Shawn King
Who was the spouse of Larry King from 1997 to 1998?
Larry King Larry King ( born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger ; November 19 , 1933 – January 23 , 2021 ) was an American television and radio host , whose awards included two Peabodys , an Emmy and ten Cable ACE Awards . Over his career , he hosted over 50,000 interviews . King was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s , and gained prominence in 1978 as host of The Larry King Show , an all-night nationwide call-in radio program heard on the Mutual Broadcasting System . From 1985 to 2010 , he hosted the nightly interview television program Larry King Live on CNN . King hosted Larry King Now from 2012 to 2020 , which aired on Hulu , Ora TV , and RT America . He hosted Politicking with Larry King , a weekly political talk show , on the same three channels from 2013 to 2020 . King also appeared in television series and films , usually playing himself . Early life and education . King was born in Brooklyn , on November 19 , 1933 . He was one of two children of Jennie ( Gitlitz ) , a garment worker who was born in Minsk or Vilnius , Russian Empire , and Aaron Zeiger , a restaurant owner and defense-plant worker who was born in Kolomyia , Austria-Hungary , or Pinsk , Russian Empire . His parents were Orthodox Jews who immigrated to the United States from Belarus in the 1930s . King attended Lafayette High School , a public high school in Brooklyn . Kings father died of a heart attack when King was nine years old . This resulted in King , his mother , and brother going on government welfare . King was greatly affected by his fathers death , and subsequently lost interest in his schoolwork . After graduating from high school , Larry worked to help support his mother . From an early age , he desired to work in radio broadcasting . Career . Miami radio and television . A CBS staff announcer , whom King met by chance , suggested he go to Florida which was a growing media market with openings for inexperienced broadcasters . King went to Miami , and after initial setbacks , he gained his first job in radio . The manager of a small station , WAHR ( now WMBM ) in Miami Beach , hired him to clean up and perform miscellaneous tasks . When one of the stations announcers abruptly quit , King was put on the air . His first broadcast was on May 1 , 1957 , working as the disc jockey from 9 a.m . to noon . He also did two afternoon newscasts and a sportscast . He was paid $50 a week . He acquired the name Larry King when the general manager claimed that Zeiger was too difficult to remember , so minutes before airtime , Larry chose the surname King , which he got from an advertisement in the Miami Herald for Kings Wholesale Liquor . Within two years , he legally changed his name to Larry King . He began to conduct interviews on a mid-morning show for WIOD , at Pumperniks Restaurant in Miami Beach . He would interview whoever walked in . His first interview was with a waiter at the restaurant . Two days later , singer Bobby Darin , in Miami for a concert that evening , walked into Pumperniks having heard Kings radio show ; Darin became Kings first celebrity interview guest . Kings Miami radio show brought him local attention . 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 ) . King credited his success on local television to the assistance of comedian Jackie Gleason , whose national television variety show was being taped in Miami Beach beginning in 1964 . That show really took off because Gleason came to Miami , King said in a 1996 interview he gave when inducted into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame . He did that show and stayed all night with me . We stayed till five in the morning . He didnt like the set , so we broke into the general managers office and changed the set . Gleason changed the set , he changed the lighting , and he became like a mentor of mine . During this period , WIOD gave King further exposure as a color commentator for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League , during their 1970 season and most of their 1971 season . However , he was dismissed by both WIOD and television station WTVJ as a late-night radio host and sports commentator as of December 20 , 1971 , when he was arrested after being accused of grand larceny by a former business partner , Louis Wolfson . Other staffers covered the Dolphins games into their 24–3 loss to Dallas in Super Bowl VI . King also lost his weekly column at the Miami Beach Sun newspaper . The charges were dropped . Eventually , King was rehired by WIOD . For several years during the 1970s , he hosted a sports talk-show called Sports-a-la-King that featured guests and callers . The Larry King Show . On January 30 , 1978 , King began broadcasting a nightly coast-to-coast program on the Mutual Broadcasting System , inheriting the talk show slot that had begun with Herb Jepko in 1975 , then followed by Long John Nebel in 1977 , until his illness and death the following year . Kings Mutual show rapidly developed a devoted audience , called King-aholics . The Larry King Show was broadcast live Monday through Friday from midnight to 5:30 a.m . Eastern Time . King would interview a guest for the first hour , with callers asking questions that continued the interview for the next two hours . At 3 a.m. , the Open Phone America segment began , where he allowed callers to discuss any topic they pleased with him , until the end of the program when he expressed his own political opinions . Many stations in the western time zones carried the Open Phone America portion of the show live , followed by the guest interview on tape delay . Some of Kings regular callers used pseudonyms or were given nicknames by King , such as The Numbers Guy , The Chair , The Portland Laugher , The Miami Derelict , and The Scandal Scooper . At the beginning , the show had 28 affiliates , though the number was eventually above 500 . King hosted the show until stepping down in 1994 . King occasionally entertained the audience by telling amusing stories from his youth or early broadcasting career . For its final year , the show was moved to afternoons . After King stepped down , Mutual gave the afternoon slot to David Brenner and Mutuals affiliates were given the option of carrying the audio of Kings new CNN evening television program . After Westwood One dissolved Mutual in 1999 , the radio simulcast of the CNN show continued until December 31 , 2009 . Larry King Live . Larry King Live began on CNN in June 1985 . On the show , King hosted a broad range of guests , from figures such as UFO conspiracy theorists and alleged psychics , to prominent politicians and entertainment industry figures , often doing their first or only interview on breaking news stories on his show . After broadcasting his CNN show from 9 to 10 p.m. , King then traveled to the studios of the Mutual Broadcasting System to do his radio show , when both shows still aired . Two of his best-remembered interviews involved political figures . In 1992 , billionaire Ross Perot announced his presidential bid on the show . In 1993 , a debate between Al Gore and Perot became CNNs most-watched segment until 2015 . Unlike many interviewers , King had a direct , non-confrontational approach . His reputation for asking easy , open-ended questions made him attractive to important figures who wanted to state their position while avoiding being challenged on contentious topics . King said that when interviewing authors , he did not read their books in advance , so that he would not know more than his audience . Throughout his career , King interviewed many of the leading figures of his time . According to CNN , King conducted more than 30,000 interviews in his career . King also wrote a regular newspaper column in USA Today for almost 20 years , from shortly after that first national newspapers debut in Baltimore-Washington in 1982 until September 2001 . The column consisted of short plugs , superlatives and dropped names but was dropped when the newspaper redesigned its Life section . The column was resurrected in blog form in November 2008 and on Twitter in April 2009 . During his career , he did more than 60,000 interviews . CNNs Larry King Live became the longest-running television show hosted by the same person , on the same network and in the same time slot , and was recognized for it by the Guinness Book of World Records . He retired in 2010 after taping 6,000 episodes of the show . Departure . On June 29 , 2010 , King announced that after 25 years , he would be stepping down as the shows host . However , he stated that he would remain with CNN to host occasional specials . The announcement came in the wake of speculation that CNN had approached Piers Morgan , the British television personality and journalist , as Kings primetime replacement , which was confirmed that September . The final edition of Larry King Live aired on December 16 , 2010 . The show concluded with his last thoughts and a thank you to his audience for watching and supporting him over the years . The concluding words of Larry King on the show were , I.. . I , I dont know what to say except to you , my audience , thank you . And instead of goodbye , how about so long . On February 17 , 2012 , CNN announced that he would no longer host specials . Shows on Ora TV . In March 2012 , King co-founded Ora TV , a production company , with Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim . On January 16 , 2013 , Ora TV celebrated their 100th episode of Larry King Now . In September 2017 , King stated that he had no intention of ever retiring and expected to host his programs until he died . Ora TV signed a multi-year deal with Hulu to exclusively carry Kings new talk-oriented web series , Larry King Now , beginning July 17 . On October 23 , 2012 , King hosted the third-party presidential debate on Ora TV , featuring Jill Stein , Rocky Anderson , Virgil Goode , and Gary Johnson . In May 2013 , the Russian-owned RT America network announced that they struck a deal with Ora TV to host the Larry King Now show on its network . King said in an advertisement on RT America : I would rather