Yesterday, we reported that the talk show legend Larry King had passed away at the age of 87 due to complications from COVID-19. In the final months of his life, King spoke out to express gratitude for all that he had achieved during his lifetime.
“I wanted to be a broadcaster since I could remember, when I was five years old,” King said back in April while appearing on the series “Dispatches From Quarantine.”
Born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger, King was told that he had to come up with a different name after he was hired by a small station in Miami in 1957.
“[My general manager] had the Miami Herald open and there was an ad for King’s Wholesale Liquors and he said, ‘How about Larry King?’ I legally changed it a year later,” King said.
“The first day I went on the air I was nervous as hell. I told the audience, ‘My name is Larry King and that’s the first time I’ve said that.'” he added. “And I never was nervous again.”
As for the job he had in his final years hosting “Larry King Now,” King said he felt “incredibly fortunate” for the opportunity to continue doing what he loved while living with his 21 year-old son Chance amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“I know most people my age, 86, are not working so I count that as a blessing,” he said. “I feel very lucky.”
Last February, King talked to People Magazine about how grateful he felt to be alive after suffering a near-fatal stroke in May 2019.
“It’s been a rough year,” he said. “And I don’t have any idea of what 2020 is going to be like. But I can still work and I can watch my kids grow up. I feel positive — and hopeful.”
King added at the time that he had no plans to slow down.
“I’m 86 and it is what it is. I just want to keep working until the end,” he said. “I’m very proud of what I do. And I’m a good father — nothing beats parenthood. There’s an element of pinching myself every day. Look at what I’ve come through. All in all if you look at it, I’ve had a blessed life.”
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