Larry King, legendary CNN talk show host, dies at 87

LOS ANGELES, US

Larry King, the celebrated television and radio host,  died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 87, weeks after battling COVID-19.

King's production company announced his death in a statement on Saturday.  

'With profound sadness, Ora Media announces the death of our co-founder, host, and friend Larry King, who passed away this morning at age 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles,' the company said.

'Ora Media sends our condolences to his surviving children Larry, Jr., Chance, Cannon and the entire King family.'  

No cause of death was given, however, it comes three weeks after King was admitted to the ICU with COVID-19.  

He was reported to have been moved out of intensive care on January 4, but had remained in hospital for treatment.    

He is thought to have caught the virus from a health care worker visiting his home, a source told NBC. One of his sons, who has not been named, has also tested positive, they said.

King's advanced age and poor health are a cause for concern and place him at elevated risk. He has had numerous health issues, and has suffered a heart attack, prostate and lung cancer, and type two diabetes.  

Described as the 'Muhammad Ali of the broadcast interview;' King conducted over 50,000 high-profile talks with presidents, world leaders, Hollywood royalty and sports stars during the course of his career that spanned over six decades. 

His trademark suspenders and unmistakable voice were ubiquitous in millions of living rooms around the world that tuned in to watch his nightly talk show on CNN, 'Larry King Live.'  

Larry King's easy-going conversational style sat him across every American President and First Lady since Richard Nixon. 

His ability to, as Frank Sinatra said, 'make the camera disappear' earned him interviews with the world's brightest and most influential figures: from the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bill Gates, Vladimir Putin and Margaret Thatcher to Marlon Brando, Mick Jagger, Michael Jordan, George Clooney, Lady Gaga, Bette Davis, Jackie Gleason, Al Pacino, Malcolm X, Monica Lewinsky, Audrey Hepburn, Sammy Davis Jr, Bob Hope, Martin Luther King Jr, Paul McCartney, Bobby Kennedy, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor and Oprah Winfrey.  

Married eight times, King was preceded in death by two children and survived by his estranged wife, Shaun Southwick and three children. His passing highlights his remarkable life journey from a Depression-era Brooklyn boy to the legendary 'master of the mic.'