Talk show host Phil Donahue dies aged 88

Phil Donahue pictured in 1977

US talk show host Phil Donahue has died at the age of 88, his family has confirmed to the US media.

The presenter died at his home on Sunday after a long illness and surrounded by family, according to a statement issued to NBC's Today show.

Donahue, who created and hosted The Phil Donahue Show, was considered the "king of daytime talk" in the US.

Over his career, Donahue interviewed well-known figures including Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Sammy Davis Jr, Sir Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Dolly Parton and Michael J Fox.

Donahue is considered a trailblazer in the daytime television landscape.

His TV show was the first to include many elements familiar to viewers today, including participation from the studio audience.

He hosted more than 6,000 editions of his talk show between 1967 and 1996.

Born in Cleveland in 1935, Donahue began his media career in the late 1950s in talk radio and television, launching his eponymous talk show in 1967.

In 1974, the show relocated from Ohio to Chicago and changed its name to simply Donahue.

The show got into its groove soon after, once Donahue began involving the studio audience in discussions and the programme more widely.

Donahue married his second wife, actress Marlo Thomas, in 1980 after the two first met three years earlier when she was a guest on his talk show.

For its last decade on air, the show was hosted from New York City. The final episode was broadcast in September 1996.

Donahue was credited with changing the face of daytime television and challenging assumptions about what female audiences in particular wanted from talk shows.

"If there had been no Phil Donahue show, there would be no Oprah Winfrey Show," Winfrey wrote in the September 2002 issue of O, the Oprah Magazine.

"He was the first to acknowledge that women are interested in more than mascara tips and cake recipes - that we're intelligent, we're concerned about the world around us and we want the best possible lives for ourselves."

Donahue himself once said: “I honestly believe we have spoken more thoughtfully, more honestly, more often to more issues about which women care than any other show."

He won 20 Emmy Awards across his career, 10 of which were for outstanding host and 10 for the talk show itself.

Earlier this year, he was awarded the medal of freedom, the highest civilian honour in the US, by President Joe Biden.

Donahue is survived by Thomas and four children from his first marriage.