and Generous’: Looking Back at the Life of the King of Daytime Talk

Phil Donahue recalled the moment he realized the power of the microphone. “I was a reporter for WABJ radio in Adrian, Michigan,” he told Closer. “I must have looked 13.” But he suddenly understood why reporters are so important. “The more people you have reporting, the more likely it is that somewhere will be found the truth,” he explained.

On The Phil Donahue Show and, later, Donahue, the revolutionary talk show host, who passed away on August 18 at age 88, proved that there was an appetite for something more than soap operas and game shows on daytime TV. He interviewed presidents and movie stars before a live studio audience, and also talked seriously about sex, abortion, equal rights for women, the Ku Klux Klan and other hot-button topics previously deemed taboo. “The average housewife is bright and inquisitive,” he said in 1979, noting that other shows made the mistake of treating the daytime viewer “like some mental midget.”

Phil prowled his audience with his microphone, sharing opinions and taking comments from call-in viewers. “We had no couches, no announcers, no band and folding chairs, no jokes,” he recalled. “I wasn’t saying, ‘Come on down!’ We knew we were visually dull, so we had to go to issues — that’s what made us alive.”

Critics tried to dismiss his show as sensationalist, and Phil acknowledged that episodes about sex received the most disapproving mail, but he defended shedding light on uncomfortable topics. “What’s to be afraid of?” he asked. “There are still a lot of people out there who think if you watch it you’ll catch it, but that kind of ignorance and fear only fuel prejudice. They don’t protect us.”

The star, who won 20 Daytime Emmy Awards, preferred the episodes that examined news topics. “I enjoy the shows dealing with contemporary issues more than the feature shows,” he confessed. “You just can’t say, ‘Ain’t it awful?’ five days a week.’’

Phil Donahue Found Love With Marlo Thomas

Phil wed his college sweetheart Margaret Mary Cooney in 1958. The couple had four sons and a daughter together, but his workaholic tendencies strained their union and they divorced in 1975.

Two years later, That Girl! alum Marlo Thomas was a guest on Phil’s show and sparks flew. “You are wonderful,” gushed Marlo. “You are loving and generous, and you like women and it’s a pleasure. And whoever is the woman in your life is very lucky.”

The pair had dinner that night and wed in 1980. Phil even moved his TV show from Chicago to New York City, where Marlo was based, in 1985. “I think the people in New York worry about the same things as people in other places,’’ he said, when asked if he feared losing his Midwest audience. The show would continue until 1996.

In 2007, Phil wrote, produced and codirected Body of War, a documentary about an American soldier adjusting to life after becoming severely disabled in the Iraqi War. “We think we have a film that will become even more important as the years go by,” said Phil, who hoped the picture would be a reminder of the human cost of war.

A day after Phil’s passing following a long illness, Marlo paid tribute to her “sweetheart” and the fans who kept Phil in their hearts. “As a man who spent his career loving his audiences,” Marlo posted online, “I know he would be very touched by the heartwarming thoughts and memories you’ve been sharing.”