Larry L. King
| Larry L. King | |
|---|---|
King in 1976
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| Born | Lawrence Leo King January 1, 1929 Putnam, Texas, United States |
| Died | December 20, 2012 (aged 83) Washington, D. C., United States |
| Occupation | Playwright Journalist Novelist |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1964–2006 |
| Literary movement | New Journalism |
Larry L. King (January 1, 1929 –December 20, 2012) was an American playwright, journalist, and novelist, best remembered for his 1978 Tony Award-nominated play The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which became a long-running production on Broadway and was later turned into a feature film starring Burt Reynolds, Charles Durning and Dolly Parton.
He was born Lawrence Leo King on January 1, 1929, in Putnam, Texas, son of Clyde Clayton King, a farmer and blacksmith, and Cora Lee King (née Clark), who introduced him to the writings of Mark Twain. King dropped out of high school to join the Army. After his military service, and a year as a journalism major at Texas Tech, King worked as a sports and crime reporter for small newspapers in Texas and New Mexico. In 1954, King moved to Washington, D. C., where he worked as an aide to Texas Congressman J. T. Rutherford and subsequently to James C. Wright, Jr.
In 1964, King quit his Congressional job to concentrate on his writing, producing many magazine articles and fourteen books of both fiction and non-fiction, and became one of the leading figures in the "New Journalism." Many of his articles, covering a wide range of subjects including politics, sports, and music, were published in Harper's magazine, where his friend Willie Morris was editor-in-chief. His soul-searching Confessions of a White Racist was nominated for a National Book Award in 1972, and earned him praise from other writers, including Maya Angelou. In 1974, he wrote an article about the Chicken Ranch brothel in La Grange, Texas; after the article was published in Playboy, King and fellow Texan Peter Masterson developed it into the book of the Broadway musical.
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