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 program 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 honor in the US, by President Joe Biden.

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