Larry King, the suspenders-sporting everyman whose broadcast interviews with world leaders, movie stars and ordinary Joes helped define American conversation for a half-century, died Saturday. He was 87.
King died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his production company, Ora Media, tweeted. No cause of death was given, but a spokesperson said Jan. 4 that King had COVID-19, had received supplemental oxygen and had been moved out of intensive care. His son Chance Armstrong also confirmed KingB次元官网网址檚 death, CNN reported.
A longtime nationally syndicated radio host, from 1985 through 2010 he was a nightly fixture on CNN, where he won many honours, including two Peabody awards.
With his celebrity interviews, political debates and topical discussions, King wasnB次元官网网址檛 just an enduring on-air personality. He also set himself apart with the curiosity he brought to every interview, whether questioning the assault victim known as the Central Park jogger or billionaire industrialist Ross Perot, who in 1992 rocked the presidential contest by announcing his candidacy on KingB次元官网网址檚 show.
In its early years, B次元官网网址淟arry King LiveB次元官网网址� was based in Washington, which gave the show an air of gravitas. Likewise King. He was the plainspoken go-between through whom Beltway bigwigs could reach their public, and they did, earning the show prestige as a place where things happened, where news was made.
King conducted an estimated 50,000 on-air interviews. In 1995 he presided over a Middle East peace summit with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He welcomed everyone from the Dalai Lama to Elizabeth Taylor, from Mikhail Gorbachev to Barack Obama, Bill Gates to Lady Gaga.
Especially after he relocated to Los Angeles, his shows were frequently in the thick of breaking celebrity news, including Paris Hilton talking about her stint in jail in 2007 and Michael JacksonB次元官网网址檚 friends and family members talking about his death in 2009.
King boasted of never overpreparing for an interview. His nonconfrontational style relaxed his guests and made him readily relatable to his audience.
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 pretend to know it all,B次元官网网址� he said in a 1995 Associated Press interview. B次元官网网址淣ot, `What about Geneva or Cuba?B次元官网网址� I ask, `Mr. President, what donB次元官网网址檛 you like about this job?B次元官网网址� Or `WhatB次元官网网址檚 the biggest mistake you made?B次元官网网址� ThatB次元官网网址檚 fascinating.B次元官网网址�
At a time when CNN as the lone player in cable news was deemed politically neutral, and King was the essence of its middle-of-the-road stance, political figures and people at the centre of controversies would seek out his show.
And he was known for getting guests who were notoriously elusive. Frank Sinatra, who rarely gave interviews and often lashed out at reporters, spoke to King in 1988 in what would be the singerB次元官网网址檚 last major TV appearance. Sinatra was an old friend of KingB次元官网网址檚 and acted accordingly.
B次元官网网址淲hy are you here?B次元官网网址� King asks. Sinatra responds, B次元官网网址淏ecause you asked me to come and I hadnB次元官网网址檛 seen you in a long time to begin with, I thought we ought to get together and chat, just talk about a lot of things.B次元官网网址�
King had never met Marlon Brando, who was even tougher to get and tougher to interview, when the acting giant asked to appear on KingB次元官网网址檚 show in 1994. The two hit it off so famously they ended their 90-minute talk with a song and an on-the-mouth kiss, an image that was all over media in subsequent weeks.
After a gala week marking his 25th anniversary in June 2010, King abruptly announced he was retiring from his show, telling viewers, B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 time to hang up my nightly suspenders.B次元官网网址� Named as his successor in the time slot: British journalist and TV personality Piers Morgan.
By KingB次元官网网址檚 departure that December, suspicion had grown that he had waited a little too long to hang up those suspenders. Once the leader in cable TV news, he ranked third in his time slot with less than half the nightly audience his peak year, 1998, when B次元官网网址淟arry King LiveB次元官网网址� drew 1.64 million viewers.
His wide-eyed, regular-guy approach to interviewing by then felt dated in an era of edgy, pushy or loaded questioning by other hosts.
Meanwhile, occasional flubs had made him seem out of touch, or worse. A prime example from 2007 found King asking Jerry Seinfeld if he had voluntarily left his sitcom or been cancelled by his network, NBC.
B次元官网网址淚 was the No. 1 show in television, Larry,B次元官网网址� replied Seinfeld with a flabbergasted look. B次元官网网址淒o you know who I am?B次元官网网址�
Always a workaholic, King would be back doing specials for CNN within a few months of performing his nightly duties.
He found a new sort of celebrity as a plainspoken natural on Twitter when the platform emerged, winning over more than 2 million followers who simultaneously mocked and loved him for his esoteric style.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e never been in a canoe. #Itsmy2cents,B次元官网网址� he said in a typical tweet in 2015.
