How much is Mike Douglas worth?
| Net Worth: | $10 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Singer |
| Date of Birth: | August 11, 1920 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | Unknown |
About Mike Douglas
Mike Douglas was a vocalist, entertainer, and television chat show presenter in the American “Big Band” era. He was born Michael Delaney Dowd Jr. on August 11, 1920, and he passed away on August 11, 2006. His estimated net worth was $10 million. Growing up in Chicago, Illinois, Michael Delany Dowd, Jr.—better known as the iconic talk show host Mike Douglas—spent the most of his time as a choirboy.
From there, his love for singing only intensified. According to anecdotes, Douglas entertained customers at an Irish pub close to his home in exchange for change. And at the age of 11, he made his radio debut on the show The Irish Hour.
Young Years
He continued to sing while in college, even making radio appearances at Oklahoma City University, where he studied. Douglas turned his enthusiasm into a career after graduating and serving a tour of duty in the Navy during World War II.
Dinner cruise entertainment was his first position. Success on the Lake Erie turned into success on the airways when Douglas moved into radio and started working as a “staff singer” for the nearby WMAQ station in Chicago.
Douglas achieved success as a singer while performing with the Kay Kyser Band, a big band that was featured on at least two popular songs, as well as for other film studios. But there weren’t many jobs available. He had to travel frequently and had a brief stint singing in nightclubs.
Furthermore, the big band sound that Douglas was so accustomed to was gradually losing favor. The radio was booming with rock and roll, but Douglas wasn’t prepared to make the switch and didn’t want to. Instead, he started out studying real estate with the intention of completely quitting the entertainment industry.
Then a call that Douglas wasn’t expecting came. Douglas had a friend who worked in local television back in the Midwest, namely in Cleveland, Ohio. The friend offered to pay him to host a neighborhood noon chat show.
Douglas accepted the job and relocated to Cleveland with his wife from Los Angeles. The Mike Douglas Show, an NBC affiliate, debuted on what is now WKYC on December 11, 1961.
Michael Douglas Show (1961-1981)
Mike Douglas spent a significant portion of his youth as a choirboy and was raised in Chicago, Illinois. Performing as a professional on a dinner cruise liner evolved from singing in the church choir. And as a result, he began working as a “staff singer” for WMAQ, a local Chicago radio station.
In addition to singing for many film studios and a large band (on at least two hit songs), Douglas also found success as a soloist. But there weren’t many jobs available. He had to travel frequently and had a brief stint singing in nightclubs. Early on in his career, it didn’t seem likely that Douglas would achieve true success.
Douglas had a friend who worked in local television, so he and his wife relocated from Los Angeles to Cleveland, Ohio. The friend offered to pay him to host a neighborhood noon chat show. The Mike Douglas Show made its debut on what is now WKYC on December 11, 1961, after Douglas accepted the position.
The program had a similar structure to other well-liked midday shows, with humorous segments featuring locals, newsmakers, and musical guests.
The frigid open was a significant distinction between Douglas’ show and other comparable programs. Douglas would use his background in singing to pique his audience’s interest rather than giving a witty monologue or a few jokes. After singing a well-known song, he would begin the interview portion of the show.
His house band, a neighborhood jazz ensemble, and a different co-host each week would assist him.
Initial Errors and Increasing Success
The first few months were full of mistakes that are common. One co-host failed not appear. When microphones failed, the show would go silent. Additionally, two guests fell off the stage during the first program when their chairs broke. There was some controversy around jokes about the first lady and a plan to read from Lady Chatterley’s Lover during a program against book banning.
However, the program quickly gained popularity, and more prominent celebrities and newsmakers paid a visit when in Cleveland, including Madalyn Murray and Barbra Streisand, who guest co-hosted for a week.
Soon after the show’s local ratings peaked, Westinghouse syndicated it to its sister stations in Pittsburgh, Boston, Baltimore, and San Francisco to see how it would perform there. In less than a year, it expanded to 27 cities thanks to its success.
In order for the show to be successful, it needed to relocate nearer to more notable figures and celebrities, therefore Mike Douglas moved from Cleveland to Philadelphia in 1965. Philadelphia would attract more high-profile visitors due to its closeness to New York City.
After receiving its own custom studio in 1972, the program carried on with increasing success. But Douglas never let his success get to him. He even made an unexpected appearance on Match Game, a rival program, to congratulate the show on winning the top spot.
The program eventually relocated to Los Angeles, but by that time Douglas’s style of talk show had already lost favor in the daytime market. After more than 20 years and 6,000 episodes, the show was canceled in 1982 due to low ratings.
Retirement
After his program was canceled, Douglas entered a state of semi-retirement and only occasionally appeared on television or at a special occasion.
Douglas was given a prostate cancer diagnosis in 1990. Following therapy, he was cancer-free.
On his 81st birthday in 2006, Douglas unexpectedly passed away after battling what his widow, Genevieve, described as a horrific battle with dehydration.
Summing-Up
His show’s first few months were filled with the usual blunders, but it gradually gained popularity. Douglas was able to draw more well-known celebrities and more significant newsmakers whenever they came by his Cleveland studio, including Madalyn Murray and controversial (at the time) atheist Barbra Streisand. He was also able to put his guests at ease and present them in a positive light.
The frigid open was a significant distinction between Douglas’ show and other comparable programs. Douglas would use his background in singing to pique his audience’s interest rather than giving a witty monologue or a few jokes. After singing a well-known song, he would begin the interview portion of the show.
His house band, a neighborhood jazz ensemble, and a different co-host each week would assist him.
Along with Bill Cosby and Jay Leno, Douglas is credited with helping to establish their respective careers. Star Burt Reynolds described appearing on the program as being free and simple, which made it a delight to do. When former Beatle John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, co-hosted the show for a week, Douglas received his highest ratings.
Due to the rising popularity of the program, The Mike Douglas Show was awarded the first-ever Emmy for a talk program in 1967. In 1981, it ultimately went off the air.
On August 11, 2006, Douglas’ 86th birthday, he passed away unexpectedly in the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Mike Douglas had a $10 million net worth at the time of his demise. In 2006, Douglas was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia.
