This visual shorthand depended on the perception in America – and, due to CNN’s reach, around the world – that a politician or political story really mattered if they appeared on King’s show. Proving this view in 2010 was that both the then incumbent American president (Barack Obama) and a recent two-term predecessor (Clinton) appeared on King’s final CNN show, the last in a sequence of appearances with him on the route from candidate to commander-in-chief.
The heart of the brand was 7,445 editions of Larry King Live on CNN over 25 years, featuring guests – or, if it was a president, movie star or bestselling writer, only one – in conversation punctuated by questions from viewers.
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Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Larry King, the suspenders-sporting everyman whose broadcast interviews with world leaders, movie stars and ordinary Joes helped define American conversation for a half-century, died Saturday. He was 87.
King died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Ora Media, the studio and network he co-founded, tweeted. No cause of death was given, but CNN had earlier reported he was hospitalized with COVID-19.