Barbara Walters was a trailblazing television journalist widely known for cohosting “20/20″ and “The View,” and acclaimed for her intimate interviews with celebrities, politicians, and other public figures.
- Died: December 30, 2022. (Who else died December 30?)
- Details of death: Died at her home in Manhattan at the age of 93.
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An iconic career
Walters’ interviews were a television institution, topping the ratings and prompting watercooler conversations for decades. The Barbara Walters interview became a milestone for celebrities in the entertainment world, a rite of passage that was a key part of a successful career – and an absolute must after a scandal or misstep. Among her most notable celebrity interview subjects were Katharine Hepburn (1907 – 2003), Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009), and Monica Lewinsky.
Walters’ interviews ranged far beyond entertainers. She was also known for interviewing many of the world’s major heads of state who ruled during her career: Muammar Gaddafi, Margaret Thatcher (1925 – 2013), Boris Yeltsin, Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro (1926 – 2016) – not to mention every U.S. president since Richard Nixon.
What got Walters to that height of journalistic power was a combination of determination and approachability. Walters fought her way to the top of a male-dominated profession, but she also offered a softer touch that helped relax the people she interviewed. Producer Stuart Schulberg summed up Walters’ appeal as a profound sense of respect for her subjects. He told Newsweek, “She will not ask the ultimate jugular question” – and knowing that, stars were able to open up in her emotional interviews.
Early life
Also in Walters’ corner was a star-studded upbringing that made her feel naturally at ease among celebrities. Born Sept. 25, 1929, in Boston, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of a showbiz promoter who opened New York City’s glitzy Latin Quarter nightclub and produced the “Ziegfeld Follies” on Broadway. Young Walters would watch shows from the wings, and she grew up surrounded by performers.
When the bottom dropped out of her father’s business, another side of Walters was born – her tough tenacity. She had to help support her family, and she learned a work ethic that stuck with her long after most would have retired to their laurels.
After burnishing her work ethic while still in her teens, Walters made her way to Sarah Lawrence College, then started working as a writer for an ad agency and a public relations firm. It was a short leap to writing for the CBS program “Good Morning,” beginning in 1955, where she learned under head writer Andy Rooney (1919 – 2011). By 1961, she had made the move to NBC’s “Today” show as a writer and researcher.
Journalism career beginnings
On “Today,” Walters soon debuted on the other side of the camera as the “Today Girl,” an on-air personality who handled lightweight stories about inconsequential subjects. It was not a hard-hitting assignment, and Walters would come to call the Today Girls and their fluffy segments “tea-pourers.” Determined to do more with her career, Walters began taking on bigger stories. By 1974, she received a promotion to co-host.
That position was one she had to claw her way to – and it couldn’t happen until the death of former host Frank McGee, who unilaterally refused to do any interview with Walters as co-interviewer. He was one of many who simply didn’t see women as being fit to report real news.
Journalism pioneer
Walters would make a much-lauded move to ABC in 1976 to co-host the “ABC Evening News” with Harry Reasoner. She was considered a trailblazer, making new strides for women in broadcasting, but she found herself saddled with another partner that didn’t respect her as a newswoman. Reasoner didn’t like working with her, and it showed in the pair’s woeful lack of chemistry. Walters later told Vogue, “He didn’t want a partner, and if he had to have a partner, he was insulted that it was a woman, and that it was a woman who’d been educated in television. He was really awful to me on and off the air. After the first night, I felt a terrible failure. Harry didn’t talk to me in the studio; the stagehands didn’t talk to me. They were all Harry’s people.”
Walters only remained on the “ABC Evening News” for two years, but her next job was to be a long-term one: She signed on with “20/20” in 1979, remaining there until 2004. In 1984, she became co-anchor alongside Hugh Downs (1921 – 2020), and when he retired in 1999, she became the show’s sole anchor. When Walters announced her semi-retirement in 2004, it didn’t entirely end her work with “20/20” – she continued to contribute from time to time.
Also still on her plate post-retirement was “The View,” which Walters created in 1997 as a medium for women of all backgrounds to weigh in on a variety of topics. From the beginning, the concept included Walters only as a part-time on-air star: A panel of regulars would be there daily, while Walters would join them on some days. She continued as the show’s part-time co-host through 2014, when she again announced her retirement and subsequently appeared on the program only infrequently.
Walters was widely honored in the entertainment history, earning three Emmy awards – one for “Today” and two for “The View” – as well as a slew of nominations. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is a member of the Television Hall of Fame.
Most Fascinating People
Beginning in 1993, Walters produced an annual special, “Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People.” She offered biographical profiles of some of the year’s top newsmakers, interspersed with interview clips. The always-anticipated special built excitement by releasing some names in advance, but keeping the No. 1 “Most Fascinating” under wraps until broadcast time.
