He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Biden earlier this year. Thomas, who received her own Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2014, was there for her husband’s ceremony.
The news of his passing was met with surprise and grief by many, including fellow talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who paid tribute to Donahue on Instagram.
“There wouldn’t have been an Oprah Show without Phil Donahue being the first to prove that daytime talk and women watching should be taken seriously,” Winfrey wrote. “He was a pioneer. I’m glad I got to thank him for it. Rest in peace Phil.”
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” (later just “Donahue”) debuted on a television station in Dayton, Ohio, on November 6, 1967, with a single guest: atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, sometimes called the most hated woman in America for her successful effort to end mandatory Bible reading in schools. Other installments that first week included a video of a woman giving birth and a discussion on the appropriateness of dolls with penises.
The station had already invited a studio audience for the variety show that Mr. Donahue’s program replaced, and he decided to let the audience stay.
He chatted with audience members during commercial breaks and often liked what he heard. So one day, while on the air, “I jumped out of the chair and went into the audience,” he told NPR years later. “That moment is what … subsequently made the program different, and absorbing enough to hold a viewer for an hour.”
National syndication led to higher-profile guests – including his future wife, actress Marlo Thomas. In 1977, audiences watched the couple seem to fall in love live on the show.
“You are really fascinating,” Donahue told Thomas on stage, reaching for her hand.
“But you are wonderful,” Thomas replied, clutching the host’s hand. “I said it when we are off the air. And I want to say 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 couple marked their 40th wedding anniversary in 2020.
Donahue is survived by Thomas and four children from his first marriage.
