CNN –
Barbara Walters, the pioneering television journalist whose interviewing skills made her one of the most prominent figures in broadcasting, has died, her spokesperson confirmed to CNN. She was 93 years old.
“Barbara Walters died peacefully at home surrounded by loved ones. He lived his life without regret. She was a trailblazer not just for women journalists, but for all women,” Walters spokeswoman Cindi Berger told CNN in a statement.
Walters began her career in national broadcasting in 1961 as a reporter, writer and panelist on NBC’s “Today” program before being promoted to co-hdst in 1974. In 1976, Walters joined ABC News as the first female anchor on a nightly news program.
On that network, Walters launched “The Barbara Walters Specials” and “10 Most Fascinating People” before becoming co-anchor and correspondent for ABC News’ “20/20” in 1984. Along the way, she interviewed every US presidents and first ladies since Richard and Pat Nixon.
For more than five decades, Walters was a name to reckon with, whether speaking with world leaders on news shows, in the homes of celebrities for her regular “Barbara Walters Specials” or on “The View,” a daytime talk shows where a diverse panel of women discuss the latest headlines.
His shows, some of which he produced, were among the highest rated of their kind and spawned a number of imitators. Indeed, “The View,” which debuted in 1997, paved the way for American talk shows “The Talk” and “The Chew,” as well as entries like Britain’s “Loose Women” and “Studio5 ” from Norway.
Walters left “The View” in 2014, but remained a part-time contributor to ABC News for two years.
“I knew it was time,” Walters told CNN’s Chris Cuomo at the time. “I like the whole celebration, that’s great, but in my heart I thought, ‘I want to leave while I’m still doing a good job.’ So I will.”
Looking at the many women who had looked up to him throughout his career, Walters said they were his legacy.
“How do you say goodbye to something like 50 years on TV?” he said in conclusion. “What a pride when I see all the young women who are making and reporting the news. If I’ve done anything to help make that possible, that’s my legacy. From the bottom of my heart, to all of you with whom I have worked and who have seen and been by my side, I can say: ‘Thank you’. ”
Walters was married four times, to business executive Robert Katz, producer Lee Guber and twice to entertainment mogul Merv Adelson. Adelson’s second marriage ended in 1992. She is survived by her daughter, Jackie, whom she and Guber adopted in 1968.
Walters was born on September 25, 1929 in Boston. Her father, Lou, was a nightclub owner and theater entrepreneur, and young Barbara grew up around celebrities, one of the reasons she never seemed flustered interviewing them.
Walters earned his undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 1953.
Notoriously competitive, Walters was dogged in her pursuit of “get” interviews, so much so that there were long-standing reports of a rivalry between her and another of ABC’s news stars, such as Diane Sawyer, who joined the network in 1989. This included, most recently, jockeying for the first interview with Caitlyn Jenner, which Sawyer conducted in 2015.
Walters, however, was no slouch when it came to landing important interviews, including presidents, world leaders and just about every celebrity imaginable, with a well-earned reputation for bringing his subjects to tears. Highlights included his 1999 interview with Monica Lewinsky, which was watched by an average of 48.5 million viewers, and a historic 1977 joint meeting with Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin.
Walter’s first on-air job was on NBC’s “Today” show in the 1960s, where he reported what were then perceived as “women’s stories.” In 1974, she was officially named co-host of the show. Two years later, she became, for a time, the best-known person on television when she left “Today” to join ABC as the first woman to co-anchor the network’s nightly newscast, signing on to a then astonishing million dollars a year.
Although her tenure in that position was short-lived (she was never moved by co-host Harry Reasoner), she had the last laugh, staying on the network for nearly four decades and co-hosting the magazine “20/20” (with his old “Today” partner Hugh Downs), “The View” and countless specials.
She was mercilessly parodied (early on “Saturday Night Live,” Gilda Radner mocked her as the sometimes foul-mouthed “BabaWawa”) and highly honored, with multiple Emmys, a Peabody and a star on the Walk of Fame. the Hollywood Fame.
At times seen as brash, usually by men who questioned her candid demeanor, she could only shrug off criticism.
“If it’s a woman, it’s caustic; if he is a man, he is authorized. If it’s a woman it’s too insistent, if it’s a man it’s aggressive in the best sense of the word”, he once observed.
Barbara Walters’ life in pictures