TV chat king Larry dies of virus
VETERAN US TV host Larry King, who pioneered the live news talk-show format, died yesterday aged 87, a month after contracting coronavirus.
His production company confirmed “with profound sadness” that the broadcaster died at Cedars-sinai Medical Centre, in Los Angeles.
With his swept-back hair, glasses and ever-present braces, King ruled the airwaves for 25 years with his nightly Larry King Live, which launched in 1985.
His interviews with presidents, popes and pop stars in his “average Joe” style won him an army of fans and a string of awards. Among those paying tribute yesterday were fellow hosts Craig Ferguson, Ryan Seacrest andwendywilliams.
His company’s statement added: “For 63 years, Larry’s many thousands of interviews, awards and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster.” The show eventually went off air in 2010 but he regularly returned for one-off specials.
His health had been in decline for years after suffering a major heart attack in the late 1980s. He was later diagnosed as being diabetic and, in 2017, revealed he had undergone an operation to remove a cancerous tumour in his lung.
In November 2019, he told how he had suffered a stroke and admitted having contemplated suicide after feeling as if he was in a coma “for weeks”. He said: “I thought I was just going to bite the bullet. I didn’t want to live this way.”
King has three surviving children from eight marriages to seven different women. He married final wife Shawn in 1997, shortly before he underwent heart surgery, and filed for divorce in 2019.