Larry King Biography

Larry King was one of the most recognized TV broadcasters in America from 1985-2010, thanks to Larry King Live, his daily talk show which ran on CNN for those 25 years. King “shot the breeze with presidents and psychics, movie stars and malefactors — anyone with a story to tell or a pitch to make,” said The New York Times at his death.

Larry King began his broadcasting career on radio station WAHR in Miami, Florida in 1957. (He took the stage name of King after the station’s general manager told him that Zeiger sounded “too German, too Jewish.”) By the early 1970s he was an all-around media personality, doing television and radio shows as well as writing a column for The Miami Herald. His career went a little sour during the 1970s, but in 1978 he landed a spot as the host of a nationally syndicated radio show.

In 1982 Larry King began writing a newspaper column for USA Today (he ended the gig in 2001) and in 1985 he joined CNN as the title host of a world-wide call-in talk show. Known for his blunt (if not particularly penetrating) questions, King conducted thousands of interviews with celebrities, politicians and newsmakers, including Paul McCartney, Marlon Brando, Yasser Arafat, Tony Blair, Richard Nixon and Ross Perot. Larry King ended his run with Larry King Live on December 16, 2010.

Larry King published a memoir, My Remarkable Journey, in 2009. He died on January 23, 2021, more than three weeks after being hospitalized due to Covid-19. His cause of death was ultimately ruled to be sepsis, with two related underlying conditions: acute hypoxic respiratory failure (that is, a shortage of oxygen in the blood) and kidney failure.