We ended the year 2022 with another celebrity loss.
On Friday, December 30, Barbara Walters passed away at 93 years old in her Manhattan home.
In 1961, Walters started writing for NBC, where she quickly gained notoriety in the writers’ room. In 1964, Walters began regularly appearing on camera— later becoming the first female co-host of Today. Her advancement is noted as a key pioneering victory for fellow upcoming anchors such as Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric.
But she didn’t stop there.
Leaving NBC for ABC in 1976, Walters signed a five-year contract for $5 million dollars as a co-anchor for the evening news with Harry Reasoner. This move helped her not only continue to break barriers for newswomen, but Walters single-handedly began the change in cultural norm. Walters became the highest-paid news anchor, male or female, while also helping gain anchors the ability to be considered celebrities.
Although her time as an anchor on ABC did not last long, Walters was next tabbed as the co-host for ABC’s 20/20 in 1979 alongside Hugh Downs. The “Barbara Walters Specials” phenomenon was born in 1976, and grew immensely popular here.
Walters would work tirelessly to expose the raw truth at the core of some of the most rich and famous public figures. Little did Walters know that doing so would make her as big as those she would center stories around.
During her specials, Walters would ask unique questions and elicit candid, unforeseen responses through first-rate disarming abilities, to the adorations of her millions of regular viewers that tuned in for decades.
Dedicated to her craft, Walters became the only female reporter to accompany Nixon on his trip to China in 1972. She also memorably left Vietnam to fly immediately to the Jackson family in Los Angeles upon Michael Jackson’s death in 2009 (and also hosted a special tribute on 20/20). These are just a pair of the many examples of how relevant Walters long remained within the mainstream media discourse.
Walters co-created The View with Bill Geddie in 1996. An executive producer, she also appeared in her on-camera wheelhouse as part of the talk show program’s all-female panel until her retirement at the age of 84.
High profile interviews the TV legend conducted include one-on-ones with the late Michael Jackson and Aubrey Hepburn, Monica Lewinsky, and Mike Tyson. She was also granted all-access opportunities to interview world leaders, including every American President and First Lady from the Nixons on through to the Trumps.
“Barbara was a trailblazer, a singular force who opened the door for every woman in television news,” Diane Sawyer said. “She was also the history maker right down the hall – my friend and road buddy, eager to talk about the news world, the decades of passionate work – the curiosity and laughter that gets us all through. Sadness. Gratitude. And a salute from all of us who know what we owe her.”
Walters is survived by her daughter, Jacqueline.
