Short Biography

Phillip John "Phil" Donahue (born December 21, 1935) is an Emmy award winning American media personality and writer, best known as the creator and star of The Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, the first tabloid talk show. The show had a 26-year run on U.S. national TV, preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, before ending in 1996. His shows have generally focused on issues that often divide liberals and conservatives in the United States, such as abortion, consumer protection, civil rights and war protests. His most frequent guest was Ralph Nader and Donahue campaigned for Nader in 2000.[1] Donahue also hosted a talk show on MSNBC from 2002 – 2003.

In 2007, Donahue served as Executive Producer for the feature documentary film, Body of War, which he also co-directed with independent filmmaker Ellen Spiro. The film tells the story of Tomas Young, a severely disabled Iraq War veteran and his turbulent postwar adjustments. The film features two new songs, "No More" and "Long Nights" by Pearl Jam`s Eddie Vedder. In November 2007 the film was named as one of fifteen documentaries to be in consideration for an Oscar nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[10] Vedder`s involvement in the film stems from a meeting the two men had while participating in a Chicago Cubs fantasy camp, according to an interview Donahue did with the Associated Press.

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