Journalist Barbara Walters passed away in New York on Friday at the age of 93. She was a trailblazing journalist who ushered in a period of TV journalism that humanized events, people, and personalities alike.
She founded “The View,” which she appeared in until 2014, and was a longtime anchor for ABC News, which broke the news of her death.
In 1961, Barbara Walters started working for NBC News as a writer. She became famous on the “Today” show, where she started making regular appearances in 1964. She was often referred to as a “million-dollar baby” when she left NBC to join ABC News in 1976 due to her five-year, $5 million contract.
With her work as a celebrity interviewer on “The View” and “Today,” where editorialized viewpoints and real-world knowledge were combined, Walters transformed herself into a celebrity. When her career was at its height, Barbara’s decision to include elements of show business into traditional news shows drew both harsh praise and criticism.
Barbara Walters: Here are some of her illustrious career’s most notable moments
1. Early days of TV news
On a long-gone CBS morning show, Walters made her on-camera debut in 1955 by filling in for a no-show swimsuit model. Her abilities to handle difficult news and her wit were put to the test when she was hired as a staff writer for the “Today” show in 1961.
2. Barbara Walters as a talk show host
In 1971, NBC requested Walters to replace the departing art critic Aline Saarinen as host of the stuffy panel show “For Women Only.” Walters concurred, but she intended to update it by giving it a new name, lowering the program’s academic tenor, and incorporating conversations that would be more relevant to individual viewers. Soon, guests on the show included innovators, soap opera writers, and politicians’ spouses, including Barbara Bush and Mamie Eisenhower. The program explored controversial themes such as the Equal Rights Amendment, sex dysfunction, and marijuana.
3. Leading TV news anchor
Not everyone was pleased with Walters’ decision to join ABC as the first female co-anchor of a nightly network newscast. Was she deserving of her brand-new million-dollar deal? Harry Reasoner, her co-host on the “ABC Evening News,” disagreed and rarely managed to hide his disdain in front of the camera. Eventually, ABC News executives decided not to show Reasoner and Walters side by side on-air; a split screen was used instead.
5. The Barbara Walters interview
Walters launched her renowned prime-time specials, which featured in-depth conversations with important public figures and famous people, frequently in private settings. (Steve Martin parodied this tactic when he showed her a shanty he claimed to be his residence. (https://www.losaltosresort.com/) )
What is the biggest misperception about you, Walters might ask to break the ice? Or, “What kind of tree are you?” — and this did happen — “What kind of tree are you?” This question was posed during an interview with Katharine Hepburn, and Walters later got mocked for asking. But she did so in response to Hepburn’s remark that she did, in fact, feel like a tree.
Jimmy Carter, the future president, and Barbra Streisand appeared on her first special, which was broadcast in 1976. The shows eventually started to focus more on celebrities and became less political.
6. Newsmagazine innovator
When “20/20” debuted in 1978, Walters wasn’t a member of the initial anchor team. However, she joined it the following year. Over the following 25 years, she contributed to the codification of the relatively new nightly newsmagazine format, which now is known for its blend of serious news, in-depth reporting, and portraits of prominent news personalities. (At first, these featured famous people, but Walters soon started saving those for her own specials.)
7. The View
When Walters launched “The View” in 1997, an update of “Not for Women Only” coupled with “This Week With David Brinkley,” she gave her career a new lease on life.
“The View,” which featured various types of women debating the day’s hot topics (“Hot Topics”) and inspired imitators like “The Talk” and “The Real,” was partly inspired by talks she had with her daughter.
“The View,” which featured various types of women debating the day’s hot topics (“Hot Topics”) and inspired imitators like “The Talk” and “The Real,” was partly inspired by talks she had with her daughter.
The show itself has occasionally been overshadowed by the drama that occurs behind the scenes, including fights, a rotating cast of panelists, and hosts storming off the broadcast.
Most of the time, Walters pretended to be a mediator on-air and was successful in luring famous people to appear on her show. (When Barack Obama attended “The View” in 2010, he made history by being the first sitting president to appear on daytime television.)