Beloved US talk show legend Larry King died in hospital at age 87 after a long illness, his family confirmed. The veteran interviewer won several awards during his career and introduced RT America’s Politicking program.
King passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Saturday morning, his producer, Ora Media, said in a statement, extending condolences to his family. Earlier this month, after contracting Covid-19, he was reportedly admitted to the hospital in a condition serious enough to warrant being placed on a ventilator.
The legendary host struggled with health problems recently. His previous fight with hospitals forced him to spend his 87th birthday, which took place on November 19, in a ward. He thanked fans and supporters “For all kind birthday messages” on Twitter that day.
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The renowned conversationalist and acquaintance had suffered from heart disease for decades and even wrote two books describing life with the disease. In November 2019, he suffered a near-fatal stroke and later announced that he had passed “A few weeks” in coma.
Illustrious career
Beginning in Florida as a local journalist and interviewer in the 1950s, King gained national prominence as a host for The Larry King Show – a radio show that lasted all night in 1978.
He later hosted the internationally known program Larry King Live on CNN for 25 years between 1985 and 2010, interviewing a wide range of personalities, from movie stars to prominent politicians, discussing everything from their personal lives to the latest news.
In 2012, he co-founded a New York-based production company, Ora TV, and started showing his Larry King Now program there. A year later, RT America struck a deal with Ora TV to present King’s show. At that time, Larry King said that “I would rather ask questions of people in positions of power than speak on their behalf.”
Since then, King has hosted the podcast Larry King Now and the Politicking program broadcast by RT America.
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Over the course of his life, King has received more than a dozen media awards, including two Peabody awards for broadcast excellence in 1982 and 1992, as well as an Emmy award and 10 CableACE awards for Best Interviewer, as well as Best Talk Show Series. .
Outside of his media career, King has also been involved in charity work. After suffering a heart attack and undergoing a five-fold bypass in 1987, he founded the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, which paid for life-saving cardiac procedures for people who could not afford them and promotes healthy lifestyle habits.
King married eight times during his life, asking for the divorce of his last wife Shawn Southwick in 2019. He was the father of five children and had nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Two of King’s own children, Andy King and Chaia King, died weeks later in July and August 2020, one from a heart attack and the other after a battle with lung cancer.
Asked about his opinion of his legacy in 2014, King said he would like to be remembered as a person who “It led to more people having information they didn’t have before.” He said he wanted people to remember him as someone who “Taught us a lot” in a fun way and who “I brought a lot of pride to your business”.
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