The life of iconic talk-show host Larry King

Who was Larry King? Larry King was one of America’s most famous talk-show hosts and media personalities. Born Lawrence Zeiger on November 19, 1933, he grew up in Brooklyn, New York, before moving to Florida in his early twenties with hopes of breaking into radio. He worked as a disc jockey at a Miami radio station, where he adopted the name “Larry King” at the suggestion of his manager. King used the position to establish what would become his conversational interview style. He took pride in how little research he did on interview subjects and instead would let his natural curiosity guide the questions. King also worked with different radio stations and other Miami media groups, including television networks and print publications. He would eventually work his way to the national stage in 1978 as the host of a national late-night radio talk show called The Larry King Show. In 1985 he became the host of the television show Larry King Live on CNN. King’s informal interviews made the show popular for political candidates such as Ross Perot, who announced his presidential candidacy on the show in 1992. Larry King Live would air for 25 years, a run of about 6,000 episodes containing over 30,000 interviews. In 2011 King received a News & Documentary Emmy Award for lifetime achievement. Larry King died on January 23, 2021. Over the course of his life, he conducted over 50,000 interviews with everyone from ordinary listeners to every U.S. president from Gerald Ford to Barack Obama.