ask questions to people in positions of power , instead of speaking on their behalf . The show continued to be available on Hulu.com and Ora.tv . When criticized for doing business with a Russian-owned TV network in 2014 , King responded , I dont work for RT , commenting that his podcasts , Larry King Now and Politicking , are licensed for a fee to RT America by New York-based Ora TV . It’s a deal made between the companies .. . They just license our shows . If they took something out , I would never do it . It would be bad if they tried to edit out things . I wouldn’t put up with it . Other ventures . King remained active as a writer and television personality thereafter . King guest starred in episodes of Arthur , 30 Rock and Gravity Falls , had cameos in Ghostbusters and Bee Movie , and voiced Doris the Ugly Stepsister in Shrek 2 and its sequels . He also played himself in and appeared as himself in an episode of . King hosted the educational television series In View with Larry King from 2013 to 2015 , which was carried on cable television networks including Fox Business Network and Discovery and produced by The Profiles Series production company . King and his wife Shawn appeared on WWE Raw in October 2012 , participating in a storyline involving professional wrestlers The Miz and Kofi Kingston . King became a very active user on the social-networking site Twitter , where he posted thoughts and commented on a wide variety of subjects . King stated , I love tweeting , I think its a different world weve entered . When people were calling in , they were calling into the show and now on Twitter , Im giving out thoughts , opinions . The whole concept has changed . After 2011 , he also made various television infomercials , often appearing as a host discussing products like Omega-3 fatty acid dietary supplement OmegaXL with guests , in an interview style reminiscent of his past television programs . ProPublica reported that in 2019 King had been manipulated into starring in a fake interview with a Russian journalist containing disinformation about Chinese dissident Guo Wengui , which was subsequently spread by Chinese government associated social media accounts . Charitable works . Following his 1987 heart attack , King founded the Larry King Cardiac Foundation , a non-profit organization which paid for life-saving cardiac procedures for people who otherwise would not be able to afford them . On August 30 , 2010 , King served as the host of Chabads 30th annual To Life telethon , in Los Angeles . He donated to the Beverly Hills 9/11 Memorial Garden , and his name is on the monument . Personal life . King was married eight times , to seven women . He married high-school sweetheart Freda Miller in 1952 at age 19 . That union ended the following year at the behest of their parents , who reportedly had the marriage annulled . He was later briefly married to Annette Kaye , who gave birth to his son , Larry Jr. , in November 1961 . King did not meet Larry Jr . until the latter was in his thirties . In 1961 , King married his third wife , Alene Akins , a Playboy Bunny , at one of the magazines eponymous nightclubs . He adopted Akins son Andy in 1962 ; the couple divorced the following year . In 1963 , he married his fourth wife , Mary Francis Mickey Sutphin , who divorced him . He remarried Akins , with whom he had a second child , Chaia , in 1969 . The couple divorced a second time in 1972 . In 1997 , Dove Books published a book written by King and Chaia , Daddy Day , Daughter Day . Aimed at young children , it tells each of their accounts of his divorce from Akins . On September 25 , 1976 , King married his fifth wife , mathematics teacher and production assistant Sharon Lepore . The couple divorced in 1983 . King met businesswoman Julie Alexander in 1989 , and proposed to her on the couples first date on August 1 , 1989 . Alexander became Kings sixth wife on October 7 , 1989 , when the two were married in Washington , D.C . The couple lived in different cities , however , with Alexander in Philadelphia , and King in Washington , D.C. , where he worked . They separated in 1990 and divorced in 1992 . He became engaged to actress Deanna Lund in 1995 , after five weeks of dating , but they remained unmarried . In 1997 , he married his seventh wife , Shawn Southwick , born in 1959 ( as Shawn Ora Engemann ) , a singer , actress , and TV host . They wed in Kings Los Angeles hospital room three days before he underwent heart surgery to clear an occluded blood vessel . The couple had two children : Chance , born March 1999 , and Cannon , born May 2000 . He was stepfather to Arena Football League quarterback Danny Southwick . On King and Southwicks 10th anniversary in September 2007 , Southwick joked she was the only [ wife ] to have lasted into the two digits . Larry and Shawn King filed for divorce in 2010 but reconciled , and filed for divorce again on August 20 , 2019 . From his seven wives , King had five children and nine grandchildren , as well as four great-grandchildren . His children with Alene ( Andy and Chaia ) , died within weeks of each other in August 2020 , Andy at 65 from a heart attack and Chaia at 51 from lung cancer . King resided in Beverly Hills , California . A lifelong Brooklyn Dodgers/Los Angeles Dodgers fan , he was frequently seen behind home plate at the teams games . He was previously part of an investment group that attempted to bring a Major League Baseball franchise to Buffalo , New York , in 1990 . He lost $2.8 million to Bernie Madoff . After describing himself as a Jewish agnostic in 2005 , King stated that he was fully atheist in 2015 . In 2009 and 2011 , King stated that he would like to be cryogenically preserved subsequent to his death . In 2017 , he stated I love being Jewish , am proud of my Jewishness , and I love Israel . Illnesses and death . On February 24 , 1987 , King had a major heart attack before a successful quintuple-bypass surgery . Following this , he wrote two books about living with heart disease . Mr . King , Youre Having a Heart Attack : How a Heart Attack and Bypass Surgery Changed My Life ( 1989 , ) that was written with New Yorks Newsday science editor B . D . Colen and Taking On Heart Disease : Famous Personalities Recall How They Triumphed over the Nations #1 Killer and How You Can , Too ( 2004 , ) which features the experience of various celebrities with cardiovascular disease including Peggy Fleming and Regis Philbin . King related his heart attack experience in an interview in the 2014 British documentary film The Widowmaker which discusses cardiology diagnostic tests . He received annual chest X-rays to monitor his heart condition . During his 2017 examination , doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in his lung . It was then successfully removed with surgery . On April 23 , 2019 , King underwent a scheduled angioplasty and also had stents inserted . It was erroneously reported that he had another heart attack along with heart failure ; these claims were later retracted . He returned to Politicking with Larry King on August 15 . On November 27 , he said he had had a stroke in March , and was in a coma for weeks . He later admitted he had contemplated suicide following the stroke , telling Los Angeles television station KTLA , I thought I was just going to bite the bullet . I didnt want to live this way . On January 2 , 2021 , it was revealed that King had been hospitalized ten days earlier in a Los Angeles hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 . King died on January 23 , 2021 at the age of 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center , Los Angeles . Kings wife Shawn told Entertainment Tonight that he had recovered from COVID-19 , but he died of sepsis as a complication . In February 2021 , it was reported that Kings widow Shawn Southwick-King had gone to court to contest the deceaseds handwritten will written in 2019 , which had left his estate ( valued at $2 million ) to his five surviving children . Shawn alleges her stepson Larry King Jr . exerted undue influence over his father towards the end of his life , and that the handwritten will conflicts with a will he signed in 2015 , in which she was named executor of his estate . This does not include more valuable assets that were held in trusts . Awards and nominations . King received many broadcasting awards . He won the Peabody Award for Excellence in broadcasting for both his radio ( 1982 ) and television ( 1992 ) shows . He also won ten CableACE awards for Best Interviewer and for Best Talk Show Series . In 1989 , King was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame , and in 1996 to the Broadcasters Hall of Fame . In 2002 , the industry publication Talkers Magazine named King both the fourth-greatest radio talk show host of all time and the top television talk show host of all time . In 1994 , King received the Scopus Award from the American Friends of Hebrew University . In 1996 , he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Art Buchwald . He was given the Golden Mike Award for Lifetime Achievement in January 2008 , by the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California . King was an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills . He was also a recipient of the Presidents Award honoring his impact on media from the Los Angeles Press Club in 2006 . King was the first recipient of the Arizona State University Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence , presented April 11 , 2007 , via satellite by Downs himself . King was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by Bradley University ; for which he said is really a hoot . King received numerous honorary degrees from George Washington University , the Columbia School of Medicine , Brooklyn College , the New England Institute of Technology , and the Pratt Institute . In 2003 , King was named as recipient of the Snuffed Candle Award by the Committee for Skeptical Inquirys Council for Media Integrity . King received this award for encouraging credulity ( and ) presenting pseudoscience as genuine . External links . - Larry King Live – Transcripts of all interviews since 2000