Larry L. King, known for being a journalist, essayist and playwright, lost a battle with emphysema, his wife Barbara Blaine said.

This Larry King is not the Larry King of CNN royalty, as some may have confused the two. Nevertheless, Larry will surely be missed by his many friends and family that survived him.

During his lifetime, Larry produced profiles of politicians, articles on the flaws and foibles of American culture, searched autobiographical essays and, most famously, the book for the Broadway musical “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” according to The New York Times.

He wrote for Texas Monthly, Harpers’ Bazaar and Playboy over his lifetime, showcasing a big personality filled with humor.

“There are ‘good’ people, yes, who might properly answer to the appellation ‘redneck,’ ” Larry wrote in Texas Monthly in 1974, “people who operate Mom-and-Pop stores or their lathes, dutifully pay their taxes, lend a helping hand to neighbors, love their country and their God and their dogs. But even among a high percentage of these salts-of-the-earth lives a terrible reluctance toward even modest passes at social justice, a suspicious regard of the mind as an instrument of worth, a view of the world extending little further than the ends of their own noses and only a vague notion that they are small quills writing a large history.”

Our thoughts go out to Larry’s friends and family at this difficult time. Larry was survived by his wife Barbara, their son, Blaine, and their daughter, Lindsay King Arnault; three children from his first marriage, Alexandria King, Kerri Mitchell and Bradley Clayton King; and two grandsons.

How do YOU feel, HollywoodLifers?

— Chris Rogers

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