Larry King (bornLawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021)[1] was an American TV and radio host, author, and former spokesman. He was aWMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s. Beginning in 1978, King gained national prominence as host ofThe Larry King Show, an all-night nationwide call-in radio program heard over theMutual Broadcasting System.[2] From 1985 to 2010, he hosted the nightly interview television programLarry King Live onCNN.[3][4] King hostedLarry King Now from 2012 to 2020,[5] which aired onHulu,Ora TV, andRT America. He hostedPoliticking with Larry King, a weekly political talk show, on the same three channels from 2013 to 2020. King conducted over 50,000 interviews on radio and television.[6]
King was born and raised inBrooklyn,New York City, to Jewish parents who immigrated to the United States from what is nowBelarus in the 1930s. He studied atLafayette High School, a public high school in Brooklyn.
During his career, King also appeared in television series and films, usually playing himself. He remained active until his death in 2021. His awards and nominations include twoPeabodys, anEmmy, and 10Cable ACE Awards.[7] King was also awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 32nd Annual News and Documentary Emmys.[8]
King was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger on November 19, 1933,[9] in Brooklyn, New York City. His parents wereOrthodox Jews who immigrated to the United States fromSoviet Belarus in the 1920s.[1][10][11]He was one of two sons of Jennie (née Gitlitz;Yiddish:דזשעני גיטליץ), a garment worker who was born inMinsk in theRussian Empire in present-dayBelarus, and Aaron Edward Zeiger (Yiddish:אהרן עדוואַרד זייגער), a restaurant owner and defense-plant worker who was born inPinsk[12][13][14] (also in modern-day Belarus). During his early childhood, the family lived in a rowhouse in a section of the borough alternatively characterized as part ofBedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn,Brownsville orOcean Hill.
King attendedLafayette High School, a public high school in Brooklyn.[15] When he was nine years old, his father died of a heart attack.[16][17] This resulted in his family receivinggovernment assistance.[16] Greatly affected by his father's death, King lost interest in his schoolwork.[18] Throughout King's adolescence, his family lived in theBensonhurst section of Brooklyn.
After graduating from high school, King worked to help support his mother.[19] From an early age, he desired to work in radio broadcasting.[19]
ACBS production supervisor,James F. Sirmons, suggested he go to Florida, which was a growingmedia market with openings for inexperienced broadcasters. King went toMiami. After initial setbacks, he gained his first job in radio at a small station, WAHR[20] (nowWMBM),[21] inMiami Beach, hired him to clean up and perform miscellaneous tasks.[22] When one of the station's announcers abruptly quit, King was put on the air. His first broadcast was on May 1, 1957, working as the disc jockey from 9 a.m. to noon.[23] He also did two afternoon newscasts and a sportscast. He was paid $50 a week.[citation needed]
He acquired the name Larry King when the general manager declared that Zeiger was too difficult to remember,[24] saying it was "too German, too Jewish and not showbusiness enough".[10] Minutes before airtime, Larry chose the surname "King", which was inspired from aMiami Herald advertisement he saw for King's Wholesale Liquor.[25] Within two years, he legally changed his name to Larry King.[26]
King began to conduct interviews on a mid-morning show forWIOD from Pumpernik's Restaurant in Miami Beach.[27] He would interview whoever walked in. His first interview was with a waiter at the restaurant.[28]
Two days later, singerBobby Darin, in Miami for a concert that evening, walked into Pumpernik's[29][30] having heard King's radio show; Darin became King's first celebrity interview guest.[31][32]
King's Miami radio show brought him local attention. A few years later, in May 1960, he hostedMiami Undercover, airing Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. on Miami television stationWPST-TV.[33]
King credited his success on local television to the assistance of comedianJackie Gleason, whose national television variety show was being taped in Miami Beach, beginning in 1964. "That show really took off because Gleason came to Miami," King said in a 1996 interview he gave when inducted into the Broadcasters' Hall of Fame. "He did that show and stayed all night with me. We stayed till five in the morning. He didn't like the set, so we broke into the general manager's office and changed the set. Gleason changed the set, he changed the lighting, and he became like a mentor of mine."[34]
On December 20, 1971, he was dismissed by both WIOD and television stationWTVJ as a late-night radio host and sports commentator following his arrest forgrand larceny by a former business partner,Louis Wolfson.[36][37] Other staff covered theDolphins' games into their 24–3 loss to theDallas Cowboys inSuper Bowl VI. King also lost his weekly column at theMiami Beach Sun newspaper. The charges were later dropped.[37][38] King was later rehired by WIOD.[37] For several years during the 1970s, he hosted a sports talk-show calledSports-a-la-King, featuring guests and callers.[31]
