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CNN colleagues like Wolf Blitzer and Christiane Amanpour were joined by celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton, Magic Johnson and Celine Dion in mourning the longtime broadcaster.

Celebrities, news anchors and politicians were among the many people remembering Larry King, the host of the CNN program “Larry King Live,” who died on Saturday at 87.

“Larry King was a giant of broadcasting and a master of the TV celebrity/statesman-woman interview,” Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor, tweeted.

“His name is synonymous with CNN and he was vital to the network’s ascent,” she said. “EVERYONE wanted to be on Larry King Live.”

Oprah Winfrey said: “It was always a treat to sit at your table. And hear your stories. Thank you Larry King.”
Wolf Blitzer, host of “The Situation Room” on CNN, called Mr. King “an amazing interviewer and a mentor to so many of us.”

Larry King and Oprah Winfrey

The television host Ryan Seacrest said he had “lost a dear friend and mentor. Truly an American treasure.”

“He taught me so much,” the former CBS late-night host Craig Ferguson said.

“He was a true mensch,” Mr. Ferguson added. “He probably even taught me that word.”
“Larry King touched my life in a big way,” tweeted Bill Maher, the host of HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher.” “Dozens of times he gave me the whole hour on his CNN show when that show ruled smart TV.”

Jimmy Kimmel, the host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” said, “When I was a young morning DJ, I listened to Larry King’s overnight radio show every night on my way to work.”

Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, said that “the world has lost a true broadcasting legend.”

From 1985 to 2010, Mr. King anchored “Larry King Live,” CNN’s highest-rated and longest-running program. He interviewed a disparate range of subjects, from President Richard M. Nixon to royalty to “experts” on U.F.O.s and paranormal phenomena.

He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. A statement from his company, Ora Media, did not specify a cause of death, but Mr. King had recently been treated for Covid-19. In 2019, he was hospitalized for chest pains and he said he had also suffered a stroke.

A tweet from the television host Piers Morgan raised eyebrows on Saturday. “Larry King was a hero of mine,” he wrote, “until we fell out after I replaced him at CNN & he said my show was ‘like watching your mother-in-law go over a cliff in your new Bentley.’”

But, Mr. Morgan continued, “he was a brilliant broadcaster & masterful TV interviewer.”

Former President Bill Clinton said he enjoyed his “20+ interviews” with Mr. King, adding, “He gave a direct line to the American people and worked hard to get the truth for them, with questions that were direct but fair.”- The New York Times