Barbara Walters

• Born: 25 September 1929
• Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
• Best Known As: 20/20 veteran and host of ABC's The View

A co-host and co-creator of daytime TV's The View, Barbara Walters is a veteran broadcaster who made her name in the 1970s with interviews of world leaders and A-list celebrities. Walters's long career in national television began in the late 1950s. She spent fifteen years (1961-76) with NBC as a correspondent and co-host for The Today Show, then jumped to ABC News in 1976 to become the first woman to co-anchor a nightly news show (her on-air partner was veteran newsman Harry Reasoner). Although her stint as a news co-anchor was a flop, Walters became one of the most high-profile women in television broadcasting, a pioneer in a field dominated by men. She had a long run on ABC's 20/20 (1979-2004), and a popular series of The Barbara Walters Specials, in which she interviewed personalities from politics and entertainment, including: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat; Monica Lewinsky; Fidel Castro; Demi Moore; George Clooney; and the Dalai Lama. Since leaving 20/20 Walters has worked on The View, occasional interview scoops and her annual review of newsmakers, The 10 Most Fascinating People.

During the early seasons of Saturday Night Live, comedian Gilda Radner parodied Walters in the form of a character named "Babwa Wawa," a play on Walters's name that mocked her distinctive style of speech.

Drawing the highest pay in the history of television broadcasting at the time, Barbara Walters (born 1931) became the first woman co-anchor of a network evening newscast. She developed to a high art the interviewing of public figures.

Barbara Walters was born to Dena (Selett) and Lou Walters. Her father operated a number of nightclubs, resulting in Barbara attending schools in Boston, New York, and Miami Beach. She earned a B.A. degree in English from Sarah Lawrence College (1954). After working briefly as a secretary she landed a job with NBC's (the National Broadcasting Company's) New York affiliate WRCA-TV where she quickly rose to producer and writer. She also held various writing and public relations jobs, including a stint as women's-program producer at WPIX-TV in New York.

Her abilities and experience in research, writing, filming, and editing earned her a job as news and public affairs producer for CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) television. There she wrote materials for noted personalities who appeared on the CBS morning show that competed with NBC's Today program. She left CBS because she believed further advancement was unlikely.

In 1961 she was hired by NBC as a writer with an occasional on-the-air feature for the Today show. Within three years Walters became an on-camera interviewer and persuaded such notables as Mamie Eisenhower, Anwar Sadat, and H. R. Haldeman to appear with her.

Meanwhile, a number of different "show-business" women held the post as the "Today girl," but none held news credentials. Mainly they engaged in small talk and read commercials. Some at NBC began to think a different kind of woman might help the show. When the spot was unexpectedly vacated, Walters was given the "Today girl" slot on a trial basis. The public readily accepted this bright, on-the-air newswoman, who also continued to write and produce much of her own material. A few months later Hugh Downs said Walters was the best thing that had happened to the Today show during his time as host. They would later be teamed on ABC's program 20/20 as competition to CBS's Sixty Minutes.

Today feature stories by Walters included socially significant topics, and frequently she got on-the-spot experience which gave her reports even more credibility. As her reputation grew, NBC made her a radio commentator on Emphasis and Monitor. She also participated in such NBC specials as "The Pill" and "The Sexual Revolution" (1967), and in 1969 she covered the investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales.

Finally in 1974 Walters was named co-host of the Today show. By then, her status as a broadcaster had risen to such heights that she had twice been named to Harper's Bazaar's list of "100 Women of Accomplishment" (1967 and 1971), Ladies Home Journal's "75 Most Important Women" (1970), and Time's "200 Leaders of the Future" (1974). As the most influential woman on television, others soon vied for her talents.

In 1976 she accepted a million-dollar-a-year contract for five years to move to ABC, where she became television's first network anchor-woman, the most prestigious job in television journalism. She also anchored and produced four prime-time specials and sometimes hosted or appeared on the network's other news and documentary programs. Her contract stirred professional criticism and jealousy. It not only doubled her income from NBC and her syndicated show, Not For Women Only, but it also made her the highest-paid newscaster in history at that time. (Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, and Harry Reasoner then received about $400,000.) Reasoner, with whom she was to co-anchor, seemed especially miffed at first but later was mollified.

Executives of other networks fumed that their established anchors might demand salary increases, questioned what they perceived as a "show-biz" tint to the sober task of news reporting, and questioned whether the public would accept a woman news-anchor. (ABC's private polls before they made their record offer indicated only 13 percent preferred a male anchor, and they knew her presence could easily increase advertising revenues far exceeding her salary.)

Despite Walters' tart, probing interviewing techniques, she seldom seemed to alienate the person she was interviewing. She revealed some of the secrets of her success in her book How to Talk With Practically Anybody About Practically Anything (1970). Others attributed her interviewing success to her uncanny ability to ask primarily those questions which the public would want answered.