On January 30, 1978, King began hosting a nightly coast-to-coast radio program on theMutual Broadcasting System,[39] inheriting the talk show slot that had begun withHerb Jepko in late 1975, then followed by"Long John" Nebel in 1977.[40] King's Mutual show rapidly developed a devoted audience,[41] called "King-aholics".[42]
The Larry King Show[39] was broadcast live Monday through Friday from midnight to 5:30 a.m. Eastern Time. King would interview a guest for the first hour, with callers asking questions that continued the interview for the next two hours.[42] At 3 a.m., theOpen Phone America segment began, where he allowed callers to discuss any topic they pleased with him,[41][43] until the end of the program when he expressed his own political opinions. Many stations in the western time zones carried theOpen Phone America portion of the show live, followed by the guest interview on tape delay.[21][44]
Some of King's regular callers used pseudonyms or were given nicknames by King, such as "The Numbers Guy",[45] "The Chair", "The Portland Laugher",[41] "The Miami Derelict", and "The Scandal Scooper".[46] At the beginning, the show had 28 affiliates,[47] but eventually rose to over 500.[48] King occasionally entertained the audience by telling amusing stories from his youth or early broadcasting career.[20][43][49][50]
Wishing to reduce his workload, King began hosting a shorter, daytime version of the show in 1993.Jim Bohannon, King's primary fill-in host, took over the late night time slot. After 16 years on Mutual, King decided to retire from the program. The final broadcast ofThe Larry King Show was heard on May 27, 1994; Mutual gave King's afternoon slot toDavid Brenner[51] and Mutual's affiliates were given the option of carrying the audio of King's new CNN evening television program. AfterWestwood One dissolved Mutual in 1999, the radiosimulcast of the CNN show continued until December 31, 2009.[52]
Larry King Live began onCNN in June 1985. King hosted a broad range of guests, from figures such asUFO conspiracy theorists and allegedpsychics,[53] to prominent politicians and entertainment industry figures, often giving their first or only interview on breaking news stories on his show. After broadcasting his CNN show from 9 to 10 p.m., King then traveled to the studios of theMutual Broadcasting System to do his radio show,[54] when both shows still aired.
Two of his best-remembered interviews involved political figures. In 1992, billionaireRoss Perot announced his presidential bid on the show. In 1993, a debate betweenAl Gore and Perot became CNN's most-watched segment until 2015.[55]
Unlike many interviewers, King had a direct, non-confrontational approach. His reputation for asking easy, open-ended questions made him attractive to important figures who wanted to state their position while avoiding being challenged on contentious topics.[56] King said that when interviewing authors, he did not read their books in advance, so that he would not know more than his audience.[2][54] Throughout his career, King interviewed many of the leading figures of his time. According to CNN, King conducted more than 30,000 interviews in his career.[57]
An avid sports fan, King wrote a regular column forThe Sporting News during the 1980s. King also wrote a regular column inUSA Today for almost 20 years, from shortly after that first national newspaper's debut inBaltimore–Washington in 1982 until September 2001.[58] The column consisted of short "plugs, superlatives and dropped names" but was dropped when the newspaper redesigned its "Life" section.[59] The column was resurrected in blog form in November 2008[60] and on Twitter in April 2009.[61]
During his career, King conducted more than 60,000 interviews.[62] CNN's Larry King Live became "the longest-running television show hosted by the same person, on the same network and in the same time slot", and was recognized for it by theGuinness Book of World Records.[63] He retired in 2010 after taping 6,000 episodes of the show.[64]
On June 29, 2010, King announced that after 25 years, he would be stepping down as the show's host. However, he stated that he would remain withCNN to host occasional specials.[65] The announcement came in the wake of speculation that CNN had approachedPiers Morgan, the British television personality and journalist, as King's primetime replacement,[66] which was confirmed that September.[67][68]
The final edition ofLarry King Live aired on December 16, 2010.[69] The show concluded with his last thoughts and a thank you to his audience for watching and supporting him over the years. The concluding words of Larry King on the show were, "I... I, I don't know what to say except to you, my audience, thank you. And instead of goodbye, how about so long."[70]
On February 17, 2012, CNN announced that he would no longer host specials.[71]
In March 2012, King co-foundedOra TV, a production company, with his wife Shawn Southwick-King and Mexican business magnateCarlos Slim.[72] On January 16, 2013, Ora TV celebrated their 100th episode ofLarry King Now. In September 2017, King's agent stated that King "looks forward to working for another 60 years."[73]
