“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,” she said
(L-R) Phil Donahue and Oprah Winfrey.Credit : ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy
Oprah Winfrey is paying tribute to fellow daytime TV legend Phil Donahue.
After Donahue died at the age of 88 on Sunday, Aug. 18, friends and fans remembered him for being a trailblazer in the talk show world.
Winfrey was among those who remembered the journalist in a sweet statement to PEOPLE, crediting him for her own success.
“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,” she wrote. “He was a pioneer. I’m glad I got to thank him for it.”
“Rest in peace Phil,” she concluded.
Phil Donahue, Legendary Daytime Talk Show Host, Dies at 88
Winfrey also took to Instagram to share the same statement, posting it alongside a black-and-white photo of the two embracing.
Donahue’s death was first reported by the Today show when his family announced he died in his home on Sunday. They shared that he was surrounded by his wife, actress Marlo Thomas, to whom he had been married for 44 years, along with “his sister, his children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie.”
Although his exact cause of death was not revealed, the statement, which was also shared with PEOPLE, explained that the journalist “passed away peacefully following a long illness.”
First joining the talk show space in the 1950s, Donahue gained attention for his fearlessness in approaching controversial topics. In 1971, he broke barriers by taking his audience behind bars at the Ohio State Penitentiary for a weeklong series.
With its hour-long episodes, The Phil Donahue Show addressed issues such as child abuse in the Catholic Church, feminism and race relations. It also was the first show to cultivate an interaction between the in-studio audience and the host, allowing audience members to ask questions.
“One day, I just went out in the audience, and it’s clear there would be no Donahue show if I hadn’t somehow accidentally brought in the audience,” Donahue previously said.
Phil Donahue blows a kiss to Oprah Winfrey as she presents him with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 23rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in New York Wednesday, May 22, 1996.AP Photo/Ron Frehm
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The show, later renamed Donahue, relocated to Chicago in 1974 and continued with its success.
“When Phil came to Chicago, he found his most important element — the Chicago studio audience,” Ron Weiner, the former director of Donahue, told WGN-TV in 2023. “From that point, the program really took off.”
By 1985, Donahue was set in New York City, shooting out of the iconic 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Throughout his career, Donahue won 20 Emmy Awards (10 for outstanding host and 10 for the talk show itself), which paved the way for other daytime hosts like Geraldo Rivera, Sally Jesse Raphael, Ricki Lake, Montel Williams and Winfrey — whose show, like Donahue’s, had roots in Chicago.
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