Talk Show Host Mike Douglas Dead at 81

Mike Douglas, the man whose genial personality and talent for singing afforded him 21 years as host of his own TV talk show, has died on his 81st birthday.

ABC News reports on the details of his death. "He died at 5:30 a.m. in a Palm Beach Gardens hospital, said his wife, Genevieve Douglas. She wasn't sure of the cause, but said he had been admitted Thursday."

Douglas has been under medical treatment since he became dehydrated while playing golf a few weeks ago. Douglas had shown improvement, which led his wife to believe he was getting better. Genevieve Douglas was quoted by the Associated Press as saying "He was coming along fine, we thought. It was really a shock. We never anticipated this to happen."

Mike Douglas, born Michael Delaney Dowd, Jr., briefly served in the Unites States Navy at the end of World War II. He would come back home and land a role as the singing voice of Prince Charming in the 1950 production of Cinderella. Afterwards, Douglas would become the vocalist for the big band of Kay Kyser, where he would be featured on two hits, "Old Buttermilk Sky" and "The Old Lamplighter". In 1951, Kyser retired from the business, and Mike Douglas would move out of the public eye. In 1961, Douglas would come back to the public eye with a television talk show he would do in Cleveland for WKYC-TV.

After two years of doing his show, he would gain enough attention and notoriety that his show would get national syndication. The live show was a success for Westinghouse TV stations. After Zsa Zsa Gabor came on the show in 1965, and used some rather inappropriate language, the show would switch to being taped. The should would also leave Cleveland for Philadelphia around the same time.

Mike Douglas never seemed to have a hard time keeping the crowd entertained. He hosted a number of popular figures on the show, including Truman Capote, Richard Nixon, the Rolling Stones and many more. Newcomers onto the music scene, such as Barbra Steisand and Aretha Franklin, used to show to get introduced to the world, though, unfortunately for Streisand, her show would be discarded.

Douglas also launched a singing career of his own in 1966. The career never fully took off, though he would log one track into the Top 40s, "The Men in My Little Girl's Life". Since his music career as a solo artist never took off, Mike Douglas focused on his successful TV. By 1967, The Mike Douglas Show was being broadcast in 171 markets, and was pulling in roughly 6 million viewers each day. Even back in 1967, Douglas was making more than $500,000, while advertisers were paying $10.5 million. As well as cash, 1967 saw The Mike Douglas Show bring in its first Emmy Award for Individual Achievement in Daytime Television.

Douglas was a bug supporter of Philadelphia and their sports teams. He hosted sports clubs on his show constantly, and had a particular affinity for the Philadelphia Eagles. Though, in 1978, The Mike Douglas Show would move to L.A. to finish out its run until 1981.

Douglas was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1990. With the help of successful surgery, he beat the cancer and lived a normal life afterwards.

[Additional Sources: ABC News, Associated Press, Wikipedia]