In May 2013, theRussian government-ownedRT America network announced that they struck a deal with Ora TV to host theLarry King Now show on its network. King said in an advertisement on RT America: "I would rather ask questions to people in positions of power, instead of speaking on their behalf." The show continued to be available on Hulu.com and Ora.tv.[76]
When criticized for doing business with a Russian-owned TV network in 2014, King responded, "I don't work for RT", commenting that his podcasts,Larry King Now andPoliticking, are licensed for a fee to RT America by New York-based Ora TV. "It's a deal made between the companies ... They just license our shows. If they took something out, I would never do it. It would be bad if they tried to edit out things. I wouldn't put up with it."[77]
King hosted the educational television seriesIn View with Larry King from 2013 to 2015, which was carried on cable television networks includingFox Business Network andDiscovery[81] and produced by The Profiles Series production company.[82]
King and his wife Shawn appeared onWWE Raw in October 2012, participating in a storyline involving professional wrestlersThe Miz andKofi Kingston.[83]
King became a very active user on the social-networking site Twitter, where he posted thoughts and commented on a wide variety of subjects. King stated, "I love tweeting, I think it's a different world we've entered. When people were calling in, they were calling into the show and now on Twitter, I'm giving out thoughts, opinions. The whole concept has changed."[84]
After 2011, he also made various televisioninfomercials, often appearing as a "host" discussing products likeomega-3 fatty acid dietary supplement OmegaXL with guests, in an interview style reminiscent of his past television programs.[85][86][87]
ProPublica reported that in 2019 King had been manipulated into starring in a fake interview with a Russian journalist containing disinformation about Chinese dissidentGuo Wengui, which was subsequently spread by Chinese government associated social media accounts.[88]
Following his 1987 heart attack, King founded the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, a non-profit organization[89] which paid for life-saving cardiac procedures for people who otherwise would not be able to afford them.[90]
On August 30, 2010, King served as the host ofChabad's 30th annual "To Life" telethon, in Los Angeles.[91]
In 2009,[38] 2011,[96] and several times in 2015,[97][98] King said that he would like to becryonically suspended. He discussed the issue with his family two years before his death, and "after much consideration," he decided that he did not want to undergo the procedure.[99]
After describing himself as aJewish agnostic in 2005,[100] he stated that he was fullyatheist in 2015.[97] In 2017, he toldThe Jerusalem Post, "I love being Jewish, am proud of my Jewishness, and I loveIsrael".[101]
In 2019, King suedNate Holzapfel, aShark Tank contestant and entrepreneur, alleging that he had misrepresented himself and his reasons for filming a short interview with King. The interview had been edited without King's permission to make it appear that Holzapfel had appeared onLarry King Now. A default judgment was entered in King's favor, and he was awarded fees and $250,000 in damages.[102][103]
King married high school sweetheart Freda Miller in 1952, at the age of 19.[105] That union ended the following year at the behest of their parents, who reportedly had the marriageannulled.[105]
King was married to Annette Kaye,[105] who gave birth to his son, Larry Jr., in November 1961. King did not meet Larry Jr. until the latter was in his 30s.[106]
In 1961, King married his third wife,Playboy Bunny Alene Akins, at one of the magazine'seponymous nightclubs. He adopted Akins' son Andy in 1962; the couple divorced the following year.[105]
In 1963, King married his fourth wife, Mary Francis "Mickey" Sutphin, who divorced him in 1967.[105]
King remarried Akins in 1969; the couple had a daughter, Chaia, before divorcing again in 1972.[105] In 1997, Dove Books published a book written by King and Chaia,Daddy Day, Daughter Day. Aimed at young children, it tells each of their accounts of his divorce from Akins.[107]
ComedianGilbert Gottfried fed by King's seventh wife, Shawn Southwick, in 1999King with Southwick and their children, Chance and Cannon, in 2002
On September 25, 1976, King married his fifth wife, mathematics teacher and production assistant Sharon Lepore. The couple divorced in 1983.[108]
On August 1, 1989, King proposed to businesswoman Julie Alexander on their first date.[109] Alexander became King's sixth wife on October 7, 1989, when the two were married in Washington, D.C.[110] They lived in different cities, with Alexander in Philadelphia and King in Washington, D.C., where he worked. The couple separated in 1990 and divorced in 1992.[110]
King became engaged to actressDeanna Lund in 1995 after five weeks of dating, but they did not marry.[111]
