Larry King

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Larry King (2017)

Larry King (born November 19, 1933 as Lawrence Harvey Zeiger in Brooklyn , New York City , † January 23, 2021 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American journalist and talk show host . His most famous show was the talk show Larry King Live , with which he could be seen almost every day from 1985 to 2010 on the US news channel CNN .

life and career

King in an interview with Vladimir Putin in 2000

King was born into a Jewish-Orthodox immigrant family, his father, Aaron, was Austrian and his mother, Jennie (née Gitlitz), was originally from Belarus . When he was nine years old, his father died. His mother then worked as a seamstress in " sweatshops " in New York. The family was dependent on welfare. King never went to college - after graduating badly from high school , he got by as a casual worker. At the age of 22 he moved from Brooklyn to Florida .

In 1957 he began to work as a DJ for the radio station "WAHR" in Miami Beach . Since the station manager found the name too difficult, he looked for a more suitable one. On the table was a newspaper with an advertisement for "King's Liquor". The boss spontaneously called him Larry King, and he has been using this name himself ever since. His popularity rose steadily and from 1960 King hosted his first television program for the station WLBW (Channel 10) in Miami . His best-known interview show Larry King Live ran from June 3, 1985 on CNN at the same time, for which he even received an entry in the Guinness Book of Records . King maintained a gentle conversation, indiscreet or hurtful questions do not appear in his interviews.

In 2009 he published his biography entitled My Remarkable Journey (Eng. My unusual life path).

On June 29, 2010, he announced that he would end the program Larry King Live in the fall of 2010, but he would continue to be available for Larry King specials on important national and international topics on CNN. The last show was broadcast on December 16, 2010, and guests were - live - several former US presidents. Since 2012, Larry King was seen with his new talk show Larry King Now , from June 2013 also with the program Politicking with Larry King on the online video platforms Hulu and Ora. Since June 2013, the Russian international broadcaster Russia Today has also broadcast both programs on its US TV channel RT America .

Private

King was married eight times and had five children: he married a school friend in 1952, but the marriage was annulled only a year later at the instigation of his parents. His second short-lived marriage resulted in a son in 1961, but King did not meet him until he was an adult. Before he was even born, he had married the clerk of a Playboy nightclub. In 1962 he adopted their son and they divorced the following year. In 1963 he entered into his fourth marriage, which also did not last long. In 1969 he remarried his third wife, who gave birth to a daughter that same year. In 1972 the remarriage was divorced. On September 25, 1976, he said yes to a math teacher and production assistant, and in 1983 they divorced. On October 7, 1989, he married a businesswoman, from whom he separated again in 1990; The divorce followed in 1992. After an engagement to actress Deanna Lund , he got his eighth marriage in 1997 to singer and actress Shawn Southwick-King , the mother of his two youngest children (two sons). After he filed for divorce in a Los Angeles court on April 14, 2010, there was a reconciliation; but on August 20, 2019, King filed for divorce again.

Typical of him was the type of clothing that he used to wear during his broadcasts and that gave him a high recognition value : frame glasses, shirt, tie and suspenders.

He was also seen in many American films and series, in which he played himself.

In December 2020, King, who had already had a major heart attack and five-fold bypass surgery , was treated for an infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles . According to media reports, he left the intensive care unit on January 3 and died on January 23, 2021 at the age of 87 from complications from the COVID-19 disease.

Prominent interviewees

King has interviewed a variety of show greats, other personalities and politicians, including Richard Nixon and all subsequent US presidents. The following is an excerpt from the extensive interview list:

As part of the film The Dictator , he interviewed Sacha Baron Cohen , who played the lead role in the film.

Web links

Commons : Larry King  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Larry King, veteran broadcaster and TV personality, has died at age 87 , today.com, January 23, 2021.
  2. ↑ Larry King, legendary Jewish-American talk show host, this at 87 (Engl.) , The Jerusalem Post . January 23, 2021. 
  3. ↑ Larry King ends talk show career: The man with the suspenders says “Good-bye” ( memento from July 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), tagesschau.de, June 30, 2010.
  4. ↑ Christine Brinck : It's more fun . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . July 4, 2009, p. 19 .
  5. ^ Statement by Larry King. CNN.com (English)
  6. ↑ Larry King says goodbye after 25 years . In: Tages-Anzeiger , December 17, 2010
  7. ↑ Larry King Now on ora.tv (only available in the USA)
  8. ^ RT America to broadcast Larry King's new political show . RT.com, May 29, 2013 (English); Retrieved August 21, 2013
  9. ↑ Eighth divorce for US talk show star Larry King . Zeit Online , April 15, 2010
  10. ↑ Talk show icon Larry King is getting divorced , Spiegel Online, August 21, 2019.
  11. ↑ Dakin Andone, Brad Park: Larry King has been hospitalized with Covid-19. CNN, January 2, 2021, accessed January 3, 2021 .
  12. ↑ Larry King is dead: Talk legend dies at the age of 87 of Covid 19 disease. In: Focus Online. Retrieved January 23, 2021 .
personal data
SURNAME King, Larry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pointer, Lawrence Harvey
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American journalist
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 2021
Place of death los Angeles