Misplaced Pages

Morton Downey Jr.

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by JimboWales (talk | contribs) at 21:55, 14 March 2001 (R.I.P.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 21:55, 14 March 2001 by JimboWales (talk | contribs) (R.I.P.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Controversial television talk show host of the 1980s.

Born December 9, 1933. Died March 12, 2001 of lung cancer.

His parents were also in show business; his father Morton Downey was a popular singer, and his mother Barbara Bennett was a singer and dancer.


Downey was the host of the highly controversial program "The Morton Downey Jr. Show". He rose to intial fame in 1987 when his program featured screaming matches between Downey, his guests, and his audience members.


In 1989, Downey was involved in an incident in which he claimed to have been attacked by neo-Nazis who painted a swastika on his face. 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.