Throughout Phil Donahue’s career, the daytime television veteran was known for how groundbreaking his talk show was.
Among his many pioneering moments, the late star was the first TV host to feature a person living with AIDS on The Phil Donahue Show — which was renamed Donahue in 1974.
The episode aired in 1982, when the number of AIDS cases was only in the hundreds.
On the show, Donahue introduced Philip Lanzaratta, who was diagnosed with Kaposi’s sarcoma (an AIDS-related cancer), Larry Kramer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, and Dr. Dan William, who worked with HIV/AIDS patients. .
The broadcast featured a candid conversation discussing the rise in cases, symptoms of the disease, education of the medical community, discrimination against the gay community, AIDS treatment and more.
Donahue later hosted the late Ryan White, an Indiana teenager who was one of the first children to be diagnosed with AIDS, to speak to the youth about the disease.
Phil Donahue, legendary daytime talk show host, dies at 88
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In addition to talking about the AIDS epidemic, The Phil Donahue Show devoted its hour-long broadcast to a range of complex and controversial issues, including child abuse in the Catholic Church, feminism and race relations, and was the first to allow the audience to ask questions of the guests.
The famous “King of the Daily Talk” won 20 Emmy Awards (10 for Outstanding Host and 10 for the talk show itself) and paved the way for other daytime hosts such as Geraldo Rivera, Sally Jesse Raphael, Ricki Lake, Montel Williams and Oprah Winfrey.
Donahue died on Sunday, August 18 at the age of 88, PEOPLE has confirmed.
In the statement he first published Today show on Monday, Aug. 19, Donahue’s family said the groundbreaking TV talk show journalist died at his home surrounded by his family, including his wife of 44 years — actress Marlo Thomas — as well as “his sister, his children, his grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie.”
The press release states that he “passed away peacefully after a long illness.”
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Source: HIS Education