LAS VEGAS, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Former Jimmy Durante sidekick Sonny "Lounge Giant" King has died in Las Vegas. He was 83.
King died at home Friday of cancer, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
King and Durante first hooked up for a brief stint in 1950 at New York's Copacabana. They reunited again four years later and remained a team until Durante's 1980 death, the newspaper said.
King recalled in an interview their relationship was almost "spiritual."
"We looked at each other and we couldn't stop laughing," King said. "The audience caught on, and they were laughing too."
King frequently held court in the lounge of the Las Vegas Sands while the Rat Pack played the main room, the Times said.
Frank Sinatra nicknamed him the "Lounge Giant" and was the godfather to King's daughter, Antoinette, who was born in 1958.
Early in their careers, King's roommate was another Rat Packer -- Dean Martin -- and he's credited with introducing Martin to his comedy partner, Jerry Lewis.
King appeared in the Rat Pack movies "Sergeants 3" in 1962 and 1964's "Robin and the Seven Hoods."
King is survived by his wife, Peggy, a daughter, three sons, his brother and a sister.
