Phil Donahue: biography, creativity

Phil Donahue is a famous American journalist. He is famous for the fact that during the "cold war" he and Vladimir Pozner conducted telebridges between the countries of the USA and the USSR. His programs also had a special impact on similar ones, produced later in Russia, because he is considered the founder of the talk show in the form in which we know it now.

Phil's personal life

The famous TV journalist was born in the distant 1935 in December. It happened in the USA in the state of Ohio, in the city of Cleveland. His family was of Irish descent, they were believers who professed Catholicism. Also Phil Donahue, whose biography is described in this article, is twice married. The first marriage of the journalist took place in 1958, one year after the graduation from the university. His wife was Marge Cooney. She gave birth to five children. Despite this, in 1975 the couple broke the marriage. And in 1980, Phil married the second time. It was the famous American actress Marlo Thomas. The couple remains married until today.

Education Donahue

Phil Donahue in 1953 he graduated from high school of St. Edward, and this was her first release. Then he entered the University of Notre Dame and studied there until 1957. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration.

Work on TV

Phil Donahue began his work on television as an assistant director at a well-known radio station, as well as on Cleveland television. In addition, Donahoe worked for some time on the CBS television channel for an evening news release by a freelance correspondent.

In Ohio, Phil worked on the WHIO-TV channel. There he conducted a program in the morning with the latest news. Donahue took numerous interviews with prominent political and secular people of the time, which allowed the journalist to raise his rating and increase professionalism.

1967 was a sign for Donahue. It was this year that his own program, The Phil Donahue Show, started on the WLWD (now called WDTN) station in Detroit. In just a few years, this program has become a nationwide project (by 1970). Then, from 1974 to 1985, Donahue worked on his show in Chicago, and then, until 1996, in New York.

While working as a TV host, Phil interviewed many civil rights activists. The most famous are Martin Luther King, Ralph Nader, Malcolm X, Jesse Jackson, Nelson Mandela and many others. Donahue on the air of his program touched on such burning issues as abortion, anti-war protests, consumer protection and even lesbian marriages.

In January 1987, Phil visited the Soviet Union. Here he recorded a number of programs in the framework of his show, visiting cities such as Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev. In the USSR, programs were published and were shown to the viewer in the same year. The following year (1986) hosted the famous space bridge Leningrad-Boston. He was called "Women talk to women." Donahue and Posner were the hosts at this show. As noted in the book by Yevgeny Dodolev about Vlad Listiev, the space bridges were approved by Gorbachev. Of course, this was not the only time Donahue was leading in such shows.

Obviously, thanks to fruitful cooperation in the Soviet era, from 1991 to 1994, there were a series of round-table TV-parties, called Posner and Donahue. These programs were published every week, they discussed various controversial issues that had different themes.

Despite the success of the talk show that Donahoe conducted in his native country, in 1996. in the spring. I left his last issue. Throughout the history of American television, this program has been aired for the longest time (in contrast to all the others). Until 2002 Donahue did not work on television and did not run any programs.

In 2002, there was an attempt to resume the Donahue show, but it lasted only seven months. There were various rumors, one of them had real ground. Shortly before the outbreak of hostilities by America in Iraq, Donahoe criticized these actions of his country. It was rumored that it was precisely because of this that the dismissal occurred. Although the management claimed that the transfer was closed due to a low rating (according to polls, the talk show took third place, not at all a low rating, is it?). Anyway, but Donahoe left.

In 2007 Donahue worked on the film "Body of War", becoming the producer and co-director of this documentary. It tells about the military man Thomas Yang, who became disabled after the war in Iraq.

Achievements in the profession

Donahue is considered the ancestor of such a now known type of program, as a talk show. It first appeared in the sixties of the last century in the USA and literally spread over two decades and became popular all over the world. Also for his show, Donahue has repeatedly received the Emmy award (among television it is equivalent to the Oscar award).

In 1996, due to his activities in the TV Guide "50 greatest TV stars of all time", Phil took the forty-second place. And in 2002, his talk show on the list of "50 greatest television shows of all time and people according to TV Guide" took the twenty-ninth place.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be said that Phil Donahue is a truly great journalist and TV presenter who has come a long way in the field of this profession. He deserved the received awards and recognition for the disclosure and discussion of the burning issues of society.