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

Larry King, the suspenders-sporting everyman whose broadcast interviews with world leaders, movie stars and ordinary Joes helped define American conversation for a half-century, died on Jan. 23. He was 87.

King died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his production company, Ora Media, tweeted. No cause of death was given, but a spokesperson said Jan. 4 that King had COVID-19, received supplemental oxygen and been moved out of intensive care.

A longtime nationally syndicated radio host, he also was a nightly fixture on CNN from 1985 through 2010 as the host of "Larry King Live." He won many honors, including two Peabody awards, during the show's 25-year run.

King set himself apart with the curiosity he brought to every interview, whether questioning the assault victim known as the Central Park jogger or billionaire industrialist Ross Perot, who in 1992 announced his presidential candidacy on King's show.

King conducted an estimated 50,000 on-air interviews. In 1995, he presided over a Middle East peace summit with Palestine Liberation Organization 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 Gaga.

Especially after he relocated to Los Angeles from Washington, "Larry King Live" frequently ended up in the thick of breaking celebrity news. The show featured Michael Jackson's friends and family members talking about the singer's death in 2009.

"I don't pretend to know it all," King said in a 1995 Associated Press interview. "Not, 'What about Geneva or Cuba?' I ask, 'Mr. President, what don't you like about this job?' Or 'What's the biggest mistake you...