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Larry King, the iconic American talk show host and journalist, who charmed millions with his TV and radio programs, breathed his last on January 23, 2021. He was 87.
Mr King passed away at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, US, said a statement put out by Ora Media, the media production company co-founded by the veteran talk show host. His death came weeks after testing positive for COVID-19. However, it has not been confirmed yet if coronavirus was the cause of his death.
In a career spanning over six decades, Mr King won an Emmy, two Peabodys, and 10 Cable ACE Awards. He began working as a Florida-based journalist and later shifted to radio broadcasting.
After an existing radio presenter abruptly, Mr King was put on air in May 1957. The Miami-based radio show gained him local fame.
But it was with the Larry King Show, which debuted in 1978, that catapulted him to national stardom.
He later went on to host the iconic Larry King Live show on CNN from June 1985, interviewing thousands of local, national and global personalities. Some of his guests included US Presidents Donald Trump, George H.W. Bush, Barack Obama and Gerald Ford, Russian President Vladimir Putin and popular celebrities such as Prince, Marlon Brando, Lady Gaga and many more.
His shows had high cable TV ratings and he reportedly interviewed over 50,000 people over 63 years. He was also a popular Twitter personality with 2.4 million followers. He continued hosting the show for 25 years till 2010.
Thereon, Mr King hosted shows on several multimedia platforms and cofounded Ora TV with Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim.
Apart from his TV and radio shows, Mr King was a writer and guest-starred in many TV shows and movies such as 30 Rock, Gravity Falls, Bee Movie, the Shrek series and Ghostbusters.
Mr King, who reportedly married eight times, had a long history of medical issues. He battled prostate cancer and suffered from a heart attack right before a scheduled angioplasty.
