Early life
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Walters is one of two daughters of the late Louis Edward Walters, a Jewish immigrant from London, England, who owned the famed New York nightclub, The Latin Quarter, and who was, among other things, a Broadway producer (he produced the ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1943''), and his wife, Boston-born Dena Seletsky, who was the daughter of Polish Jewish immigrants.Barbara had a sister, Jackie, who was developmentally disabled and who died of ovarian cancer. Barbara named her daughter, whom she adopted with her second husband, Lee Guber, after her late sister. On shows such as ''A&E Biography'', Barbara has commented that being surrounded by celebrities when she was young kept her from being "in awe" of them, an important factor in being able to conduct high-profile interviews. She graduated from Miami Beach High School in 1949.
Career
Educated at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York (B.A., English), Walters began as a writer on NBC's ''The Today Show'' in 1961, and within a year had become a reporter-at-large, developing, writing and editing her own reports and interviews. In 1974, NBC officially designated her the program's first female co-host. She is also known for her years on the ABC newsmagazine ''20/20'' where she joined host Hugh Downs in 1979 and became the show's sole host from 1999-2002. In 1999, she interviewed Monica Lewinsky in front of a record 74 million viewers, still the most watched news-related program in TV history. She left ''20/20'' in 2004.Throughout her career at ABC, Walters has appeared on ABC news specials as a commentator, including presidential inaugurations and the coverage of 9/11. Many of her regular and special programs are syndicated around the world.
Despite having an obvious lisp Barbara has never wanted for work.
Interviews
She follows the line of "personality journalism" and is known for her "scoop" interviews, such as the Monica Lewinsky interview that won the highest ratings of any journalist interview. In November 1977 she achieved a joint interview with Egypt's President Anwar Sadat and Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Her interviews with world leaders from all walks of life are a biography 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 Indira Gandhi, Václav Havel, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,Pop Icon Michael Jackson, and King Hussein of Jordan.Walters was widely lampooned in 1981 and often since, when during an interview with actress Katharine Hepburn, Walters allegedly posed the infamous 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?"
During a story on Cuban leader Fidel Castro, she claimed that "for Castro, freedom begins with education." She has been criticized for the statement and the story as a whole; critics point to her characterization of Castro as freedom-loving and argue that it painted an inaccurate picture of his dictatorship.
The View
More recently, Walters often co-hosts the daytime women's talk forum ''The View'', of which she is also co-creator and co-executive producer. Recently, the show has come under a cloud of controversy over Star Jones Reynolds' sudden on-air announcement of her intent to leave the show, of which Walters knew since November 2005. In an interview with People Magazine on June 28th, 2006, Reynolds said that she felt like "she was being fired" from the View when her contract was not renewed due to her declining popularity among viewers; Walters responded by saying she felt "betrayed".http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060627/ap_en_tv/tv_the_view_reynolds This came just weeks after Meredith Vieira, another View co-host, announced her departure from the show; it was stated earlier that Vieira was being replaced by Rosie O'Donnell.http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=222073>1=7703'%20target= Reynolds and O'Donnell had been harsh critics of each other in the past, and it was wondered whether they'd be able to coexist on the show, although Walters stated that the replacement had nothing to do with the decision to sack Reynolds.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060627/ap_en_tv/tv_the_view_reynoldsStyle
She started to gain a reputation for her interview skills at the Today Show, where it was her way to get on the air. Not all her interviewees remain dry-eyed, and critics accuse Walters of pumping for the ratings-generating public tears. Critics have also accused Walters of not asking enough tough questions to her subjects, relying mainly on so-called "softball" questions to elicit sometimes unexpected answers. 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.Her idiosyncratic speech with its rounded "R" inspired Gilda Radner's "Babwa Wawa" impersonation on ''Saturday Night Live'', something by which the normally high-self-esteemed Walters has admitted she felt very hurt. She has been spoofed on the show by many comedians, including Cheri Oteri and Rachel Dratch, as well as a ''DuckTales'' character named Webra Walters.
Impact
Her career has opened doors for women in journalism that, when she started out, were doors usually leading to studio kitchens. She was first hired as a staff writer for the Today Show, moving up to become that show's regular "Today Girl," handling lighter assignments. 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. She 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'' (Reasoner had a difficult relationship with Walters because he disliked having a co-anchor, in addition to the fact that he felt uncomfortable with the idea of a female newscaster). She had a better relationship with Hugh Downs, both at "Today" and "20/20," and the ''20/20'' team flourished for two decades.Personal life
Walters has been married four times. Her first husband was Robert Henry Katz, a business executive. After the annulment of that marriage, she married Lee Guber, a theatrical producer on December 8 1963 and they were divorced in 1976. With Lee, Walters adopted daughter Jacqueline Walters Guber Danforth (named after her late sister). Walters' third husband was Merv Adelson, the CEO of Lorimar Television, whom she married in 1986 and divorced in 1992.Footnote
External links
* http://www.rootdig.com/1930census/barbarawalters.html Image showing Barbara Walters was counted in the 1930 census* Barbara Walters at NNDB
* Barbara Walters at TV.com
Biography courtesy of the brilliant Wikipedia!
