About Barbara Walters:
Known for: first woman to (co-)anchor a network evening news show
Occupation: journalist, talk show host and producer
Dates: September 25, 1931 -
More About Barbara Walters:
When Today co-host Frank McGee died in 1974, Barbara Walters was named Hugh Downs' new co-host.
Also in 1974, Barbara Walters was host of a short-lived daytime talk show, Not for Women Only.
ABC Evening News Co-Anchor:
Barely two years later, Barbara Walters became national news herself, when ABC signed her to a 5-year, $1 million per year contract, to co-anchor the evening news and to anchor four specials per year. She became, through this job, the first woman to co-anchor an evening news program.
Her co-host, Harry Reasoner, made quite publicly clear his unhappiness with this teaming. The arrangement did not improve ABC's poor news show ratings, however, and in 1978, Barbara Walters stepped down, joining the news show 20/20. In 1984, in an ironic replay of history, she became co-host of 20/20 with Hugh Downs. The show expanded to three nights a week, and at one time Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer co-hosted one of the evenings.
Specials:
She continued the Barbara Walters Specials, which began in 1976 with a show featuring interviews with President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter and with Barbra Streisand. Barbara Walters provoked more truth-telling than the subjects probably expected. Other famous interview subjects of her shows have included, jointly, Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel in 1977, and Fidel Castro, Princess Diana, Christopher Reeves, Robin Givens, Monica Lewinsky, and Colin Powell.
In 1982 and 1983, Barbara Walters won Emmy awards for her interviewing. Among her many other awards, she was inducted ino the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 1990.
In 1997, Barbara Walters created with Bill Geddie a daytime talk show, The View. She co-produces the show with Geddie and co-hosts it with four other women of diverse ages and views.
In 2004, Barbara Walters stepped down from her regular spot on 20/20.
Personal Life:
Barbara Walters was married three times: Robert Henry Katz (1955-58), Lee Guber (1963-1976), and Merv Adelson (1986-1992). She and Lee Guber adopted a daughter in 1968, named Jacqueline Dena after Walters' sister and mother.