Still, Walters was not without her critics. Some interview-subjects said her nervousness distracted them. Others claimed she was so eager that disastrous mistakes occurred, citing the instance when she grabbed another network's microphone as she dashed to get a unique interview. Washington press corps members charged that she acted more as a "star" than as a reporter on presidential trips. However, her professional admirers outnumbered her detractors. Walter Cronkite noted her special interviewing talents. Sally Quinn, former rival on CBS Morning News, commented how "nice" Walters was to her.

Walters' personal life held considerable interest to the public. Her brief marriage to businessman Bob Katz was annulled; her 13-year marriage to Lee Guber, a theatrical producer, ended in divorce. Still they remained congenial, sharing mutual love for their daughter, Jacqueline Dena. In 1985 she married Merv Adelson, who had also previously been wed twice.

Walters' elevation to top-paid broadcaster was credited with raising the status of other women journalists. Her own prowess as a broadcaster exploring socially-important issues and as top-notch interviewer were undeniable. In addition, she excelled at bringing to the television public reluctant interview-subjects that ranged from show business personalities to heads of state.

Walters has had a reputation for often being the first to interview world leaders. During the 1996 presidential campaign she interviewed the first African American Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell, after his retirement. She has also had exclusive interviews with both Christopher Dardin and Robert Shapiro of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, noted by the media as one of the most controversial murder trials of the twentieth century. Walters also had exclusive interviews with billionaire David Geffen and with Christopher Reeves following the horseback riding fall that left him paralyzed.

In 1996 Walters celebrated 20 years with ABC. At the time, she was earning $10 million per year.

Further Reading

Biographical data for Barbara Walters is primarily found in her book How to Talk With Practically Anybody About Practically Anything (1970). In addition to the periodicals cited in the biography see Newsweek (May 19, 1969); Reader's Digest (May 1974); Vogue (June 1975); Newsweek (May 3, 1976); Time (May 3, 1976); and Ladies Home Journal (July 1983; June 1984).

For more information on Barbara Walters, visit Britannica.com.

Quotes:

"Show me someone who never gossips, and I will show you someone who is not interested in people."

"It's a fact that it is much more comfortable to be in the position of the person who has been offended than to be the unfortunate cause of it."

"I was the kind nobody thought could make it. I had a funny Boston accent. I couldn't pronounce my R's. I wasn't a beauty."

"I can get a better grasp of what is going on in the world from one good Washington dinner party than from all the background information NBC piles on my desk."

"Success can make you go one of two ways. It can make you a prima donna, or it can smooth the edges, take away the insecurities, let the nice things come out."

Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters, September 2007. Photo by Christopher Peterson. Birth name Barbara Walters Born September 25 1929 (1929--) (age 78) Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Statistics Occupation Journalist, Television Talk Show Host Gender Female Marital status Divorced Spouse Merv Adelson (1986–1992) Lee Guber (1963–1976) Robert Henry Katz (1955–1958) Children Jacqueline Dena Guber Notable credit(s) The Today Show anchor (1962–1976) ABC Evening News anchor (1976–1978) 20/20 host (1984–2004) The View creator/co-host (1997–present)

Barbara Jill Walters^[1] (born September 25, 1929^[2]) is an American journalist, writer and media personality who has been a regular fixture on morning television shows (Today and The View), an evening news magazine (20/20), and on The ABC Evening News as the first female evening news anchor. Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news anchor for over 10 years on NBC's Today, where she worked with Hugh Downs and later hosts Frank McGee and Jim Hartz. Walters later spent over 20 years as co-host of ABC's newsmagazine 20/20. She was the first woman to co-anchor the network evening news, working with Harry Reasoner on The ABC Evening News.

Biography

Early life

Walters was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Dena (née Seletsky) and Louis Edward Walters, a theatrical booking agent and producer.^[3] In 1937, her father opened the first of a famous chain of nightclubs known as the Latin Quarter; he also was a Broadway producer (he produced the Ziegfeld Follies of 1943).^[4] Walters' elder sister, Jacqueline, was born developmentally disabled^[5] and died of ovarian cancer in 1988. Her brother, Burton, died in 1932 of pneumonia.^[6] Walters' parents were Jewish, although she did not have a religious upbringing, as her father had become an atheist.^[7]

Being surrounded by celebrities when she was young kept her from being "in awe" of them.^[5] When she was a young woman, Walters' father lost his nightclubs and the family's penthouse on Central Park West. As Walters recalled, "He had a breakdown. He went down to live in our house in Florida, and then the Government took the house, and they took the car, and they took the furniture". Of her mother, she said, "My mother should have married the way her friends did, a man who was a doctor or who was in the dress business".^[8]

After attending Fieldston and Birch Wathen private schools in New York City,^[6] Walters graduated from Miami Beach High School in 1947. In 1951, she received a B.A. in English from Sarah Lawrence College^[9] in Bronxville, New York.

