Morton Downey, Jr.

Morton Downey, Jr., born Sean Morton Downey (December 9, 1933 – March 12, 2001) was a controversial American television talk show host of the 1980s who pioneered the "trash talk show" format.

Related Topics:
December 9 - 1933 - March 12 - 2001 - Television - Talk show - 1980s

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His parents were also in show business; his father Morton Downey was a popular singer, and his mother Barbara Bennett Downey was a singer and dancer. His aunts included Hollywood film stars Constance Bennett and Joan Bennett, from whom he was estranged, and his maternal grandfather was the celebrated matinée idol Richard Bennett.

Related Topics:
Morton Downey - Constance Bennett - Joan Bennett - Richard Bennett

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Like his father, Downey pursued music as a career, recording in both pop and country styles. One song, "Green Eyed Girl" scraped the bottom reaches of the Billboard Magazine Country chart, peaking at #95 in 1981. After the success of his talk show, Downey would return to the recording studio to cut an album of songs based on his show.

Related Topics:
Pop - Country - Billboard Magazine - 1981

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In the 1980s, Downey was working as a talk show host at KFBK-AM in Sacramento, California, where he established his abrasive right wing populist style. Downey later headed to New York City where his highly controversial television program "The Morton Downey Jr. Show" was taped. (His replacement at KFBK was Rush Limbaugh.)

Related Topics:
Talk show - KFBK - AM - Sacramento, California - Right wing - Populist - New York City - Rush Limbaugh

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He rose to initial fame in 1987 when his program featured screaming matches between Downey, his guests, and his audience members. The show is perhaps chiefly remembered for Downey's coinage (His favorite term to use was "zip it"), and repeated use thereon, of the somewhat vulgar neologism pabulum puker to denote political liberals, especially when exhibiting what Downey regarded as maudlin sentimentalism.

Related Topics:
1987 - Neologism - Liberal

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In 1989, Downey was involved in an incident in a San Francisco International Airport restroom in which he claimed to have been attacked by neo-Nazis who painted a swastika on his face and attempted to shave his head. Because police could not find evidence that the event actually took place, many did not believe it, feeling that it was just another controversial stunt. The swastika was painted in reverse of its usual orientation, indicating to skeptics that Downey painted it on himself while looking in a mirror.

Related Topics:
1989 - San Francisco International Airport - Neo-Nazi - Swastika

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He also appeared at WrestleMania V in 1989. He was one of the guests on a special Piper's Pit. In the sketch, he antagonized host Rowdy Roddy Piper by blowing smoke in his face, calling him a transvestite, and telling him to "zip it". In the end, Piper got even by shooting a fire extinguisher in his face. The Piper's Pit sketch lost him more credibility, as people started to think if his actual talk show was fake.

Related Topics:
WrestleMania V - 1989 - Piper's Pit - Rowdy Roddy Piper

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One of the more poignant moments on his show was when he paused to remember his brother who had comitted suicide. "Rest well", he said, delivering a short eulogy. It is unlikely that this was an act, and this sadness gave some insight into his show persona and revealed him as a very human person.

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Late in life, Downey, who was sometimes known to blow tobacco smoke into people's faces on his show, became an anti-tobacco crusader, as a direct response to his own terminal case of lung cancer from which he would die at the age of 67.

Related Topics:
Tobacco - Lung cancer

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In interviews he also expressed regret for some of the extreme theatrics of his TV show, saying he had taken things too far.

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