His Twitter account was essentially a revival of a USA Today column he wrote for two decades full of one-off, disjointed thoughts. Norm Macdonald delivered a parody version of the column when he played King on B次元官网网址淪aturday Night Live,B次元官网网址� with deadpan lines like, B次元官网网址淭he more I think about it, the more I appreciate the equator.B次元官网网址�
King was constantly parodied, often through old-age jokes on late-night talk shows from hosts including David Letterman and Conan OB次元官网网址橞rien, often appearing with the latter to get in on the roasting himself.
King came by his voracious but no-frills manner honestly.
He was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger in 1933, a son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who ran a bar and grill in Brooklyn. But after his fatherB次元官网网址檚 death when Larry was a boy, he faced a troubled, sometimes destitute youth.
A fan of such radio stars as Arthur Godfrey and comedians Bob & Ray, King on reaching adulthood set his sights on a broadcasting career. With word that Miami was a good place to break in, he headed south in 1957 and landed a job sweeping floors at a tiny AM station. When a deejay abruptly quit, King was put on the air B次元官网网址� and was handed his new surname by the station manager, who thought Zeiger B次元官网网址渢oo Jewish.B次元官网网址�
A year later he moved to a larger station, where his duties were expanded from the usual patter to serving as host of a daily interview show that aired from a local restaurant. He quickly proved equally adept at talking to the waitresses, and the celebrities who began dropping by.
By the early 1960s King had gone to yet a larger Miami station, scored a newspaper column and become a local celebrity himself.
At the same time, he fell victim to living large.
B次元官网网址淚t was important to me to come across as a B次元官网网址榖ig man,B次元官网网址滲次元官网网址� he wrote in his autobiography, which meant B次元官网网址淚 made a lot of money and spread it around lavishly.B次元官网网址�
He accumulated debts and his first broken marriages (he was married eight times to seven women). He gambled, borrowed wildly and failed to pay his taxes. He also became involved with a shady financier in a scheme to bankroll an investigation of President John KennedyB次元官网网址檚 assassination. But when King skimmed some of the cash to pay his overdue taxes, his partner sued him for grand larceny in 1971. The charges were dropped, but KingB次元官网网址檚 reputation appeared ruined.
King lost his radio show and, for several years, struggled to find work. But by 1975 the scandal had largely blown over and a Miami station gave him another chance. Regaining his local popularity, King was signed in 1978 to host radioB次元官网网址檚 first nationwide call-in show.
Originating from Washington on the Mutual network, B次元官网网址淭he Larry King ShowB次元官网网址� was eventually heard on more than 300 stations and made King a national phenomenon.
A few years later, CNN founder Ted Turner offered King a slot on his young network. B次元官网网址淟arry King LiveB次元官网网址� debuted on June 1, 1985, and became CNNB次元官网网址檚 highest-rated program. KingB次元官网网址檚 beginning salary of $100,000 a year eventually grew to more than $7 million.
A three-packs-a-day cigarette habit led to a heart attack in 1987, but KingB次元官网网址檚 quintuple-bypass surgery didnB次元官网网址檛 slow him down.
Meanwhile, he continued to prove that, in his words, B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 not good at marriage, but IB次元官网网址檓 a great boyfriend.B次元官网网址�
He was just 18 when he married high school girlfriend Freda Miller, in 1952. The marriage lasted less than a year. In subsequent decades he would marry Annette Kay, Alene Akins (twice), Mickey Sutfin, Sharon Lepore and Julie Alexander.
In 1997, he wed Shawn Southwick, a country singer and actress 26 years his junior. They would file for divorce in 2010, rescind the filing, then file for divorce again in 2019.
The couple had two sons B次元官网网址� KingB次元官网网址檚 fourth and fifth kids, Chance, born in 1999, and Cannon Edward, born in 2000. In 2020, King lost his two oldest children, Andy King and Chaia King, who died of unrelated health problems within weeks of each other.
He had many other medical issues in recent decades, including more heart attacks and diagnoses of type 2 diabetes and lung cancer.
Through his setbacks he continued to work into his late 80s, taking on online talk shows and infomercials as his appearances on CNN grew fewer.
B次元官网网址淲ork,B次元官网网址� King once said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 the easiest thing I do.B次元官网网址�
Funeral arrangements and a memorial service will be announced later in co-ordination with the King family, B次元官网网址渨ho ask for their privacy at this time,B次元官网网址� according to the tweet from Ora Media.
Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press
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