Larry King, broadcasting giant for half-century, dies at 87

Larry King the suspenderssporting everyman whose broadcast interviews with world leaders movie stars and ordinary Joes helped define American conversation for a halfcentury died Saturday He was 87King died at CedarsSinai Medical Center in Los Angeles Ora Media the studio and network he cofounded tweeted No cause of death was given but CNN had earlier reported he was hospitalised with COVID19A longtime nationally syndicated radio host from 1985 through 2010 he was a nightly fixture on CNN where he won many honours including two Peabody awardsWith his celebrity interviews political debates and topical discussions King wasnt just an enduring onair personality He also set himself apart with the curiosity be brought to every interview whether questioning the assault victim known as the ldquoCentral Park Joggerrdquo or billionaire industrialist Ross Perot who in 1992 rocked the presidential contest by announcing his candidacy on Kings showIn its early years ldquoLarry King Liverdquo was based in Washington DC which gave the show an air of gravitas Likewise King He was the plainspoken gobetween through whom Beltway bigwigs could reach their public and they did earning the show prestige as a place where things happened where news was madeKing conducted an estimated 50000 onair interviews In 1995 he presided over a Middle East peace summit with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin He welcomed everyone from the Dalai Lama to Elizabeth Taylor from Mikhail Gorbachev to Barack Obama Bill Gates to Lady GagaEspecially after he relocated to Los Angeles his shows were frequently in the thick of breaking celebrity news including Paris Hilton talking about her stint in jail in 2007 and Michael Jacksons friends and family members talking about his death in 2009 King boasted of never overpreparing for an interview His nonconfrontational style relaxed his guests and made him readily relatable to his audienceldquoI dont pretend to know it allrdquo he said in a 1995 Associated Press interview ldquoNot What about Geneva or Cubaprime I ask Mr President what dont you like about this jobprime Or Whats the biggest mistake you madeprime Thats fascinatingrdquo At a time when CNN as the lone player in cable news was deemed politically neutral and King was the essence of its middleoftheroad stance political figures and people at the center of controversies would seek out his showAnd he was known for getting guests who were notoriously elusive Frank Sinatra who rarely gave interviews and often lashed out at reporters spoke to King in 1988 in what would be the singers last major TV appearance Sinatra was an old friend of Kings and acted accordinglyldquoWhy are you hererdquo King asks Sinatra responds ldquoBecause you asked me to come and I hadnt seen you in a long time to begin with I thought we ought to get together and chat just talk about a lot of thingsrdquo King had never met Marlon Brando who was even tougher to get and tougher to interview when the acting giant asked to appear on Kings show in 1994 The two hit it off so famously they ended their 90minute talk with a song and an onthemouth kiss an image that was all over media in subsequent weeksAfter a gala week marking his 25th anniversary in June 2010 King abruptly announced he was retiring from his show telling viewers ldquoIts time to hang up my nightly suspendersrdquo Named as his successor in the time slot British journalist and TV personality Piers MorganBy Kings departure that December suspicion had grown that he had waited a little too long to hang up those suspenders Once the leader in cable TV news he ranked third in his time slot with less than half the nightly audience his peak year 1998 when ldquoLarry King Liverdquo drew 164 million viewersHis wideeyed regularguy approach to interviewing by then felt dated in an era of edgy pushy or loaded questioning by other hosts Meanwhile occasional flubs had made him seem out of touch or worse A prime example from 2007 found King asking Jerry Seinfeld if he had voluntarily left his sitcom or been cancelled by his network NBCldquoI was the No 1 show in television Larryrdquo replied Seinfeld with a flabbergasted look ldquoDo you know who I amrdquo Always a workaholic King would be back doing specials for CNN within a few months of performing his nightly dutiesHe found a new sort of celebrity as a plainspoken natural on Twitter when the platform emerged winning over more than 2 million followers who simultaneously mocked and loved him for his esoteric styleldquoIve never been in a canoe Itsmy2centsrdquo he said in a typical tweet in 2015 His Twitter account was essentially a revival of a USA Today column he wrote for two decades full of oneoff disjointed thoughts Norm Macdonald delivered a parody version of the column when he played King on ldquoSaturday Night Liverdquo with deadpan lines like ldquoThe more I think about it the more I appreciate the equatorrdquo King was constantly parodied often through oldage jokes on latenight talk shows from hosts including David Letterman and Conan OBrien often appearing with the latter to get in on the roasting himselfKing came by his voracious but nofrills manner honestlyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever