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Larry King (born November 19, 1933) is an
award-winning American writer, journalist and broadcaster. He currently hosts a nightly interview program on CNN called Larry King Live, one of the longest running talk shows on
American air.
Biography
Early life
King was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jennie
(née Gitlitz), a garment worker, and Edward
Zeiger, a restaurant owner and defense plant worker.[1] He
was raised in a "very cultural[ly] Jewish" family.[2] His
father died at 44 of a heart attack when King was nine,[3] and his mother had to go on relief to support
Larry and his younger brother. His father's death affected King greatly, and King lost interest in school, ruining his chances to
go to college. After graduating from high school, he worked to help support his mother. In his 20s, King worked as a
UPS delivery boy and it seemed his dream of a job in radio wouldn't occur.
Miami radio
A CBS staff announcer, who King met by chance, told him to go to Florida where there was a growing media market and where there were openings for less experienced radio
personalities. King rode a bus to Miami. After initial setbacks, King got his first job in radio through persistence. A small
station, WIOD in Miami Beach, hired him to clean up
and perform miscellaneous tasks. When one of their announcers quit, they put him on the air. His first broadcast was on
May 1, 1957, when he worked as the disc jockey from 9 am to noon. He also did two afternoon newscasts and a
sportscast. He was paid $55 a week. He acquired the name Larry King when the general manager said that Zeiger was too ethnic and
hard to remember, and instead suggested the surname King, which he got from an ad in The Miami Herald for King's Wholesale Liquor. He started interviewing on a midmorning show for WIOD, at
Pumpernik's restaurant in Miami Beach. He would interview anyone who walked in. His first interview was with a waitress at the
restaurant. Two days later, singer Bobby Darin, in Miami for a concert later that day,
walked into Pumpernick's as a result of coming across King's show on his radio; Darin became King's first celebrity interview
guest.
His Miami radio show launched him to local stardom. A few years later, in May 1960, he hosted Miami Undercover, airing Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. on WPST-TV channel 10 (now
WPLG). On the show he moderated debates on important issues of the time.
Legal and financial troubles
In the early 1970s, he was entangled in legal and financial troubles. He was arrested on December 20, 1971 and charged with grand
larceny. The charges stemmed from a deal he had made with Louis Wolfson, who had
been convicted of selling unregistered stock in 1968.
Mugshot of Larry King during his larceny investigation
The circumstances of what occurred between the two are unclear. According to King, he told Wolfson that he could arrange a
special investigation by John Mitchell, the incoming US Attorney General, to overturn
the conviction. Wolfson agreed, and paid King $48,000. King never delivered, and could not pay back the money. When Wolfson was
released from prison, he went after King. According to Wolfson, King served as an intermediary between Wolfson and New Orleans
District Attorney Jim Garrison. Garrison was investigating the assassination of
President Kennedy, but needed to raise funds for the investigation. Wolfson offered to
pay $25,000 to help fund the investigation. The arrangement was that Wolfson gave Larry King cash (about $5,000 per visit). King
was supposed to give this to Richard Gerstein, the State Attorney for Dade County, Florida. Gerstein was to transfer the money to
Garrison. This took place over a year or two. Wolfson eventually found that not all the money he gave to King made it to
Garrison. The larceny charge was dropped because the statute of limitations had
run out. But King pled no contest to one of 14 charges of passing bad checks. As a result of these troubles, he was off the air
for three years. During those three years he worked several jobs. He was the PR director at Louisiana Downs, a race track in
Louisiana and he wrote some articles for Esquire
Magazine, including a major piece on New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath.
Comeback to radio and TV
King managed to get back into radio by becoming the color commentator for
broadcasts of the Shreveport Steamer of the World Football League on KWKH. Eventually, King was rehired by WIOD in Miami. In 1978
he went national, inheriting the nightly talk show slot on the Mutual Radio
Network, broadcast coast-to-coast, that had been "Long John" Nebel's until his
death, and had been pioneered by Herb Jepko. One reason King got the Mutual job is because he
had once been an announcer at WGMA-AM in Hollywood, Florida which was then owned by C. Edward Little. Little went on to become
president of Mutual and was the one who hired King when Nebel died. King's Mutual show developed a devoted audience, paving the
way for the likes of Art Bell and King's weekend relief host Jim
Bohannon, among many, many others.
It was broadcast live Monday through Friday from Midnight to 5:30am eastern time. Larry would interview a guest for the first
90 minutes, allowing callers to continue the interview for another 90. At 3am, Larry would allow the callers to discuss any topic
they pleased with him, until the end of the program, where he expressed his own political opinions. They called that segment
"Open Phone America". Some of the regular callers included "The Portland Laugher", "The Miami Derelict", "The Todd Cruz Caller",
"The Scandal Scooper", and "The Water is Warm Caller". The show was wildly successful as a loss leader, starting with relatively
few affiliates and eventually growing to more than 500. It ran until 1994.
For its final year, the show was moved to afternoons but, because most talk radio stations at the time had an established
policy of local origination at the time (3 to 6 P.M. Eastern Time) that Mutual offered the show, a very low percentage of King's
overnight affiliates agreed to carry his daytime show and it was unable to generate the same audience size. The afternoon show
was eventually given to David Brenner and radio affiliates were given the option of
carrying the audio of King's CNN evening program. He started his CNN
show in June 1957, and the Westwood One radio simulcast of the CNN show continues at the
time of this writing.
On the Larry King Live show, King hosts guests from a broad range of topics. This
includes controversial figures of UFO conspiracy theories and alleged psychics. One notable guest is
Sylvia Browne, who in 2005 told Newsweek Larry
King, a believer in the paranormal, asks her to do private psychic readings.[4]
Unlike many interviewers, Larry King has a direct, non-confrontational approach. His interview style is characteristically
frank and no-nonsense, but with occasional bursts of irreverence and humor. His approach attracts some guests who would not
otherwise appear. King, who is known for his lack of pre-interview preparation, once bragged that he never pre-reads the books of
authors who appear on his show. In a show dedicated to the surviving Beatles, for example, Larry asked George Harrison's widow
about the song "Something" which was written about George Harrison's first wife. He seemed surprised when she did not know very
much about the song.
Throughout his career he has interviewed many of the leading figures of his time. In all, CNN claims that he conducted more
than 40,000 interviews over the course of his career [5]
1987 heart attack
On February 27, 1987, King suffered a major
heart attack and then had quintuple-bypass surgery. Coincidentally, this occurred the day after Larry King took over the
Don and Mike Show. It was a life-altering event. Previously smoking was one of his
trademarks and he was not apologetic about this habit. King was a three-pack-a-day smoker and kept a lit cigarette during his
interview so he would not have to take time to light up during breaks. He now encourages curbing
smoking to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
King has written two books about living with heart disease. Mr. King, You're Having a Heart Attack: How a heart attack and
bypass surgery changed my life (1989, ISBN 0-440-50039-7) was written with New York's Newsday science editor, B. D. Colen.
Taking on Heart Disease : Famous Personalities Recall How They Triumphed Over the Nation's #1 Killer and How You Can,
Too (2004, ISBN 1-57954-820-2) features the experience of various celebrities with cardiovascular disease including
Peggy Fleming and Regis Philbin.
Court TV life
Larry started his career at Court TV in 1991. He co-hosted "King & Chung Nightly" and worked as a senior correspondent for
the network until 1992. Since leaving, he's retained the title "Court TV contributor." He currently provides commentary on trials
on Court TV program "Banfield & Ford: CourtSide".
Community
As result of heart attacks, he established the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, an organization to which David Letterman, through his American
Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming, has also contributed. King gave $1 million to George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs for scholarships to
students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
On September 3, 2005, King aired, "How You Can Help," a
three-hour special designed to provide a forum and information clearinghouse for viewers to understand and join nationwide and
global relief efforts. This was following the devastation to the Gulf Coast by Hurricane
Katrina. Guest Richard Simmons, a native of New Orleans, told him, "Larry, you don't even know how much money you raised tonight. When we
rebuild the city of New Orleans, we're going to name something big after you."
Controversy
On September 10, 1990, while on The Joan Rivers
Show, Rivers asked King which contestant in the pageant was "the ugliest." King responded, "Miss Pennsylvania. She was one of the 10 finalists and she did a great ventriloquist bit [...] The dummy was prettier."[6] King was a judge for the September 8, 1990 pageant. King later sent Miss Pennsylvania, Marla Wynne, a dozen long-stemmed roses and a telegram apologizing for saying she was the ugliest contestant in the Miss
America Pageant that year.[7]
On September 23, 2004, John Clark sued King and CNN after an interview with his ex-wife, Lynn Redgrave, aired. Clark argued that he was defamed by the banner statements scrolling at the bottom of
the screen, and that the pre-taped show did not allow him to appear to defend himself. The court would not allow the suit to
proceed ruling that he was not defamed. Two years later, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San
Francisco, dismissed his appeal.
Awards
King has received many broadcasting awards. He won the Peabody Award for Excellence in
broadcasting for both his radio (1982) and television (1992) shows. He has also won 10 CableACE
awards for Best Interviewer and for best Talk Show Series.
In 1989, King was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. In 2002, the industry
magazine Talkers named King both the fourth-greatest radio talk show host of all
time and the top television talk show host of all time.[8]
King was the only person to place in the top ten on both lists.
King is an honorary member of the Rotary Club of
Beverly Hills. He is also a recipient of the President's Award honoring his impact on media from the Los Angeles Press Club in 2006.
King is the first recipient of the Arizona State University Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence,[9] presented April 11, 2007, via satellite by Downs himself.[10] Downs, the highly respected broadcaster and TV host, sported
red suspenders for the event and turned the tables on King by asking “very tough questions” about King’s best, worst, most
emotional and most influential interviews during King’s 50 years in broadcasting. The award is sponsored by the Hugh Downs School
of Human Communication[11] at Arizona State University.
Personal life
King has stated that his favorite First Lady was Nancy Reagan[12]. King has been
married seven times, to six different women:
- Shawn Southwick, present wife
- Julie Alexander
- Marriage dates, 7 October 1989 - 1992 (divorced)
- Sued for slander, case settled in 1994
- Sharon Lepore
- Marriage dates, 1976 - 1984 (divorced)
- Alene Akins, former Playboy bunny
- Second marriage dates, 1967 - 1972 (divorced)
- Daughter, Chaia (b. 1967)
- First marriage dates, 1961 - 1963 (divorced)
- Adopted son, Andy King (from Akins' first marriage)
- Mickey Sutphin
- Marriage dates, 1963 - 1967 (divorced)
- Daughter, Kelly (Adopted by Sutphin's next husband)
- Currently estranged from King
- Frada Miller (married right after high school graduation)
- Marriage dates, 1952 - ? (annulled)
He has also had relationships with Angie Dickinson (c. 1983 to c. 1988); Deanna Lund
(1996-?) and Rama Fox (1992-1995).[citation needed] He has another son, Larry King, Jr. (b.
1962), whose mother was not married to King.
References
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
- ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/7/Larry-King.html
- ^ http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=11356
- ^ Larry King, A Heart Healthy
Life to Enjoy. The Larry King Cardiac Foundation. Accessed on May 5, 2007.
- ^ Setoodeh, Ramin. "Predictions: Jacko Convicted, But Blake
Gets Off", Newsweek, Jan 14, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-01-31.
- ^ Anchors & Reporters: Larry King. http://www.cnn.com. Accessed on May 5, 2007.
- ^ NEWSMAKERS:`Ugliest' beauty offered equal time, The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta
Constitution, September 12, 1990
- ^ The People Column, Roanoke Times, September
15, 1990
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://clas.asu.edu/newsevents/newsreleases/2007/LarryKing_04032007.htm
- ^ http://asu.edu/clas/communication/about/hughdowns
- ^ http://asu.edu/clas/communication/index.htm
- ^ http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/30/larry.nancyreagan/index.html
External links
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