Barbara Walters, anchor who pioneered journalism, dies at 93

Barbara Walters, a pioneering TV journalist whose interviewing skills made her one of broadcasting’s most prominent figures, has died aged 93, her spokeswoman said. CNN .

“Barbara Walters passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by loved ones. She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not just for female journalists, but for all women,” Walters spokeswoman Cindi Berger told the CNN in a statement.

Walters began her national broadcast career in 1961 as a reporter, writer, and panelist on NBC’s “Today” program before being promoted to cohost in 1974. In 1976, she joined ABC News as the first female anchor in a nightly newscast.

On that network, Walters launched “The Barbara Walters Specials” and “10 Most Fascinating People” before becoming a cohost and correspondent for ABC News’ “20/20” in 1984.

Throughout her profession, she has interviewed every president and first lady of the United States since Richard and Pat Nixon.

For more than five decades, Walters has been a name to reckon with, whether speaking to world leaders on news programs, in the homes of celebrities for her regular “Barbara Walters Specials” or on “The View”, a talk show daytime in which a diverse panel of women discuss the latest headlines.

Her shows, some of which she produced, were some of the highest rated of their kind and spawned numerous imitators.

Indeed, “The View” – which debuted in 1997 – paved the way for US talk shows “The Talk” and “The Chew”, as well as entries such as Britain’s “Loose Women” and “Studio5” from Norway.

Walters left “The View” in 2014 but continued as a part-time contributor to ABC News for two years.

“I knew it was time,” the legendary journalist told Chris Cuomo of the CNN , in season. “I like all the celebrations, that’s great, but in my heart I thought, ‘I want to leave while I’m still doing a good job,’” he added.

Looking at the countless women who looked up to her throughout her career, Walters noted that they were her legacy.

“How do you say goodbye to something like 50 years of television? What a pride when I see all the young women who are making and reporting the news. If I did anything to help make that happen, that’s my legacy,” she pointed out.

“From the bottom of my heart, to all of you that I’ve worked with and who have watched and stood by me, I can say, ‘Thank you,”‘ she added.

Walters was married four times: to executive Robert Katz, producer Lee Guber and twice to entertainment mogul Merv Adelson. Her second marriage to Adelson ended in 1992.

She is survived by her daughter, Jackie, whom she and Guber adopted in 1968.

Great Barbara Walters Interviews

Barbara Walters was born on September 25, 1929, in Boston. Her father, Lou, was a nightclub owner and theater impresario, and young Barbara grew up surrounded by celebrities—one of the reasons she never seemed to bother interviewing them.

She earned her college degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 1953.

Notoriously competitive, Walters was single-minded in her quest to land “big” interviews, so much so that there were long-standing reports of a rivalry between her and another of ABC’s news stars like Diane Sawyer, who joined the network in 1989.

This included, most recently, maneuvering to land Caitlyn Jenner’s first interview, which Sawyer conducted in 2015.

Walters, however, did not fall short in terms of key interviews, including presidents, world leaders and just about every celebrity imaginable, with a well-deserved 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 Egyptian Anwar Sadat and Israeli Menachem Begin.

Her first on-air work was on NBC’s “Today” show in the 1960s, in which she reported what were then perceived as “women’s stories.”

In 1974, she was officially named the show’s co-anchor. 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-host the network’s nightly news, signing a $1 contract. million per year.

Though her stint in that capacity was short-lived — co-host Harry Reasoner was never warm to her — she had the last laugh, remaining with the network for nearly four decades and co-hosting the magazine show “20/20” (with her, former “Today” co-star Hugh Downs), “The View” and countless specials.

She has been mercilessly parodied — early on “Saturday Night Live,” Gilda Radner mocked her as the sometimes foul-mouthed “BabaWawa” — and lavishly honored, with multiple Emmys, a Peabody and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Sometimes seen as brash, usually by men questioning her outspoken behavior, she could only shrug off the criticism.

“If it’s a woman, it’s caustic; if it is a man, it is authoritative. If it is a woman, it is very insistent, if it is a man, it is aggressive in the best sense of the word”, he once observed.

*Eric Sherling, da CNN contributed to this report