Phil Donahue was born on 21st December, 1935. He is famous as a well known writer, film producer and media personality. He has achieved quite a bit and it would be pertinent to mention that his biography extends beyond the big screen. His achievements in the small screen are also quite significant and additionally his achievements in the big screen are also extremely noteworthy.

The Phil Donahue Show without any doubt is one of the biggest successes not only for him but it also is a much talked about small screen program amongst millions. It was famous those days because it was the first such program where audience participation was permitted. Hence, it would not be a bad idea to find out more about his life and achievements over the next few lines.

Early Life

Phil was born in Cleveland, Ohio and was basically from a none-too rich Irish Catholic family. His mother Catherine was a department store she clerk. His father named Phillip Donahue worked as a furniture sales clerk. He did his graduation from Our Lade Of Angeles Elementary School. The school is situated in a good neighborhood of Cleveland.

Further, it should also be mentioned here that Phil was also a member of the initial lot of students graduating from St. Esward High School. Further he also did his graduation from the famous University of Notre Dame in the year 1957 and came out with a graduation in B.B.A.

Personal Life

Coming to the personal life of Phil Donahue, it would be pertinent to mention that he is married to Marlo Thomas who is an actress. She is the daughter of the famous television producer and comedian Danny Thomas. The marriage happened on May 21, 1980 and they live in Manhattan after their wedding. Prior to this marriage, Phil was married to Margaret Cooney.

The marriage lasted from 1958 to 1975 and after that it ended in divorce. The first marriage had five children out of it. It would also be pertinent to mention here that Phil was not exactly the best of Roman Catholics. He was more attuned towards atheism and he has been influenced by a few men and women on this.

Net Worth

The net worth is quite rich and according to some estimates it must be around a whopping $25 million dollars.

Career

It would be pertinent to mention here that Donahue started his career, in 1957. He worked as a production assistant at KYW radio and television. The station at that point in time was in Cleveland. He later became an announcer on a replacement basis. He also worked as a bank check sorter in Albuquerque. However, he soon got promoted as program director for WABJ radio in Michigan, Adrian after graduation.

Phil then moved on from one performance to another and became a singer and also worked as an anchor at WHIO-TV amongst other things. However, at the end of the day, Phil’s big turning point came when he got a chance to be the host of the famous Phil Donahue show which started on November 6th 1967 and since then, there has been on looking back. It went on for 29 years and the last show was telecast in 1996.