Larry King

This article is about the television host. For other uses, see Larry King (disambiguation).

Larry King
King in 2006
Born
Lawrence Harvey Zeiger

(1933-11-19)November 19, 1933
New York City, U.S.
DiedJanuary 23, 2021(2021-01-23) (aged 87)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeHillside Memorial Park Cemetery, Culver City, California
Occupations
  • Radio host
  • TV host
  • author
  • spokesman
Years active1957–2021
Spouses
Freda Miller
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(m. 1952; ann. 1953)​
Annette Kaye
​
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(m. 1961; div. 1961)​
Alene Akins
​
​
(m. 1961; div. 1963)​

​
​
(m. 1967; div. 1972)​
Mickey Sutphin
​
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(m. 1963; div. 1967)​
Sharon Lepore
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(m. 1976; div. 1983)​
Julie Alexander
​
​
(m. 1989; div. 1992)​
Shawn Southwick
​
​
(m. 1997; sep. 2019)​
Children5

Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021)[1] was an American author, radio host and TV host. His awards and nominations include two Peabodys, an Emmy, and 10 Cable ACE Awards.[2] King was also awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 32nd Annual News and Documentary Emmys.[3] During his career, King conducted over 50,000 interviews on radio and TV.[4]

King was born and raised in New York City to Jewish parents who immigrated to the United States from what is now Belarus in the 1920s. He studied at Lafayette High School, a public high school in Brooklyn. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in 1978, gained national prominence as host of The Larry King Show, an all-night nationwide call-in radio program heard over the Mutual Broadcasting System.[5]

From 1985 to 2010, he hosted the nightly interview television program Larry King Live on CNN.[6][7] King hosted Larry King Now from 2012 to 2020,[8] which aired on Hulu, Ora TV, and RT America. 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.

On January 2, 2021, King was hospitalized with COVID-19 at the Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. King recovered from the virus, but died on January 23 from sepsis at the age of 87.[9]

  1. ^ "Larry King". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  2. ^ Spangler, Todd (July 28, 2013). "Larry King Politics Show Gets Global TV Distribution via Russian-Backed Network". Variety. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  3. ^ "Larry King receives Lifetime Achievement Award at 32nd Annual News & Documentary Emmys". IMDb. September 27, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  4. ^ "Larry King: US TV legend who hosted 50,000 interviews". BBC News. January 23, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference wdvm was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Larry King Live". Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  7. ^ "End Of Qtr Data-Q107 (minus 3 hours).xls" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2009. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
  8. ^ "Larry King Now". Ora TV. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  9. ^ Reed, Ryan; Kreps, Daniel (January 23, 2021). "Larry King, Veteran TV and Radio Host, Dead at 87". Rolling Stone.