Career

Her career has opened doors for women in journalism. After a brief period as a publicist with Tex McCrary Inc. and a job as a writer at CBS News, Walters joined NBC's The Today Show as a writer and researcher in 1961.^[5] She moved up to become that show's regular "Today Girl", handling lighter assignments. Within a year, she had become a reporter-at-large developing, writing, and editing her own reports and interviews.^[5] When Frank McGee was named host, he refused to do joint interviews with Walters unless he was given the first question. She was not named co-host of the show until McGee's death in 1974, when NBC officially designated Walters as the program's first female co-host.

Walters has seldom minced words when describing the visible, on-the-air disdain her co-anchor, Harry Reasoner, displayed for her when she was teamed up with him on the ABC Evening News. Reasoner had a difficult relationship with Walters because he disliked having a co-anchor. She is also known for her years on the ABC newsmagazine 20/20 where she joined host Hugh Downs in 1979.^[5] Walters had a great on-camera chemistry with Downs. Off camera, she also was said to have a good professional relationship built on high standards and mutual respect with Downs, both at "Today" for 5 years and 20/20, where this same anchor team enjoyed two decades of excellent ratings.

Walters (left) interviewing Gerald Ford and Betty Ford at the White House in 1976

Throughout her career at ABC, Walters has appeared on ABC news specials as a commentator, including presidential inaugurations and the coverage of 9/11. Many of her regular and special programs are syndicated around the world. As of 2004, she is in semi-retirement as a broadcast journalist, but remains a correspondent for ABC News as well as a host of ABC's special programs.

On June 14, 2007, Walters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Interviews

Walters started to gain a reputation for her interview skills while at The Today Show. Not all of her interviewees remain dry-eyed, and critics accuse Walters of pumping for the ratings-generating public tears. Critics have also accused Walters of not posing enough tough questions to her subjects, relying mainly on so-called "softball" questions to elicit sometimes unexpected answers.^{[citation needed]} Her Barbara Walters Specials are top-rated and, since 1993, her year-end Ten Most Fascinating People offers a review of the year's most prominent newsmakers. Prior to the move of the Academy Awards to an early Sunday evening time spot, a Walters interview show, usually featuring one or more of the top nominees, was a regular feature. Walters' celebrity interviews at ABC came as part of her $1 million contract to join ABC, with half of it coming from the news department and half from doing celebrity specials.

Walters is known for "personality journalism" and her "scoop" interviews.^[5] In November 1977, she achieved a joint interview with Egypt's President Anwar Sadat and Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Her interviews with world leaders from all walks of life are a chronicle of the latter part of the 20th century.^[5] They include Russia's Boris Yeltsin, China's Jiang Zemin, the UK's Margaret Thatcher, Cuba's Fidel Castro, as well as India's Indira Gandhi, Václav Havel, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, King Hussein of Jordan, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Other interviews with influential people include pop icon Michael Jackson.

Walters was widely lampooned in 1981, and often since, when, during an interview with actress Katharine Hepburn, Walters is incorrectly identified as having posed the question: "If you were a tree, what kind would you be?" As she has often pointed out, and the video clips confirm, Hepburn initiated the comment by saying she would like to be a tree, and Walters merely followed up with, "What kind of a tree?"^[10][5]

During a story on Cuban leader Fidel Castro, she claimed that "for Castro, freedom begins with education". She has been criticized for the statement and the story as a whole; critics point to her characterization of Castro as freedom-loving and argue that it painted an inaccurate picture of his government.

On March 3, 1999, she interviewed Monica Lewinsky in front of a record 74 million viewers, the highest ratings of any journalist interview. Walters asked Lewinsky, "What will you tell your children about this matter?" and Lewinsky replied, "'I guess Mommy made some mistakes,'" at which point Walters brought the program to a dramatic conclusion, turning to the viewers and saying, "And that is the understatement of the century".

The View

Main article: The View

Walters co-hosts the sometimes controversial^[11] daytime talk show The View, of which she is also co-creator and co-executive producer.^[5] Walters described the show in its original opening credits as a forum for women of "different generations, backgrounds, and views". As of 2007, she and comedian Joy Behar are the only two original panelists still appearing on the show.

In 2006, the tenth year of the show, Walters selected Rosie O'Donnell as co-host, an appointment that was outshined only by the drama that came along with it. Heated debates and "hot topics" made headline news across the country on various occasions, especially involving Donald Trump, the war in Iraq, and an on-air shouting match between O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Although the show's ratings went way up during O'Donnell's tenure, so did the concomitant headaches for Walters. Walters, upon announcing O'Donnell's early departure, said she adored O'Donnell and welcomed her back at any time.

Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd were added to the panel for the 11th season. Barbara now only appears on the show 3 times a week.

Personal life

Walters has been married three times. As she told The New York Times in 1996, "I'm convinced that you stay married when the days are bad only because you really want to be. But I always had an out. I had this job, and this life and enough money. I didn't have to fight the bad days."^[8] Her husbands were: Robert Henry Katz, a business executive and former Navy lieutenant, married 20 June 1955 at the Plaza hotel in New York City; the marriage was reportedly annulled in 1958.^[1][12] Lee Guber, theatrical producer and theater owner, married on December 8 1963; divorced 1976. One daughter, Jacqueline Dena Guber (born 1968, adopted same year). Merv Adelson, the CEO of Lorimar Television; married 1986, divorced in 1992.

The lawyer Roy Cohn said that he proposed to Walters the night before her wedding to Lee Guber, which Walters has denied.^[6] Jerry Oppenheimer explains Walter's somewhat puzzling lifelong devotion to Roy Cohn—which extended to publicly asserting that though she had dated him, she had no idea he was gay, and that she believed his claim that he was dying of liver cancer rather than AIDS— as gratitude for his help in her adoption of Jacqueline.^[13] She dated former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in the 1970s ^[14] and her name was linked to United States Senator John Warner in the 1990s. ^[15]

Trivia

Her idiosyncratic speech with its rounded "R" inspired Gilda Radner's "Baba Wawa" impersonation on Saturday Night Live.^[5]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Miss Walters engaged", The New York Times, 1955-05-01, pp. 96. Retrieved on 2006-12-22. 
2. ^ Walters has had her birth year cited as both 1929 and 1931, but she is listed in the 1930 US Census, conducted April 1930, as being 6 months of age. (Census year: 1930; Census Place: Queens, Queens, New York; Roll: 1590; Page: 35A; Enumeration District: 184; Image: 396.0) - see this.
3. ^ http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/barbaraw/index.html
4. ^ "Lou Walters, Nightclub Impresario and Founder of Latin Quarter, Dies", The New York Times, 1977-08-16, pp. 36. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Stated in interview at Inside the Actors Studio
6. ^ ^{a b c} James Conaway, "How to talk with Barbara Walters about practically anything", The New York Times, 10 September 1972, page SM40, 43-44
7. ^ Quinn, Sally. "Television Personality Looks Anew At Religion", Washington Post/Newsweek, 2006-12-22. Retrieved on 2006-12-22. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Elisabeth Bumiller, "So Famous, Such Clout, She Could Interview Herself", The New York Times, 21 April 1996, page H1
9. ^ http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/waltersbarb/waltersbarb.htm, retrieved 2007-07-25
10. ^ found here
11. ^ For example, William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, has accused Walters of tolerating anti-Catholic bigotry on The View. [1].
12. ^ "Katz—Walters", The New York Times, 21 June 1955, page 36
13. ^ Jerry Oppenheimer, Barbara Walters: An Unauthorized Biography, St. Martin's Press, 1990.
14. ^ Terry Keenan. "LISTEN TO SHILLER, NOT THE TV SHILLS", The New York Post, 2007-09-23. Retrieved on 2007-10-13. 
15. ^ "Barbara Walters", NNDB, 2007\Accessdate=2007-10-13. 

External links

• Barbara Walters at the Internet Movie Database
• Barbara Walters at TV.com

Preceded by John Chancellor	Today Show Host Hugh Downs and herself 1962 – 1971 Frank McGee and herself 1971 – 1974 Jim Hartz and herself 1974 – 1976 1962 – 1976	Succeeded by Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley
Preceded by Hugh Downs as sole host	20/20 Host Hugh Downs and herself 1979 – 1999 Solo 1999 – 2002 John Miller and herself 1/2002 – 1/2003 John Stossel and herself 2003 – 2004 1979 – 2004	Succeeded by Elizabeth Vargas and John Stossel

Anchors of Today
Garroway • Chancellor • Downs • McGee • Walters • Hartz • Brokaw • Pauley • Gumbel • Norville • Garagiola • Couric • Lauer • Vieira

Anchors of ABC Evening News/World News Tonight/World News
Daly · Goddard · Swayze · Cochran · Jennings · Young · Reynolds · Smith · Reasoner · Walters · Robinson · Jennings · Woodruff · Vargas · Gibson

Co-Anchors of 20/20
Hayes • Hughes • Downs • Walters • Miller • Stossel • Vargas

Co-Hosts of The View
Current	Whoopi Goldberg • Joy Behar • Elisabeth Hasselbeck • Sherri Shepherd • Barbara Walters
Former	Debbie Matenopoulos • Lisa Ling • Meredith Vieira • Star Jones • Rosie O'Donnell

Preceded by n/a

The View co-host 1997-present

Succeeded by Incumbent

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