Legendary talk show host Larry King dies

The statement did not give the cause of death.

“We regret the passing of our colleague Larry King,” said CNN President Jeff Zucker in a statement.

“The young tough guy from Brooklyn had a career in making history on radio and television. His curiosity for the world boosted his award winning career in broadcasting, but it was his generosity of spirit that drew the world to him. We are very proud of the 25 years he has passed on CNN, where his interviews with newsmaker really put the network on the international stage. From our CNN family to Larry’s, we send our thoughts and prayers, and the promise to continue your curiosity for the world in our work. “

King struggled with a series of health problems, suffering several heart attacks. In 1987, he underwent quintuple revascularization surgery, inspiring him to establish the Larry King Cardiac Foundation to provide assistance to those without insurance.

More recently, King revealed in 2017 that he was diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent surgery to treat it successfully. He also underwent a procedure in 2019 to treat angina.

In an era filled with famous journalists, King was a giant – among the most prominent questioners on television and a host of presidents, movie stars and world-class athletes.

With a friendly, easygoing demeanor that distinguished him from the most intense TV interviewers, King perfected a casual approach to the question and answer format, always leaning forward and listening carefully to his guests, rarely interrupting.

“I never learned anything,” King liked to say, “while talking.”

For 25 years, he hosted “Larry King Live” on CNN, a period that was highlighted by more than 30,000 interviews, including every incumbent president, from Gerald Ford to Barack Obama, and thousands of phone calls from viewers.

The program made King one of the faces of the broadcaster and one of the most famous television journalists in the country. His column on USA Today, which lasted nearly 20 years until 2001, featured King’s distinctive style in print, inviting readers to a trail of non-sequiturs that served as a window into his mind.

“The most underutilized player in the NFL this year was Desmond Howard from Washington … Despite what you think of Lawrence Walsh, we will always need a special prosecutor because a government cannot self-investigate,” King wrote in a column. 1992.

These reflections, combined with his unmistakable appearance – large glasses, ever-present suspenders – made King ripe for caricature. In the 1990s, he was portrayed on “Saturday Night Live” by Norm MacDonald, who channeled the USA Today column with a direct representation.

Jokes aside, King’s influence is evident today in the generation of podcasters who have imitated – deliberately or not – his conversational approach to interviews.

“A good interview – you know more than you know before you start. You should come back with perhaps some of your opinions changed,” King told the Los Angeles Times in 2018. “You should certainly be excited – an interviewer is also an artist. “

Born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger on November 19, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, King was raised by two Jewish immigrants. Her mother, Jennie (Gitlitz) Zeiger, was from Lithuania, while her father, Edward Zeiger, came from Ukraine. Edward died of a heart attack when King was 10, a memory that King said was “blocked”.

Left to raise King and his younger brother Marty, alone, Jennie Zeiger was forced to go to social security to support her children. Death had a profound effect on King and his mother.

“Before his death, I was a good student, but after that, I just stopped being interested,” King told The Guardian in a 2015 interview. “It was a real blow to me. But eventually, I channeled that anger because I wanted to make him and my mother proud. “

King said his father had a huge influence on him, instilling in his son a sense of humor and love for sports. And no sport has attracted King’s affection more than baseball.

He grew up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and continued to support the team after his move to Los Angeles. He was a constant presence at the team’s home games at Dodger Stadium, often seen in the expensive seats behind the home plate. In 2004, King wrote a book appropriately titled, “Why I Love Baseball”.

King’s media career began in earnest in 1957, when he landed a job as a disc jockey at the WAHR-AM in Miami. It was then that he made the decision to give up his surname.

“You can’t use Larry Zeiger,” he recalled his boss saying at the station. “It is very ethnic. People will not be able to spell or remember. You need a better name.”

“There was no time to think about whether it was good or bad or what my mom would say. I was going on the air in five minutes,” wrote King in his 2009 autobiography.

“The Miami Herald was spread out on his desk. Face-up was a full-page ad for King’s Wholesale Liquors. The general manager looked down and said, ‘King! How about Larry King?'”

It was at this time that King entered what would become a series of failed marriages. Her union with Frada Miller has been canceled and the dates of her second marriage to Annette Kaye are not publicly available.

From 1961 to 1963, King married Alene Akins, whom he remarried from 1967 to 71; before remarrying, King married Mickey Sutphin in 1964 before getting divorced in 1966.