Barbara Walters

Infobox journalist
name = Barbara Walters


caption = Barbara Walters, September 2007. Photo by Christopher Peterson.
birthname = Barbara Walters
birth_date = birth date and age|1929|09|25
birth_place = Brookline, Massachusetts,
United States
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Journalist,
Television Talk Show Host
gender = Female
status = Divorced
title =
family =
spouse = Merv Adelson
(1986–1992) Lee Guber
(1963–1976) Robert Henry Katz
(1955–1958)
children = Jacqueline Dena Guber
credits = "The Today Show" anchor (1962–1976)

"Not For Women Only" host (1971–1976)

"ABC Evening News" anchor (1976–1978)

"20/20" host (1984–2004)

"The View" creator/co-host (1997— )
URL =
agent =
salary = $12 million (2007) [Citation
url=http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/53/07celebrities_Barbara-Walters_O4HQ.html
title=Barbara Walters
publisher=Forbes.com
year=2007
accessdate=2008-05-08]

Barbara Jill Walterscite news | last =| first =| coauthors=| title =Miss Walters engaged| pages=96| work =The New York Times| date =1955-05-01 | url =| accessdate =2006-12-22 ] (born September 25 1929 ) 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 co-anchor of ABC Evening News and correspondent on "World News" (then ABC Evening News). 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 25 years as co-host of ABC's newsmagazine "20/20". She was the first female co-anchor of network evening news, working with Harry Reasoner on the ABC Evening News and was later a correspondent for" ABC World News Tonight".

Biography

Early life

Walters was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the daughter of Dena (née Seletsky) and Louis Edward Walters, a theatrical booking agent and producer. [ [http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/barbaraw/index.html Genealogy.com: Ancestry of Barbara Walters ] ] 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").cite news | last =| first =| co-authors=| title =Lou Walters, Nightclub Impresario and Founder of Latin Quarter, Dies| pages=36| publisher =The New York Times| date =1977-08-16 | url =| access date =2006-12-22 ] Walters' elder sister, Jacqueline, was born developmentally disabledStated in interview at "Inside the Actors Studio"] and died of ovarian cancer in 1985. Her brother, Burton, died in 1932 of pneumonia.James Conaway, "How to talk with Barbara Walters about practically anything," "The New York Times", 10 September 1972, page SM40, 43-44] Walters' parents were Jewish, although she did not have a religious upbringing, as her father had become an atheist.cite news | last =Quinn| first =Sally| co-authors=| title =Television Personality Looks Anew At Religion| pages=| publisher =Washington Post/Newsweek| date =2006-12-22 | url =http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2006/12/television_personality_looks_a.html| accessdate =2006-12-22 ]

Being surrounded by celebrities when she was young kept her from being "in awe" of them. 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."Elisabeth Bumiller, "So Famous, Such Clout, She Could Interview Herself", "The New York Times", 21 April 1996, page H1] After attending Fieldston School and Birch Wathen [http://nymag.com/news/features/28519/index1.html Can Barbara Walters's Career Survive Rosie and Donald's War?- New York Magazine ] ] [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2D71531F936A15750C0A966958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink And Now Back To You, Barbara - New York Times ] ] private schools in New York City, Walters graduated from Miami Beach High School in 1947. In 1951 she received a B.A. in English from Sarah Lawrence College. [Citation
url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/waltersbarb/waltersbarb.htm
title=WALTERS, BARBARA: U.S. Broadcast Journalist
publisher=museum.tv
accessdate=2008-05-09]

Career and accolades

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. 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. 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" in 1976-78. Reasoner had a difficult relationship with Walters because he disliked having a co-anchor, even though he worked with former CBS colleague Howard K. Smith nightly on ABC for several years. In 1981, five years after the start of their short-lived ABC partnership and well after Reasoner returned to CBS News, Walters and her former co-anchor had a memorable (and cordial) "20/20" interview on the occasion of Reasoner's new book release. Walters is also known for her years on the ABC newsmagazine "20/20" where she joined host Hugh Downs in 1979.Throughout her career at ABC, Walters has appeared on ABC news specials as a commentator, including presidential inaugurations and the coverage of 9/11. She was also chosen to be the moderator for the third and final debate between candidates Jimmy Carter (D) and Gerald Ford (R), held at Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall in Williamsburg, Virginia, during the 1976 Presidential Election. [http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/debates/history.story/1976.html CNN: 1976 Presidential Debates] . Retrieved on June 14, 2008.] 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. She has won Daytime and Prime Time Emmy Awards, a Women in Film Lucy Award, and a GLAAD Excellence in Media award. Her impact on the popular culture is illustrated by Gilda Radner's "Baba Wawa" impersonation of her on "Saturday Night Live," featuring her idiosyncratic speech with its rounded "R."

Walters published her memoirs, "," in 2008.

