Talk Show Host Mike Douglas Dies @ 81 (on his Birthday!) *My Title*

Reuters;Yahoo News ^ | August 11, 06 | Steve Gorman

[Majie Purple]

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mike Douglas, the affable big band singer who for two decades hosted a parade of America's biggest stars and newsmakers on his top-rated daytime talk show, died on Friday on his 81st birthday, friends said.

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Douglas, an Irish tenor on the verge of quitting show business before landing the TV show that made him a household name, died at a hospital in North Palm Beach, Florida, according to business associate Bob Patterson.

Patterson said he had no details about the circumstances of the entertainer's death.

Born Michael Dowd in Chicago in 1925, he began singing professionally as a teenager, and after serving in the Navy during World War Two joined bandleader Kay Kayser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge as a featured vocalist.

It was Kayser who gave him his stage name, unexpectedly introducing the young singer as Mike Douglas during a performance.

During his stint with Kayser's band, Douglas recorded such hits as "Ole Buttermilk Sky" and "The Old Lamplighter," and he later supplied the singing voice for Prince Charming in the Disney animated fairy-tale classic "Cinderella."

Subsequently hired as a "staff singer" by NBC, Douglas went on to land his own TV show at a Cleveland TV station just as he was considering getting out of show business. "The Mike Douglas Show" debuted in 1961 as a local program and was soon syndicated nationally, moving first to Philadelphia and later to Burbank, California.

Airing weekdays until 1982, the series was the top-rated daytime talk show for most of its run and attracted the biggest names in entertainment, pop culture and politics, all welcomed in the easy-going, warm style that was Douglas' trademark as a host.

"He was a genuine, nice guy -- not a mean bone in his body," recalled CNN host Larry King. "He had a geniality about him. It was easy to be around him."

Notable guests on Douglas' show ranged from such stars as Bill Cosby, Bob Hope, Marlon Brando and Barbra Streisand to non-showbiz luminaries like Rose Kennedy, Barry Goldwater and Princess Grace of Monaco. A young golf prodigy named Tiger Woods made his first televised putt on Douglas' show.

Douglas frequently shared the stage with celebrity co-hosts who helped interview other guests for several days. Among his most notable co-hosts were John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who spent a week in 1972 with such guests as Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale, anti-Vietnam War activist Jerry Rubin, consumer advocate Ralph Nader and comedian George Carlin.

Despite the radical chic that sometimes graced his show, Douglas described himself as mainstream. "I'm square and I am happy that I am," he once said.

[mrs tiggywinkle]

May he rest in peace.

I knew him through my brother in law - they were golf buddies before my bil passed on 8 years ago. Mike Douglas was known as a true gentleman.

[stands2reason]

I did not know he was a singer.

[Wolfie]

Man, I loved that show.

[Majie Purple]

Ping in case you didn't hear yet and want to read about it!
Though most will probably hear of it before getting my ping.
This is only my 3rd Thread.
I enjoyed the Mike Douglas Talk Show...

[Peach]

Thank you for the ping, Purple. He was terrific and will be missed.

[onyx]

I saw it on the news, but thank you for the ping and you did a good job posting your third!

[SnarlinCubBear]

I did not know. Thanks Purp.

[crymeariver]

Mike was a close personal friend of the Reagans and helped Nancy through the hard days of the President's Alzheimer's Disease. He remained very close with Nancy.

[b9]

Glad to see mention of the wonderful Kay Kayser.
He said "The only difference between 'try' and 'triumph' is the UMPH!.

Mike Douglas' life certainly proved that.

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for the ping, Maj. Mike Douglas was a good guy.

[Majie Purple]

[BallyBill]

Great guy. I grew up watching his show on the local Philly station from where it was broadcast. Lots of silliness, even had an old Moe Howard on once. Moe pied his own wife on the show!!!

[SSR1]

I grew up watching MD. One of the things I liked about the old Rosie O'Donald Show (before she went *Angry* ) was her saying that MD was an influence on her for her own show and doing an interview with him on the golf course. SO funny. and he was a perfect gentleman to her, but he could not be otherwise.. Day time talk shows from Oprah to Ellen should acknowledge their debt to him. Great guy. Say a prayer for his family as he is without pain and suffering now.

[Majie Purple]

[Bosco]

[since 1854]

Moe Howard -- I saw that show!

[Riley]

Wow- there's a name that I haven't heard in a while! I remember watching him in about 1970 or so.

[bilhosty]

I remember him as a LBJ Dem. Not kook but still a lib and it was very transparent. But, what I also remember was when Barry Newman of Petrocelli fame was a guest. Barry was shooting off his mouth about how he could get a date anytime anywhere(like having a hit TV show wouldn't help). So they put him out on a street outside the station where he proceeded to approached women and ask them out. Wouldn't you know it, but one of the first woman announced she was a cop and pulled out a badge and arrested him for making an indecent proposition.

[Majie Purple]

http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_223155123.html