Michael Delaney Dowd Jr. (August 11, 1920 – August 11, 2006),
[Cook County Birth Certificates, file number 6053268, bor]
August 11, 1920
[Social Security Death Index, Michael D. Dowd Jr., Birth: 11 Aug 1920, death: 11 Aug 2006 residing in North Palm Beach, FL, accessed 9 January 2017.] known as Mike Douglas, was an American "
Big Band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
" era singer,
entertainer, television talk show host of ''
The Mike Douglas Show'', and actor.
Early life
Dowd was born in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...
.
His family later moved to Forest Park, Illinois. There, he attended
Proviso Township High School, but left the school after his second year. After that, he began singing as a
choirboy.
Early career
By his teens Dowd was working as a singer at nightclubs and on a
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that ...
dinner
cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours know ...
.
He was a "staff singer" at the
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...
radio station
WKY.
After serving in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
on a munitions ship,
he resumed his performing career as a staff singer for
WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo outlet WSNS-TV (chan ...
in Chicago. He moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
. He was on the
Ginny Simms radio show. After that, Douglas joined the
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
of
Kay Kyser as a singer.
Although big band swing faded from popularity, Kyser had to continue performing due to contractual obligations, and continued to log a few hits with Douglas, including two notable hits, "Ole
r Old
R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irelan ...
/nowiki> Buttermilk Sky" in 1946 and " The Old Lamp-Lighter" the following year. Kyser was responsible for giving him his show business name, and he continued to perform with the band until Kyser retired in 1951 due to health problems. In 1950, he provided the singing voice of Prince Charming in Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
's ''Cinderella
"Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
''.
In 1953, Douglas was host of ''Showcase'', a weekly program on WGN-TV in Chicago, and he sang on ''The Music Show'' on the DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of bein ...
.
Then living in Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, wh ...
, Douglas tried to keep his singing career going in the 1950s working as house singer for a nightclub and traveling to perform elsewhere. By the middle of the decade, rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
and doo wop had taken over the charts, which left many older performers in the musical dustbin. In the leanest years, Douglas and his wife survived by successfully " flipping" their Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
homes.
Talk show
Douglas next surfaced in 1961 in Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...
, where a onetime Chicago colleague hired him for $400 a week as an afternoon television talk-show host at KYW-TV. '' The Mike Douglas Show'' rapidly gained popularity, and ultimately, national syndication in August 1963 on other stations owned by KYW-TV's parent company Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show was broadcast live on KYW-TV in its city of origination, but this practice ended in 1965 after guest Zsa Zsa Gabor used the phrase "son of a bitch" when referring to stand-up comedian and comic actor Morey Amsterdam
Moritz "Morey" Amsterdam (December 14, 1908 – October 28, 1996) was an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. He played Buddy Sorrell on CBS's ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' from 1961 to 1966.
Early life
Amsterdam was born in Chicago ...
of the '' Dick Van Dyke Show''.
Both Douglas and his program relocated to Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
in 1965 after Westinghouse Broadcasting moved KYW-TV
KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations divisio ...
's operations to that city, the result of a Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...
-ordered reversal of Westinghouse's 1956 station ownership swap with NBC. ''The Mike Douglas Show'' aired its first Philadelphia-based show on August 30, 1965; the former KYW-TV in Cleveland—now NBC-owned WKYC—continued to carry the program for many years afterward. Guests ranged from Truman Capote and Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
to The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
, Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat, rock and pop group formed in 1964 in Manchester, originally called Herman and His Hermits and featuring lead singer Peter Noone. Produced by Mickie Most, the Hermits charted with number ones in the UK ...
and Kiss, with an occasional on-camera appearance by Tim Conway (who would later be discovered at WJW-TV, also in Cleveland). Moe Howard
Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television ...
of "Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appear ...
" fame was a guest several times, with a pie-fight inevitably happening at the end of the interview, and platform speaker on nonverbal communication (body language) Dr. Cody Sweet.
The show helped introduce entertainers such as Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...
and Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the "Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...
. After the move to Philadelphia, Douglas also attempted to revive his own singing career, logging his lone Top 40 single as a solo artist, " The Men in My Little Girl's Life" in 1966. By 1967, ''The Mike Douglas Show'' was broadcast to 171 markets and 6,000,000 viewers each day, mostly women at home. It earned $10.5 million annually from advertisers, while its host was paid more than $500,000. In 1967, the program received the first Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for Individual Achievement in Daytime Television from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...
. At the peak of his career, he was earning $2 million a year.
The afternoon show was usually quiet with an eclectic mix and such an approach would occasionally lead to confrontation, such as when Soul Singer James Brown took offense at racially -charged comments from talk show host / producer David Susskind who wondered on-air why Black students often did not mix with White students, even after Civil Rights legislation and advances in integration. It got heated when Brown defended those who chose to learn first about themselves, having been systematically denied to do so, for centuries.
Douglas never “muzzled“ his guests, as flamboyant as many were. Pop-Soul Co - host Sly Stone's hyperactive behavior clashed with the comportment of Muhammad Ali, in a 1974 show.
