Phil Donahue Parents: Catherine Donahue, Phillip Donahue

Phil Donahue is a media personality, writer and film producer. Phill Donahue is the son of Catherine Donahue and Phillip Donahue.

Phil Donahue was born in Cleveland, Ohio, into a middle-class, churchgoing Irish Catholic family; his father, Phillip Donahue, worked as a furniture sales clerk, and his mother, Catherine worked as a department store shoe clerk.

He graduated from Our Lady of Angels elementary school in Cleveland’s West Park neighbourhood in 1949. Donahue graduated in 1953 from St. Edward High School, an all-boys college preparatory Catholic private high school run by the Congregation of Holy Cross in suburban Lakewood, Ohio.

In 1957, he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame, which is also run by the Congregation of Holy Cross.

Phil Donahue began his career in radio before transitioning to television, where he became one of the most influential figures in the talk show genre.