In 1997, King married his seventh wife, Shawn Southwick (née Engemann),[112] a singer, actress, and TV host who is the sister of musicianPaul Engemann.[113] The couple wed in King's Los Angeles hospital room three days before he underwent heart surgery to clear an occluded blood vessel.[114] The couple had two children: Chance, born March 1999, and Cannon, born May 2000.[115] King was stepfather toArena Football League quarterbackDanny Southwick.[116] On King and Southwick's 10th anniversary in September 2007, Southwick joked that she was "the only [wife] to have lasted into the two digits".[113] The couple filed for divorce in 2010, but later reconciled[114][117][118] only to file for divorce again on August 20, 2019.[119][120] King and Southwick were estranged and going through divorce proceedings at the time of King's death in 2021.[121]
At the time of his death, King had five children, nine grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.[122][123] His children with Alene Akins, Andy and Chaia, died within weeks of each other in August 2020. Andy died at 65 from a heart attack, and Chaia died at 51 from lung cancer.[123][124]
At the time of his death, in February 2021, it was reported that his estranged wife Shawn Southwick had gone to court to contest King's 2019 handwrittenwill, which had left his estate (valued at $2 million) to his five surviving children. Southwick alleged that her stepson, Larry King Jr., exerted undue influence over his father towards the end of his life, and that the handwritten will conflicted with a will King signed in 2015 in which Southwick was named executor of his estate.[125] This does not include more valuable "assets that were held intrusts".[126] Southwick ultimately reached a settlement with King's business management firm, Blouin & Company, and its executives in court in 2024.[127]
On February 24, 1987, King suffered a majorheart attack and underwent a successful emergency quintuple-bypass surgery.[50][128] Following this, he wrote two books about living with heart disease.Mr. King, You're Having a Heart Attack: How a Heart Attack and Bypass Surgery Changed My Life (1989,ISBN978-0-440-50039-1), which was written with New York'sNewsday science editor B. D. Colen, andTaking On Heart Disease: Famous Personalities Recall How They Triumphed over the Nation's #1 Killer and How You Can, Too (2004,ISBN978-1-57954-820-9), which features the experience of various celebrities with cardiovascular disease, includingPeggy Fleming andRegis Philbin.[129] King quit smoking after he had the heart attack, having smoked three packs of cigarettes a day until then.[130]
King related his heart attack experience in an interview in the 2014 British documentary filmThe Widowmaker, which advocates forcoronary calcium scanning to motivatepreventive cardiology and highlights the financialconflicts of interest in the widespread use ofcoronary stents.[131][132][133] 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.[73]
On April 23, 2019, King underwent a scheduledangioplasty and also hadstents inserted. It was erroneously reported that he had another heart attack along with heart failure; these claims were later retracted.[134] He returned toPoliticking with Larry King on August 15 of the same year. On November 27 of the same year, King said he had astroke in March, and was in a coma "for weeks".[135] Later, King admitted that he had contemplated suicide following a stroke, telling Los Angeles television stationKTLA, "I thought I was just going to bite the bullet. I didn't want to live this way."[136]
On January 2, 2021, it was reported that King had been admitted to theCedars-Sinai Medical Center inLos Angeles due to severeCOVID-19 infection, but had moved out of theICU.[137][138] Three weeks later, on January 23 of the same year, at the age of 87, King died ofsepsis due to the prior health issues (such as a clinical syndrome of life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated response to bacterial infection), though he had survived from the virus.[64][139][140][55][141] His estranged wife, Shawn Southwick-King, toldEntertainment Tonight that King died from a sepsis infection, which was unrelated to COVID-19.
King received many broadcasting awards. He won thePeabody Award for Excellence in broadcasting for both his radio (1982)[55][143] and television (1992)[143][144] shows. He also won 10CableACE Awards for Best Interviewer and for Best Talk Show Series.[55]
He was given theGolden Mike Award for Lifetime Achievement in January 2008, by the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California.[55]
King was an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills.[150] He was also a recipient of the President's Award honoring his impact on media from theLos Angeles Press Club in 2006.[151]
King was the first recipient of the Arizona State UniversityHugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence,[152] presented April 11, 2007, via satellite by Downs himself.[153]
^King, Larry (June 1, 2016)."Larry King on His Path From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills".The Wall Street Journal.Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. RetrievedAugust 29, 2016.Today, my wife, Shawn, and I and our two boys live in Beverly Hills, in a two-story, five-bedroom house.
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