WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Morton Downey Jr., the irritating TV talk show host popular in the 1980s, has died of lung cancer in California, CNN said. He was 67.

The chain-smoking Downey shot to fame as a trash-talking host on his syndicated "The Morton Downey Jr. Show" in the mid-1980s who often blew smoke in the faces of guests with whom he disagreed and argued with members of this studio audience.

Before that he was a singer, songwriter and television actor during a long career in show business.

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