David Frost, Known for Nixon Interview, Dead at 74

LONDON â€" The longtime broadcaster David Frost, who won fame for his interview with the former President Richard M. Nixon, has died. He was 74.

David Frost in 2009.

His death, which was announced in a statement by the Frost family to the BBC, was confirmed by a spokesman for Al Jazeera, where Mr. Frost hosted an interview program.

Mr. Frost died of a heart attack on Saturday night aboard the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship, where he was scheduled to give a speech, the family said. The cruise company Cunard said the ship had left the English port of Southampton on Saturday for a 10-day cruise in the Mediterranean.

Known for incisive interviews of leading public figures, Mr. Frost spent more than 50 years as a television star.

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain was quick to send his condolences and tweeted: “My heart goes out to David Frost’s family. He could be â€" and certainly was with me â€" both a friend and a fearsome interviewer.”

In a statement published by the BBC, Mr. Frost’s family said a private funeral would be followed by a memorial service. Details about the memorial will be announced “in due course,” the statement said.

Since 2006, Mr. Frost has conducted newsmaker interviews for Al Jazeera English, one of the BBC’s main competitors overseas.

Among his guests on Al Jazeera were President George H.W. Bush, George Clooney and Martina Navratilova, the tennis star. One of his first interviews for Al Jazeera made headlines when his guest Tony Blair agreed with Mr. Frost’s assessment that the Iraq war had, up until that point in 2006, “been pretty much of a disaster.” More recently, in 2011, Mr. Frost sat down with Donald H, Rumsfeld, the former defense secretary.

A new season of Mr. Frost’s program, titled “The Frost Interview,” began in July with the astronaut Buzz Aldrin. The season was scheduled to continue through mid-September.

But Frost is best remembered for his interviews with Mr. Nixon in 1977. Recorded after the Watergate scandal and the president’s resignation, they achieved the largest audience for a TV news interview in history.

Brian Stelter contributed reporting from New York.