Király was born in Santăul Mic (Kisszántó), a village in northwestern Romania, along the border with Hungary.

He graduated from the Leningrad State University's Philology Department (1953).

From 1953 to 1960 he was an assistant professor, and from 1953 to 1960 an adjunct lecturer in the Russian Philology Department of the Debrecen Kossuth Lajos University (KLTE ) in Budapest.

From 1964 to 1968 he was adjunct lecturer, from 1969 to 1992 associate professor, and in 1993 honorary professor in the Department of Russian Philology of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE).

[2] Király’s professional library will be donated to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) it will be open to researchers.