Fox Nation presenter Nancy Grace mourned the passing away of her mentor and friend Larry King in an interview with Fox News on Saturday, remembering him saying, “There has never been anyone like him and there will never be anyone like him from now on. . “
King, a longtime CNN host and news icon, passed away at the age of 87 on Saturday in Los Angeles, California.
The longtime broadcasting legend has become a household name because of his interview style and ability to have seemingly meaningful conversations with celebrities, world leaders and ordinary people.
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“He had such a good relationship with people,” Grace recalled. “I don’t know if anyone could match his style of interviewing – he set the standard for many, many other people.”
“He wanted to go out with a clean slate in his mind and ask the interviewee questions right away, questions like – anyone who knew this person on the street would like to know,” she continued.
Grace attributes her career in part to her relationship with King, whom she met in 1997, after she was invited to join her program, following the launch of the “Cochran & Grace” legal commentary program.
Grace continued to reappear on the Larry King Show for years before launching her own decade-long program in 2005, “Nancy Grace” on HLN, which is owned by CNN.
“Without Larry’s help, my career may not have been possible,” Grace told Fox News on Saturday. “For a girl who grew up on a red dirt road in the middle of Georgia, even meeting Larry King, let alone having her support to launch my own show, was just unthinkable.”
“I tried to tell him over the years how much I appreciated him, but I don’t know if I ever had words to say how much he meant to me,” she said.
Grace remembered King as a “genuine” person, whose character appeared on and off camera.
“He was so kind to people he knew, people he didn’t know, the waiter, the waitress – he was like that with everyone. Just as he was on the air when he interviewed people, it was the way he talked to people in real life, “she said.
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“In a world where everything revolves around the catchphrase, Larry was not like that. He wanted to hear the whole story, and I learned that from him, ”she continued.
King was a journalistic icon not only in the vast number of interviews he conducted, including all incumbent US presidents, from Gerald Ford to Barack Obama, but also in his casual manner that allowed the interviewee to open up.
King’s question-and-answer style transformed the perception of journalistic interviews, allowing the interviewee to be the subject of importance, rather than the host – a style that Grace says has been lost in today’s media.
“In our TV culture now, it’s the one who speaks the loudest. It wasn’t like that on Larry King’s program, everyone had a say,” she added, noting that he sat three feet from the interviewee and looked directly at his eyes the entire interview, “he was really listening.”
“I have a horrible, horrible habit of getting excited during an interview or a Q&A and jumping,” Grace told Fox News laughing. “Larry hated that. And he was right.”
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“Because he wanted to hear every word a person had to say and he didn’t want me to interrupt anyone, so I had to try to contain myself,” she added, remembering fondly.
“He was a great man.”
Grace is ready to launch a tribute to King on Fox Nation Monday, which will look at King’s life through the lens of his former friends and co-workers who worked on his program.