Little Richard, 1950's Rock and Roll originator, by 1969 was on a serious comeback bid and his many appearances with Douglas gave him a boost.
In 1970, Douglas hired rocker Bobby Darin as co-host, just after the latter radically changed his image from lounge entertainer to folk artist, Bob Darin. It appears, he would only sing his greatest hit “Mack the Knife”, if he could rewrite a verse to fit his changes. So Douglas was partially successful in expressing the wishes of fans, who demanded the original Bobby Darin.
Douglas had John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the show for a full week in 1972, and there were some awkward moments with Yoko's avant-garde art displays and with radical guests, John and Yoko's friends.
In July 1978, the talk show's home base was transferred to Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
, where it remained until finally going off the air in 1981. Near the end of its run, the series switched to a traveling roadshow format and became ''The Mike Douglas Entertainment Hour'', but this change failed to boost falling ratings. After his series was cancelled, Douglas hosted CNN's Los Angeles-based celebrity interview show, ''People Now'', taking over the hosting duties from Lee Leonard. He was replaced in January 1983 by WTBS personality Bill Tush.
Other notable achievements
Douglas became a local cultural icon in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, often inviting prominent players from the city's professional sports teams to be guests on his show (he had a particular affinity for the city's pro football team, the Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...
, constantly referring to the team as "Our Eagles", and he could often be seen in attendance at Eagles' home games, especially whenever they appeared on ''Monday Night Football
''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...
''). He also assisted in mayor Frank Rizzo's campaign against derisive jokes often told by outsiders about the city, acting as chief spokesperson for the "Anti-Defamation Agency" Rizzo had set up for this purpose. He also held a landmark interview with Dr. Martin Luther King that revealed his wisdom around civil rights and his prophetic stance on the Vietnam war.
In February 1976 Hollywood recognized Douglas' contribution to television, honoring him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located on Hollywood Boulevard.
Douglas sang "The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bo ...
" before the first Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citize ...
game at Veterans Stadium
Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street (Philadelphia), Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capa ...
on April 10, 1971, and also sang the national anthem prior to a Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...
–Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pl ...
playoff game on December 23, 1973. He wrote two memoirs: ''My Story'' (1979) and ''I'll Be Right Back: Memories of TV's Greatest Talk Show'' (1999). He also wrote a cookbook, ''The Mike Douglas Cookbook'' (1969), featuring recipes from him, his family, and the show's guests. 40 years after Douglas began his talk show at KYW-TV, his granddaughter Debbie Voinovich Donley designed successor WKYC's new broadcast facility on Lakeside Avenue, completed in 2002. In 2007, a new documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
''Mike Douglas: Moments and Memories'' was shown on PBS stations. The Lily Tomlin comedy '' The Incredible Shrinking Woman'' shows the dwindling Pat Kramer appearing on Douglas' show, where he sings "Little Things Mean a Lot" in her honor.
Personal life
Douglas married Genevieve, the marriage producing three daughters: Kelly and twins Michele and Christine, and he had several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Douglas developed prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...
in 1990, but after surgery he was cancer-free and remained in good health until almost the end of his life. He died unexpectedly on August 11, 2006, his 86th birthday, at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. In media reports, he was sometimes claimed to be five years younger than his true age. He claimed to be 36 years old, instead of 41, when he got his show.
Although the exact cause of his death was not revealed, his widow, Genevieve, told the Associated Press that he became dehydrated while golfing a few weeks earlier on a hot Florida summer day. Douglas was treated at a hospital following this episode, but he was apparently unable to recover. His body was interred in Riverside Memorial Park cemetery in Martin County, Florida.
Legacy
The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia posthumously inducted Douglas into their Hall of Fame in 2006.
Other television and film appearances
*1969: ''The Mike Douglas Christmas Special''
*1971: '' The Last Valley'' as Stoffel (uncredited)
*1976: ''Gator
Gator is a slang word for alligator.
Gator may also refer to:
People nicknamed Gator
*Mike Greenwell (born 1963), American Major League Baseball player nicknamed "The Gator"
*Ron Guidry (born 1950), former Major League Baseball pitcher
*Gator H ...
'' as The Governor
*1981: ''Greatest American Hero
''The Greatest American Hero'' is an American comedy-drama Superhero fiction, superhero television series that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Created by producer Stephen J. Cannell, it premiered as a two-hour pilot movie on March 1 ...
''; guest appearance in the season two premiere
*1982: ''Knots Landing
''Knots Landing'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on CBS from December 27, 1979, to May 13, 1993. A spin-off of ''Dallas'', it was set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles and initially centered on the lives of ...
''; episode: "Svengali"
*1983: '' The Love Boat'' as Marv Mason
See also
* '' The Mike Douglas Show''
References
External links
*
Obituary
billboard.com; accessed 9 August 2015.
WKYC-TV – Talk Show host Mike Douglas remembered
wkyc.com; accessed 9 August 2015.
cbs3.com; accessed 9 August 2015.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Mike
1920 births
2006 deaths
20th-century American male actors
American television talk show hosts
American male voice actors
Epic Records artists
Male actors from Chicago
United States Navy sailors
United States Navy personnel of World War II