Monday movie celebrated tennis stars’ career
Partnering with Billie Jean King in marriage, professional tennis and business was never dull for Larry King, who says a made-for-TV movie Monday about the legendary tennis star did a good job of capturing “the craziness of the times.”
“When I look back, it was impossible what we did. We were nuts,” said the Kaua`i businessman, recalling how he and Billie Jean King formed the Women’s Tennis Association, World Team Tennis and other national organizations and publications in the 1970s while she was also playing a heavy tournament schedule.
Also in the mix was her ballyhooed “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match that was the main subject of the ABC movie, “When Billie Beat Bobby.” King, who watched it Monday at his home, liked the film.
“They left out a lot, but that’s Hollywood. Overall, it was a good story,” he said.
He said actress Holly Hunter, who portrayed his ex-wife as she battled and beat Bobby Riggs in the infamous 1973 showdown between symbols of the women’s movement and male chauvinism, “did a good job” despite being a tennis novice. And he said actor Ron Silver “was perfect” as the bombastic Riggs, who died in 1995.
King said that during their marriage of 22 years, the frenetic pace that he and Billie Jean maintained in the tennis world was motivated by the belief “that we could change things. We wanted to change as much as we could.”
Since their marriage ended, the Kings have remained close. “She’s my son’s godmother, and we’re still partners in Hawai`i tourist magazines under the Spotlight name,” he said, adding that she occasionally visits Kaua`i.
King, who works in the North Shore area as a real estate broker, is on to another venture: A tournament circuit for professional bridge players.
The first tourney was last weekend in San Diego, Calif., where a national field competed for $10,000 in prize money. The next event will be in Las Vegas, and one is being considered for Honolulu, King said.
“I’m trying to do the same for bridge that we did for tennis,” he said.
