BREAKING: Legendary talk show host Phil Donahue dead at 88

Legendary talk show host Phil Donahue, mainstay of the 1980s daytime television line-up, died on Sunday night, surrounded by his wife Marlo Thomas, his sister, grandchildren, and his golden retriever Charlie. He suffered from a long illness, his family said.

Donahue was the winner of 200 Emmy Awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and was the face of the talk show that spawned so many others in its format. Donahue hosted celebrities for hour-long interviews but also dealt with serious issues, such as racism, feminism, and other social problems.

"We grew up with the feminist movement, the consumer movement, the gay rights movement, we grew up with the antiwar movement, with the environmental movement," Donahue said in 2001. "The last part of the 20th century, the time in which I was able to go out there in public on television and feature the people who had the most to say about these very compelling issues, had my name on it."

It was after Donahue that Oprah, Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, and Dr. Phil (via Oprah) came on the scene to embark on similar formatted daytime talk shows. Donahue would walk around the audience with his mic, taking questions from viewers, and would present these questions to his guests. 

He interviewed New York club kids in 1993, punks in 1984, held a debate on gay marriage in 1991, another on police brutality, gender-bending Boy George and Culture Club in 1984, and Louis Farrakhan in 1985, again in 1990, and had a show dedicated to the problem of transgender violence in 1991.

In one 1990 episode, Donahue spoke with the member of rap group 2 Live Crew, who was being prosecuted for their "indecent" lyrics. This as Second Lady Tipper Gore launched her initiative to censor explicit lyrics and videos with the PMRC. In many areas of culture, Donahue was ahead of the curve. In the late 20th century days before intenet infiltration of everything, Donahue brought the conversation, images, and analysis, to daytime viewers. That included a difficult conversation on the LA riots in 1992.

Donahue began his career in Dayton, Ohio, not far from his hometown of Cleveland, in 1967. It was in 1985 that the show moved to New York City and took up residence at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. He interviewd celebs like Whoopi Goldberg, Muhammad Ali, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, and interviewed Nelson Mandela after he was released from a South African prison in 1990. Donahue also hosted the presidential debate between Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown in 1992 before going off the air in 1996. The show was on air for 29 years.