Larry King: Remembering the time he was kissed by Marlon Brando, in one of his most famous interviews

Veteran TV interviewer later told journalists he ‘couldn’t stop thinking’ about the moment

Fans are celebrating the life and career of TV legend Larry King, who has died aged 87.  

The veteran journalist interviewed numerous public figures over the years, including Sir Paul McCartney, Barack Obama, Oprah, Prince, Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra.  

Arguably one of his most memorable interviews – certainly one King himself admitted he “couldn’t stop thinking about” – was with Marlon Brando.

King visited the late actor at his home in Los Angeles in 1994, a week after having lunch with him.

Brando had apparently only agreed to do the interview to fulfil a clause in his contract with publisher Random House, which required him to do at least one interview to promote his book, Songs My Mother Taught Me.

He chose Larry King Live because he believed the show’s host was “forthright, sincere, and direct and unexploitative”.  

His only request was that he and King had to have lunch before the cameras began rolling.

While King typically made sure he was not the main focus of his interviews, he did like to be the one leading the conversation.  

However, Brando was in a playful mood; reclining with his bare feet on an ottoman, he proceeded to interrupt King’s questions – at one point even pinching his nose.  

The Godfather star then convinced King to join him in a duet, then leaned in for a full-on-the-lips kiss.  

Many years after the interview, King would tell journalists that he couldn’t stop thinking about it.  

The interview apparently took an hour and a half; Brando did his own makeup and served the crew champagne. 

“He was a brilliant, marvellous guy,” King told Sway’s Universe in 2013. “There was nothing in the house that told you he was an actor – no Oscars, no pictures. He told me, ‘If someone were to pull up to this house and leave me $5m twice a year, I’d never act again.’”