Mike Douglas Show, The

1 9 6 1 – 1 9 8 2 (USA)

The Mike Douglas Show was originally produced in Cleveland before moving to the KYW TV-3 Walnut Street studio in Philadelphia in 1965, and then taped at a specially constructed studio at Independence Mall East.

The show continued to broadcast from in Philadelphia until 1978 when the show moved to Los Angeles.

Douglas (not to be confused with film actor Michael Douglas) had provided the singing voice of Prince Charming in the animated feature film Cinderella (1950), and for many years was a featured vocalist with several big-name bands.

Born and raised in Chicago, his national talk show became one of the most popular daytime programmes in the US for over 20 years.

On 22 November 1963, Douglas was speaking with Federal Housing Administrator Robert C. Weaver, when station newscaster John Dancy interrupted the live broadcast by walking through the audience in order to give the first reports of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The show then ended as NBC began its four-day coverage of the tragedy.

When his long-running syndicated show ended in 1982, Douglas retired from television, except for rare appearances in such films as The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) where he played himself, and low-budget Canadian production, Birds Of Prey (1985).