Larry King, the legendary television host, died on Saturday in Los Angeles. The 87-year-old TV veteran was hospitalised after he was diagnosed with Covid-19.
“With profound sadness, Ora Media announces the death of our co-founder, host, and friend Larry King, who passed away this morning at age 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles,” King’s official Twitter announced on Saturday. Ora Media is a television production studio launched by Larry King in 2012.
The statement further added, “for 63 years and across the platforms of radio, television and digital media, Larry’s many thousands of interviews, awards, and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster. Additionally, while it was his name appearing in the shows’ titles, Larry always viewed his interview subjects as the true stars of his programs, and himself as merely an unbiased conduit between the guest and audience. Whether he was interviewing a U.S. president, foreign leader, celebrity, scandal-ridden personage, or an everyman, Larry liked to ask short, direct, and uncomplicated questions. He believed concise questions usually provided the best answers, and he was not wrong in that belief.”
King was hospitalized at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles since the last week of December after contacting the Coronavirus. He had faced several medical issues in the past years. He had Type 2 Diabetes, had suffered several heart attacks, and had undergone bypass surgery in 1987. In 2017, he was diagnosed with lunch cancer and successfully underwent surgery to treat it.
Larry King is most known for his radio talk show “Larry King Show” which was broadcast nationally over the Mutual Broadcasting System from 1978 to 1994. The show consisted of interviewing a guest, then taking questions from listeners on telephone.
For 25 years from 1985 to 2010, he had hosted the television interview program the “Larry King Live” on CNN. After that, he hosted Larry King Now on Hulu and RT America from 2012 to 2020. He was hosting the political talk show “Politicking with Larry King” on both the channels from 2013 till the time of his death.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, he was hosting the show from his home.
In his television career, Larry King has won two Peabody awards, an Emmy award, and 10 Cable ACE Awards.
Larry King had married eight times to seven women. His first marriage was at the age of 19 in 1952, while his last marriage took place in 1997. He had five children and nine grandchildren. His two children, from Alene Akins whom he had married twice, Andy and Chaia, died within weeks of each other in August 2020 due to health issues.
