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Larry King, the radio and television personality whose interviews with celebrities and reporters made him a broadcasting icon for nearly half a century, has died, his television production company said on Saturday Ora Media in a press release.
He was 87 years old.
In a nearly 60-year career that spanned radio, cable TV and the internet, the Brooklyn native estimated he had conducted over 50,000 interviews – not one he had prepared for. advance. But that improvised style, along with its raspy baritone delivery and signature straps, made “Larry King Live” a popular prime-time draw on CNN from 1985 to 2010.
It was a race that helped make the cable news network a major presence in American living rooms.
“I’m not confrontational, I’m not here to hammer guests… I ask good questions, I listen to the answers, I follow up,” King told the Young Turks in an interview in 2014.
“I would have been uncomfortable pointing the finger at the President of the United States.”
However, King would say in 2019 that after having been personally familiar with President Donald Trump for years, “this Donald is not the Donald I knew.”
Even though he didn’t prepare meticulously for interviews like famed TV reporter Barbara Walters, the rich and famous were clearly comfortable answering his questions. Legendary recluse actor Marlon Brando gave King a rare interview in 1994 because he said the host was “without exploitation.”
“There was a feeling that his interviews were like conversations that could be had over a plate of meatloaf,” Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, told NBC News.
This sort of approach has at times turned into a recipe for disaster – like the 2007 interview with Jerry Seinfeld, who took King for not knowing that he, and not the network, ended his famous sitcom, “Seinfeld. “, after a very well rated nine. -year of racing.
“I thought it was pretty well documented,” Seinfeld replied. “Isn’t it CNN?”
King later admitted that he should have known that a show that had 75 million viewers for its finale would not have been canceled.
It wasn’t fluffy at all, however: On November 10, 1993, King used his show to host a debate between Vice President Al Gore and billionaire businessman Ross Perot over the proposed free deal. -North American exchange that helped tip public support for the treaty. .
Born to Jewish immigrant parents on November 19, 1933, Lawrence Harvey Zeigler brought his New York accent and gave birth to it in Miami, where he began his on-air career as a disc jockey in 1957 after changing his last name. in King.
Over the next decade, the young journalist would perfect his interview style in Florida, first with a live show aired from a restaurant, and then as a columnist for the Miami Herald.
Then, in December 1971, his promising Miami career was derailed with an arrest on a large charge of theft over $ 5,000 that he should have owed a financier. This led to a six-year exile during which King advertised a running track in Louisiana.
But King would eventually return to Miami and a mic. In 1978, “The Larry King Show” became a nationally syndicated staple in 28 cities. In five years, it would air in 118 markets, according to CNN.
King also went national in his side gig as a newspaper columnist, debuting in his USA Today column in 1982.
Three years later, on June 3, 1985, “Larry King Live” premiered on CNN, starting the 25-year run that would make him an even better name. Back then, the cable news network was still struggling to fill airtime, and it would be decades before competition from MSNBC and Fox News forced more aggressive programming choices.
In 1989, King was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.
By the time he finished his run on CNN, “Larry King Live” was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest show with the same host in the same time slot.
This retreat was short-lived. In 2012, King launched a new show – “Larry King Now” – with Web Ora TV. The following year, another program hosted by King, “Politicking”, made its debut on Russian television channel RT.
“I thought I could go,” King told “TODAY” in 2013. “I thought it would be easy, but the night Osama Bin Laden was killed, I just wanted to jump off the chair and run. and do something. “
In 2017, Terry Richard, ex-wife of late artist Eddie Fisher, accused King of groping her twice in the 2000s. He denied the allegations published by the British Daily Mail.
Over the years, King has survived multiple heart attacks. He underwent five-fold bypass surgery in 1987 which led to his quitting smoking. The operation also inspired him to create a charity, the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, which helped fund medical treatment for vulnerable patients who lacked insurance.
He married his seventh wife, Shawn Southwick, at UCLA Medical Center just before undergoing heart surgery in 1997, according to CNN. In August 2019, however, he filed for divorce from her after 22 years of marriage.
That year, he told the “Extra” show that he suffered a stroke that put him in a coma for “a few weeks”. “It has been a difficult year,” he said.
In 2020, her 65-year-old son, Andy, died of a heart attack and her 51-year-old daughter, Chaia, died of lung cancer. He is survived by three other biological children.
“He lived long enough to be a force to be recognized in the network age, the cable age and the Internet age,” said Thompson of Syracuse University, “and it is quite impressive. “
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