A statement from Ora Media, the parent firm of Ora TV that King co-launched in 2012, read:”With profound sadness, Ora Media announces the death of our co-founder, host and friend Larry King, who passed away at age 87 in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.”
King conquered several wellness challenges through time, such as a heart attack that led to bypass surgery — and encouraged King to stop smoking. King also survived lung cancer and underwent surgery at Cedars-Sinai at 2017. King also was diagnosed with and treated for prostate cancer in 1999.
In 2019he suffered a stroke that left him unable to walk on his left foot, and he was sometimes seen employing a wheelchair subsequently.
On Jan. 2, King was hospitalized for COVID-19 in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, a source near the King family told ABC News.
“I never thought I’d be 86,” King told Page Six at the moment. “My dad died when he was 43, 44. I thought I’d die too.”
“I have no complaints. Everything that’s happened to me, I am grateful for,” he told the book. “Maybe that sounds cliché, but I’m really, really grateful.”
The award-winning newsman was famous for his gravel baritone, signature suspenders and straight-forward questions, a design honed over the course of tens of thousands of interviews on the radio and tv.
Born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger, the Brooklyn native desired to be on the radio from a young age. He received his first break on-air in Miami — and eventually became known by the moniker Larry King, that is now his legal name.
In 1978, he began hosting”The Larry King Show,” a nationwide radio program on Mutual Broadcasting System he helmed before stepping down in 1994.
Throughout this time, he also made the move to TV. Oprah Winfrey especially endorsed Barack Obama on the series throughout the 2008 presidential campaign.
Lately, King hosted”Larry King Now” on Hulu, RT American and Ora TV, a production company King co-founded with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim at 2012. He was also hosting”Politicking with Larry King” about the stations until his death.
Over the span of his long, illustrious career, King has not been immune to controversy. In 2019, he unknowingly filmed a Chinese propaganda infomercial in a bogus interview with a Russian journalist, as reported by ProPublica. “I should have done it, obviously,” King told this publication.
King was recognized with two Peabody Awards and one Emmy Award, among other honors.
King has also authored several publications, done voice work in TV shows and movies, including”Shrek 2″ and”Bee Movie,” and appeared in films like”Ghostbusters.”
Back in 1988, a year after he survived a heart attack, the newsman founded the Larry King Cardiac Foundation to help those with heart disease cover their medical treatment.
An lifelong Dodgers fan, from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, King was frequently viewed behind home plate in Dodgers Stadium.
King was married eight times to seven women and had five children. In August, he revealed that among his children died within weeks of each other. Andy, 65, died of a heart attack on July 28, and Chaia, 51, passed away on Aug. 20 shortly after a lung cancer diagnosis.
He is survived by his sons, Larry, Chance and Cannon, along with nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