Though her career had many facets as she worked on a variety of programs, it’s her interviews for which she’s most remembered. They ran the gamut from seemingly lightweight pop stars to world leaders, headline-of-the-week newsmakers to legendary performers. Their soundbites and tearful moments placed the interviews among the most-watched television interviews of all time. Here are a few that stood out:
Monica Lewinsky: Walters got the scoop on Lewinsky as the first reporter to interview her after her much-publicized sex scandal with President Bill Clinton. The interview was a home run for Walters, widely watched by viewers everywhere. She got Lewinsky’s side of the story as she elicited some quotes for the ages – among them, the interview’s closing lines. Walters asked, “What will you tell your children, when you have them?” And at Lewinsky’s reply, “Mommy made a big mistake,” Walters let her subject fade to black, knowing Lewinsky had made, as she stated in her closer, “the understatement of the year.”
Vladimir Putin: The Russian leader was not well-known to most U.S. citizens when Walters interviewed him in 2001. She sought to shine a light on him as she questioned him just as she would any other subject … though she saved a tricky question for last, worried he might end the interview if she asked it earlier: “Mr. Putin, did you ever kill anybody?” She noted that she found his answer strange: “No, because that wasn’t in my area.”
Katharine Hepburn: Walters’ interview with Hepburn has long been held up as an example of a goofy interview with weird, softball questions, but that’s an impression based on an incomplete viewing of their conversation. “What kind of tree are you, if you think you’re a tree?” Indeed, it was a weird question, but it didn’t come out of left field, as it has since been portrayed. In fact, Hepburn had just compared herself to a tree. Walters merely ran with it. The media made merciless fun of her, and she later said she regretted asking the question.
Fidel Castro: Walters broke new ground in 1977 when she interviewed the Cuban dictator after two years of trying to get the interview. She proceeded to spend five hours questioning him about all manner of topics, including the newsmaking U.S. embargo. But the interview covered softer topics, too, and Walters famously found Castro to be charming, funny, and charismatic. Cuban television broadcast the interview in its entirety, a first for that country.
A good listener
Whether Walters was covering serious political topics or learning dance moves, as she did when she interviewed the pop star Justin Bieber, she was known for her empathetic listening. It drew her subjects out, prompting them to confess things they might not have revealed to other interviewers. She told Vogue, “I don’t love everybody, but I put my personal feelings aside when I’m working.” It showed, and it got results.
But she bristled at the common perception that her interviews were lightweight. “I don’t do silly, giddy interviews,” she told The New York Times. She kept topics varied, and she specifically avoided spending too much time on heavy questions. She did it because she knew her audience. As she told the Times, “A long time ago I decided I couldn’t do interviews to please the editors of The New York Times.” Instead, she was playing to prime-time television viewers, and, “You have to know when the audience’s eyes are going to glaze over.”
Baba Wawa
As one of the major faces of broadcast news in the 20th century, Walters not only received criticism – she was also the topic of satire. That satire was most notable in the form of Gilda Radner’s (1946 – 1989) “Saturday Night Live” character “Baba Wawa.” The over-the-top bit offered an extreme parody of Walters’ persona and accent, pronouncing her R’s and L’s as W’s. Walters initially disliked the recurring sketch quite a bit, but she came to terms with it – recognizing, of course, that only the biggest stars get skewered on “SNL.”
Personal life
Walters’ great fame led to much fascination with her private life, particularly her romantic relationships. She was married four times to three men, remarrying third husband Merv Adelson a few years after their first divorce. After they divorced a second time in 1992, Walters didn’t marry again, though she was romantically linked to U.S. Sen. John Warner. Earlier relationships with powerful men included a 1970s turn with former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and an extramarital affair with U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke.
Of her romantic life, Walters told Vogue, “I just wasn’t very good at marriage. I’ve been friendly with almost everyone I have been involved with. It’s nice to have somebody to go to a dinner with, so that you’re not that extra woman, but that’s not enough reason to stay married.”
Despite her many relationships, Walters had only one child, a daughter named Jacqueline, whom she adopted with second husband Lee Guber after she had a series of miscarriages; she survives Walters. In an interview with Piers Morgan in 2014, Walters confided, “I regret not having more children.” Yet she reminded us in a 1999 interview with Vanity Fair that it has never been easy for a woman to have a career like hers and a family as well. With that in mind, once she was on top on TV programs like “20/20” and “The View,” she made it a point to support the other women on staff in their efforts to balance work and family life.
Walters on how she succeeded
“Work harder than everybody. You’re not going to get it by whining, and you’re not going to get it by shouting, and you’re not going to get it by quitting. You’re going to get it by being there.” – from a 2000 interview with the Television Academy Foundation
Tributes to Barbara Walters
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