Larry King, the star of his self-titled show ‘Larry King Live’ on CNN, has passed away at the age of 87.
He interviewed a variety of different people on his show for more than 25 years, including celebrities, athletes, presidential candidates, and even ordinary Americans. In 2010, he retired from the show after releasing over 6,000 episodes.
His death was announced in a statement on King’s official Facebook page. The statement said that the host had died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The statement also continued to praise his talent and his 63 years long career including several award-winning shows on radio, television as well as digital media.
— Larry King (@kingsthings) January 23, 2021
Even though a specific cause of death had not been mentioned in the statement, it was reported that King had tested positive for the coronavirus in December last year and was hospitalized at the Cedars-Sinai.
He also suffered from several other health problems, including multiple heart attacks. He set up the Larry King Cardiac Foundation after this to help those who did not have insurance.
In addition to this, he was also diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017; however, his surgical treatment was successful. In 2019, King also went through surgery for angina.
He is known for interviewing various presidents of the United States, ranging from Gerald Ford to Barack Obama. The executive producer of his show also praised him for always treating all of the people he interviewed in the same manner, from presidents to commoners.
He also never prepared for interviews and his questions came from his natural curiosity. He was known to never interrupt his guests and has been reported to say that he was in the habit of doing that because he believed he wouldn’t learn anything if he was the only one talking.
His career began in 1957 when he joined WAHRAM in Miami as a disc jockey. The Larry King Show premiered in 1978 and it was initially only aired in 28 cities, however over 5 years, the show had expanded to 118 cities. The show also received the Peabody Award in 1982.
His show on CNN, Larry King Live, was launched in 1985 and his legacy of interviews with several famous high-profile people began. The show is known to be the most-watched show on the network. He then started another show, ‘Larry King Now’ after retiring from CNN in 2011.
