Farewell to a Talk Show Trailblazer

THE BELOVED HOST, FATHER AND HUSBAND REDEFINED DAYTIME TV BY BRINGING AUDIENCES TO THE FORE

- JP MANGALINDAN

After his 29-year talk show run, Phil Donahue never really acclimated to being on the other side of the screen. “I do miss it occasionally,” the legendary host told People in May. “Sometimes I’ll shout my question to a guest on the screen and hope they’ll somehow hear me.”

Donahue, after all, is known for changing the face of daytime TV with his eponymous show. “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,” Oprah Winfrey said. Sally Jessy Raphael also credits Donahue with starting a trend that led to her show and many others. “We were all born of Phil Donahue,” she says.