Barbara Walters
Media mogul Barbara Walters was born on September 25, 1929, in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up as one of two daughters in the family. Her sister, Jackie, whom Barbara would name her adopted daughter after, was developmentally challenged and later died of ovarian cancer. Barbara was often surrounded by celebrities as a child – her father was a nightclub owner and Broadway producer. Barbara once explained on A&E Biography that this exposure to stars at a young age kept her from becoming star-struck later in her career when conducting high-profile interviews. After graduating from Miami Beach High School in 1949, Barbara went on to attend Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York , where she earned a B.A. in English.
In 1961, Barbara landed a job as a writer with NBC’s The Today Show. Within a year, she was developing, writing, and editing her own reports and interviews for the network. By 1974, Barbara broke ground for women in journalism when she was officially designated as The Today Show’s first female co-host. Over the next decade, Walters would co-anchor the show with Hugh Downs, Frank McGee, and Jim Hartz.
Barbara later went on to co-host ABC’s 20/20, which again saw her teaming up with Hugh Downs. From 1976 to 1978, Barbara became the first woman to co-anchor The ABC Evening News.
In November 1977, Walters landed a joint interview with Egypt's President Anwar Sadat and Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin. She has also interviewed world leaders such as 'Russia's Boris Yeltsin, China's Jiang Zemin, the Britain's Margaret Thatcher, Cuba 's Fidel Castro, as well as Indira Gandhi, Václav Havel, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and King Hussein of Jordan. During a report on Cuba’s leader, Fidel Castro, Barbara was criticized for stating that “for Castro, freedom begins with education.” Critics claimed that the story as a whole had portrayed the dictator inaccurately.
Walters has also conducted interviews with media figures who normally decline interviews, such as reclusive pop star Michael Jackson. Her interview with disgraced White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, in 1999 went on to become the highest-rated news program ever broadcast by a single network.
Since 1997, Barbara has served as co-creator, co-executive producer, and co-host of women’s daytime roundtable talk show, The View with Rosie O Donnel, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Joy Behar. In 2006, the show received much media attention after co-host Star Jones Reynolds' announced her intent to leave prematurely and was dismissed the following day. Star’s contract had not been renewed due to her declining popularity with viewers.
Barbara’s top-rated specials include her popular Academy Awards interviews, in which she interviews one or more of the top nominees. Her distinctive speech style has inspired impersonations on shows such as Saturday Night Live, which featured Gilda Radner's famous lampoon of “Babwa Wawa.” Barbara, who has grappled with a speech impediment throughout her life, has reportedly been hurt by these parodies.
Barbara has been married four times. Her first marriage was to business executive Robert Henry Katz. She then married theatrical producer Lee Guber in 1963, with whom she adopted daughter Jacqueline Walters Guber Danforth. In 1986, Barbara married CEO of Lorimar Television, Merv Adelson, and later divorced him in 1992.In early May 2007 it was announced that Rosie O Donnell would be leaving The View to be replaced by Roseanne Barr. |
