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Renowned American broadcaster Larry King died Saturday at the age of 87 at a hospital in Los Angeles, weeks after it became known that he had been admitted for COVID-19.
“It is with deep sadness that Ora Media announces the death of our co-founder, host, and friend Larry King, who passed away this morning at the age of 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles,” said a statement released on the popular interviewer’s official Twitter account.
Although the statement does not detail the causes of death, local media confirmed that King, who was born in New York on November 19, 1933, was admitted to a hospital center in Los Angeles admitted for coronavirus.
Entertainment website Showiz411 indicated at the time that the TV personality could not receive visits from his ex-wife, Shawn King, whom he divorced in 2019, nor from his sons Cannon and Chance King.
“For 63 years and across radio, television and digital media platforms, the thousands of interviews, awards and worldwide accolades to Larry are a testament to his unique and enduring talent as a broadcaster,” added the statement, which recalled that although the host’s name appeared in the titles of his programs, he always viewed his interviewees as “the real stars.”
“Whether he was interviewing a U.S. president,” the statement added, “a foreign leader, a celebrity, a scandal-plagued character or an ordinary man, Larry liked to ask short, direct and simple questions. He believed that concise questions generally provided the best answers, and he was not wrong in that belief.”
In May 2019 King suffered a major stroke just weeks after undergoing surgery to implant a stent, a metal element that resolves clogged arteries.
King also suffered from a heart attack in 1987, as well as lung and prostate cancer. In 2002 he suffered a severe blow when in little more than three weeks he lost two of his children: Andy, 65, of a heart attack, and Chaia, 51, to lung cancer.
The host rose to fame with the radio program “The Larry King Show”, which ran from 1978 to 1994. He then jumped to television with “Larry King Live”, which could be seen on CNN from 1985 to 2010.
The statement detailed that details of the funeral and memorial service for the host, whose family has asked for “privacy at this time,” will be announced at a later date.
