Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2

Peabodys The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

, an Emmy and 10

Cable ACE Award The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Ame ...

s. Over his career, he hosted over 50,000 interviews. King was born and raised in New York City to Jewish parents who immigrated to the United States from

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

in the 1930s. He studied at Lafayette High School, a public high school in Brooklyn. He was a

WMBM WMBM (1490 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a gospel format. Licensed to Miami Beach, Florida, United States, the station serves the Miami area. The station is currently owned by New Birth Broadcasting Corp. Inc. and features programming from ...

radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s, and gained prominence in 1978 as host of '' The Larry King Show'', an all-night nationwide call-in radio program heard on the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...

. From 1985 to 2010, he hosted the nightly interview television program ''

Larry King Live ''Larry King Live'' was an American television talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was the channel's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly. Mainly aired from CNN's Los Angeles s ...

'' on

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

. King hosted ''

Larry King Now ''Larry King Now'' was a talk show hosted by Larry King, available on Ora TV, Hulu and RT America. Launched on July 17, 2012, the series featured interviews with newsmakers, celebrities, world leaders, and Internet stars. The show was similar to ...

'' from 2012 to 2020, which aired on

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

Ora TV Ora TV is a television production studio and on-demand digital television network launched in 2012 by television host Larry King and his wife Shawn Southwick King and funded by América Móvil, a business venture of Mexican billionaire Carlos Sli ...

, and

RT America RT America was a U.S.-based news channel headquartered in Washington, D.C. Owned by TV Novosti and operated by production company T&RProductions, it was a part of the RT (TV network), RT network, a global multilingual television news network base ...

. He hosted '' Politicking with Larry King'', a weekly political talk show, on the same three channels from 2013 to 2020. King also appeared in television series and films, usually playing himself. He remained active until his death in 2021, from complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

, at the age of 87.

Early life and education

King was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

on November 19, 1933. He was one of two children of Jennie ( Gitlitz), a garment worker who was born in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, and Aaron Zeiger, a restaurant owner and defense-plant worker who was born in

Pinsk Pinsk ( be, Пі́нск; russian: Пи́нск ; Polish: Pińsk; ) is a city located in the Brest Region of Belarus, in the Polesia region, at the confluence of the Pina River and the Pripyat River. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk a ...

, Russian Empire. His parents were

Orthodox Jews Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Jewish theology, Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Or ...

who immigrated to the United States from

in the 1930s. King attended Lafayette High School, a public high school in Brooklyn. When King was nine years old, his father died of a heart attack. This resulted in King, his mother, and brother going on government

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

. King was greatly affected by his father's death, and subsequently lost interest in his schoolwork. After graduating from high school, King worked to help support his mother. From an early age, he desired to work in radio broadcasting.

Career

Miami radio and television

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

staff announcer, whom King met by chance, suggested he go to Florida which was a growing

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

with openings for inexperienced broadcasters. King went to Miami, and after initial setbacks, he gained his first job in radio. The manager of a small station, WAHR (now

) in

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

, hired him to clean up and perform

miscellaneous {{Short pages monitor King quit smoking after the heart attack, having smoked three packs of cigarettes a day until then. King related his heart attack experience in an interview in the 2014 British documentary film ''The Widowmaker'', which advocates for

coronary calcium scan A coronary CT calcium scan is a computed tomography (CT) scan of the heart for the assessment of severity of coronary artery disease. Specifically, it looks for calcium deposits in atherosclerotic plaques in the coronary arteries that can narrow ...

ning to motivate preventive cardiology and highlights the financial

conflicts of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

in the widespread use of

coronary stent A coronary stent is a tube-shaped device placed in the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart, to keep the arteries open in the treatment of coronary heart disease. It is used in a procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention (PC ...

s. He received annual chest X-rays to monitor his heart condition. During his 2017 examination, doctors discovered a malignant tumor in his lung. It was then successfully removed with surgery. On April 23, 2019, King underwent a scheduled

angioplasty Angioplasty, is also known as balloon angioplasty and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), is a minimally invasive endovascular procedure used to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins, typically to treat arterial atheroscle ...

and also had

stents In medicine, a stent is a metal or plastic tube inserted into the lumen of an anatomic vessel or duct to keep the passageway open, and stenting is the placement of a stent. A wide variety of stents are used for different purposes, from expanda ...

inserted. It was erroneously reported that he had another heart attack along with heart failure; these claims were later retracted. He returned to '' Politicking with Larry King'' on August 15. On November 27, he said he had had a stroke in March, and was in a coma "for weeks". He later admitted he had contemplated suicide following the stroke, telling Los Angeles television station

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the seco ...

, "I thought I was just going to bite the bullet. I didn't want to live this way." On January 2, 2021, it was revealed that King had been hospitalized with

ten days earlier in a Los Angeles hospital. King's widow Shawn Southwick-King told ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...

'' that he had recovered from COVID-19, but died of

as a complication on January 23, 2021, at the age of 87 at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2 ...

, Los Angeles. According to the

death certificate A death certificate is either a legal document issued by a medical practitioner which states when a person died, or a document issued by a government civil registration office, that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death, as ...

obtained by ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' magazine, sepsis was the immediate cause of death. It also listed two underlying conditions leading to the infection – acute hypoxemic

respiratory failure Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a rise ...

and

end-stage renal disease Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a type of kidney disease in which a gradual loss of kidney function occurs over a period of months to years. Initially generally no symptoms are seen, but later symptoms may include leg swelling, feeling tired, vom ...

. In February 2021, it was reported that Shawn had gone to court to contest the deceased's handwritten

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

written in 2019, which had left his estate (valued at $2 million) to his five surviving children. Shawn alleges her stepson Larry King Jr. exerted undue influence over his father towards the end of his life, and that the handwritten will conflicts with a will he signed in 2015, in which she was named executor of his estate. This does not include more valuable "assets that were held in

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

s".

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Larry King at the 70th Annual Peabody Awards

King received many broadcasting awards. He won the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

for Excellence in broadcasting for both his radio (1982) and television (1992) shows. He also won ten

CableACE Award The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Amer ...

s for Best Interviewer and for Best Talk Show Series. In 1989, King was inducted into the

National Radio Hall of Fame The Radio Hall of Fame, formerly the National Radio Hall of Fame, is an American organization created by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988. Three years later, Bruce DuMont, founder, president, and CEO of the Museum of Broadcast Communicatio ...

, and in 1996 to the Broadcasters' Hall of Fame. In 2002, the industry publication ''

Talkers Magazine ''Talkers Magazine'' is a trade-industry publication related to talk radio in the United States. Its slogan is "The Bible of Talk Radio and the New Talk Media". In addition to radio, it also covers talk shows on broadcast and cable television, a ...

'' named King both the fourth-greatest radio talk show host of all time and the top television talk show host of all time. In 1994, King received the Scopus Award from the American Friends of Hebrew University. In 1996, he received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...

presented by Awards Council member

Art Buchwald Arthur Buchwald (October 20, 1925 – January 17, 2007) was an American humorist best known for his column in ''The Washington Post''. At the height of his popularity, it was published nationwide as a syndicated column in more than 500 newspaper ...

. He was given the Golden Mike Award for Lifetime Achievement in January 2008, by the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California. King was an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills. He was also a recipient of the President's Award honoring his impact on media from the

Los Angeles Press Club The Los Angeles Press Club is an American journalism organization founded in 1913. It honors journalists through its annual National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and SoCal Journalism Awards. The Board of Directors includes the organi ...

in 2006. King was the first recipient of the Arizona State University

Hugh Downs Hugh Malcolm Downs (February 14, 1921July 1, 2020) was an American radio and television broadcaster, announcer and programmer; television host; news anchor; TV producer; author; game show host; talk show sidekick; and music composer. A regular t ...

Award for Communication Excellence, presented April 11, 2007, via satellite by Downs himself. King was awarded an honorary degree of

Doctor of Humane Letters The degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (; DHumLitt; DHL; or LHD) is an honorary degree awarded to those who have distinguished themselves through humanitarian and philanthropic contributions to society. The criteria for awarding the degree differ ...

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,400 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in five colleges. The ...

; for which he said "is really a hoot". King received numerous honorary degrees from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

, the Columbia School of Medicine,

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

, the

New England Institute of Technology New England Institute of Technology (New England Tech or NEIT) is a private university with its main campus in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. It was established in 1940 and Richard I. Gouse has been the president since 1971. Campuses New Engla ...

, and the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

References

External links

Larry King Live
– Transcripts of all interviews since 2000 * * *
Larry King's Final On-Camera Interview
Silver Screen Studios - Dispatches from Quarantine (May 11, 2020) {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Larry 1933 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers American atheists American columnists American male film actors American male television actors American newspaper writers American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American talk radio hosts American television talk show hosts Baseball spectators Cryonicists CNN people Deaths from kidney failure Deaths from respiratory failure Deaths from sepsis Infectious disease deaths in California Jewish American journalists Jewish American male actors Jewish American writers Lafayette High School (New York City) alumni Male actors from Miami Male actors from New York City Miami Dolphins announcers National Football League announcers Peabody Award winners People from Beverly Hills, California People from Hollywood, Florida People from Miami Beach, Florida Radio personalities from Miami Radio personalities from New York City RT (TV network) people Writers from Brooklyn Writers from Miami