Larry King, a giant and veteran of US broadcasting who achieved worldwide fame for interviewing political leaders and celebrities, has died at the age of 87.
He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to Ora Media, a production company he co-founded.
King conducted an estimated 50,000 interviews in his six-decade career, which included 25 years as host of the popular CNN talk show Larry King Live.
The King of Talk shows
Earlier this month, he was treated in hospital for Covid-19, in Los Angeles where he had video contact with family.
Larry King had a supreme work ethic and he carried on working for RT after he left CNN
Most recently, King hosted another programme, Larry King Now, broadcast on Hulu and RT, Russia’s state-controlled international broadcaster.
The talk show host had faced several health problems in recent years, including heart attacks.
Larry King rose to fame in the 1970s with his radio programme The Larry King Show, on the commercial network Mutual Broadcasting System.
Legendary singer Frank Sinatra, who was rarely interviewed, gave his last interview to Larry King in 1988. King later said that this, and interviewing actor Marlon Brando – who also hardly ever agreed to interviews – were among his career highlights.
He was then the host of Larry King Live on CNN, between 1985 and 2010, carrying out interviews with a host of guests.
He also wrote a column for the USA Today newspaper for over 20 years.
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