Because of her pioneering career in women's journalism, most of which on the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company. In the fall of 2008, she will be honored with the Disney Legends award, an award given to those who made an outstanding contribution to The Walt Disney Company.

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.Fact|date=October 2007 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. In November 1977 she achieved a joint interview with Egypt's President Anwar Al 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. 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?" [ [http://katethegreatnet.proboards27.com/index.cgi?board=tv&action=display&thread=1133561741 Kate the Great, The Katharine Hepburn Forum - The Barbara Walters Interview] Retrieved 2008-05-10verify credibility|date=May 2008|accessdate=2008-05-08]

During a story on Cuban leader Fidel Castro mentioned above, she claimed that "for Castro, freedom begins with education". Some 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."

In the 2008 Barbara Walters Oscar Special, Walters appeared confused on a number of occasions while interviewing Harrison Ford. At one point, Walters asks Ford what first comes to his mind after mentioning the movie "Blade Runner" in which he plays the lead role. Harrison responded, "Ridley, Ridley, Ridley". Upon hearing this, Walters seemed perplexed, asking, "Ridley? Ridley who?" indicating that Walters was unaware that acclaimed director Ridley Scott had directed the film.

"The View"

Walters co-hosts the sometimes controversial daytime talk show "The View", of which she is also co-creator and co-executive producer with her business partner Bill Geddie. [Cite web
url=http://www.catholicleague.org/07press_releases/quarter_1/070207_barbarawalters.htm
date=February 7 2007
title=BARBARA WALTERS—HOUSE MOM TO BIGOTS
publisher=Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070515004046/http://www.catholicleague.org/07press_releases/quarter_1/070207_barbarawalters.htm
archive-date=2007-05-15] Walters described the show in its original opening credits as a forum for women of "different generations, backgrounds, and views". The show includes Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd. Current-"Today Show" co-host Meredith Vieira (as moderator), journalist Lisa Ling (as the "young" view), comedian Rosie O'Donnell (as moderator) and television personality Star Jones (a lawyer, but perhaps also selected because of her Christian views), and E! news co-host Debbie Matenopoulos (the "young" view, she was replaced by Lisa Ling) have all sat on the show's panel. As of 2008 Walters and Behar are the only two original panelists still appearing on the show.

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." Her husbands were:
*Robert Henry Katz, a business executive and former Navy lieutenant married on June 20, 1955 at the Plaza hotel in New York City. The marriage was reportedly annulled in 1958. ["Katz—Walters", "The New York Times," June 21, 1955, page 36]
*Lee Guber, theatrical producer and theater owner married on December 8, 1963, divorced in 1976. They have one daughter, Jacqueline Dena Guber (born 1968, adopted same year).
*Merv Adelson, the CEO of Lorimar Television married on May 10, 1986, divorced in 1992.

The lawyer Roy Cohn said that he proposed to Walters the night before her wedding to Lee Guber but Walters has denied this claim. Her lifelong devotion to Cohn has been explained as gratitude for his help in her adoption of Jacqueline.cite |author= Jerry Oppenheimer |title=Barbara Walters: An Unauthorized Biography |publisher=St. Martin's Press |date=1990 ] In her autobiography, she says that Cohn got her father's warrant for failure to appear dismissed.Citation| last = Wiegand | first = David | title = Barbara Walters gets personal. This time, she's candid about her own life. | newspaper = San Francisco Chronicle | year = 2008 | date = 2008-05-05 | url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/05/DDTU10H1P9.DTL .]

She dated former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in the 1970s [cite news|url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/09232007/business/listen_to_shiller__not_the_tv_.htm| title=LISTEN TO SHILLER, NOT THE TV SHILLS|author=Terry Keenan|publisher=The New York Post|date=2007-09-23|accessdate=2007-10-13] and her name was linked to United States Senator John Warner in the 1990s. [ cite news|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/440/000023371/|title=Barbara Walters|publisher=NNDB| date=2007Accessdate=2007-10-13]

While promoting her new autobiography "Audition" during an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on May 6 2008, Walters said that during the 1970s, she had an affair with Edward Brooke, then a married United States Senator from Massachusetts. Walters said that the affair ended to protect both of their careers from a possible scandal. [ [http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/05/01/tv.walters.affair.ap/index.html Barbara Walters: I had affair with U.S. senator] , Associated Press, May 1, 2008] .

References

External links

*
*
* [http://abcnews.go.com/search?searchtext=time%20tunnel&from=0&to=9&type=video ABC News' "Time Tunnel" page containing clips of numerous newscasts on which Walters appeared]
* [http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307266460&view=excerpt Read an excerpt from Audition: A Memoir by Barbara Walters]
* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=22874 Lee Guber at the Internet Broadway Database]

Persondata
NAME= Walters, Barbara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Journalist, Television Talk Show Host
DATE OF BIRTH= 1929-09-25
PLACE OF BIRTH= Brookline, Massachusetts, United States of America
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=