TV legend Morton Downey Jr. died Monday of lung cancer and other respiratory problems at the age of 67. Born Sean Morton Downey Jr., the talk show host attended military school and earning a marketing degree and a law degree. He says that America saw him "a loudmouth who gets in trouble just like they do, who's had problems just like they had, someone that they can identify with a lot more than someone who's squeaky clean." A chain smoker for years until losing a lung to cancer, Downey was known for deliberately blowing smoke into the faces of guests who annoyed him when he was host of one of the most popular talk shows on American television in the 1980s. After his cancer surgery in 1996, he became an anti-smoking crusader. Downey, who was the son of popular singer Morton Downey and his dancer-wife, Barbara Bennett, pursued a number of professions including businessman, author, radio host, singer and songwriter, composing such hit surf-rock songs as Pipeline and Wipeout in the 1960s.
- 3/14/2001
- WENN
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