Here’s a look at the life of famed journalist Barbara Walters.
Personal:
Birth date: September 25, 1929 (some sources say 1931)
Birth place: Boston, Massachusetts
Birth name: Barbara Jill Walters
Father: Lou Walters, a theater producer
Mother: Dena (Selett) Walters
Marriages: Merv Adelson (1986-1992, divorced); Lee Guber (1963-1976, divorced); Robert Henry Katz (1955-1958, divorced)
Children: Adopted with Guber: Jackie, 1968
Education: Sarah Lawrence College, B.A., 1953
Other Facts:
Walters has interviewed every US president and first lady from Richard and Pat Nixon through Barackand Michelle Obama.
Other notable interviews include Fidel Castro, a joint interview with Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Michael Jackson and Monica Lewinsky.
Nominated for 32 Daytime Emmy Awards and won four: three competitive and one honorary.
Nominated for 20News and Documentary Emmy Awards and won eight: seven competitive and one honorary.
Nominated for 12 Primetime Emmys and won once.
Timeline:
1961-1974 – Reporter, writer and panel member on NBC’s “The Today Show.”
1974-1976 – Co-hosts “The Today Show.”
1975 – Wins a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Talk, Service or Variety Series for “Today.”
1976-2014 – Host of “The Barbara Walters Specials.” The special “10 Most Fascinating People” became a regular year-end program.
1976-1978 – Becomes the first female to co-anchor “ABC World News Tonight” for an unprecedented salary of $1 million a year.
1980 – Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Programs and Program Segments for “Post Election Special Edition.”
1982 – Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Interview/Interviewer (Program) for “The Barbara Walters Specials.”
1983 – Wins a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series for “The Barbara Walters Specials.”
1983 – Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Interview/Interviewer (Segment) for “There But For The Grace Of God.”
1984-2004 – Co-host and chief correspondent for ABC’s “20/20.” She gives up her regular spot on the show in September 2004 but continues to report on occasion.
1987 – Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Interview/Interviewer (Segment) for “The Woman Under The Crane.”
January 7, 1990 – Is inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.
1992 – Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Interview/Interviewer (Segment) for “Arthur Seale/Patricia Reso Interviews – No Way Out.”
1996 – Wins a Peabody award for the “20/20” episode “The Journey of Christopher Reeve.”
1997-May 16, 2014 – Co-host of “The View.”
1999 – Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Special Classification for Outstanding News and Documentary Program for “The Millennium.”
2000 – Winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Daytime Television.
2003 – Wins a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show (Executive Producer) for “The View.”
June 14, 2007 – Receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
May 2008 – Reveals that she had an affair with married US Senator Edward Brooke for several years in the 1970s.
2009 – Wins a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host for “The View.”
2009 – Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story – Long Form for “Inauguration 2009 – Barack Obama.”
September 21, 2009 – Receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
May 2010 – Undergoes heart surgery to repair a valve.
January 19, 2013 – Is hospitalized after falling on a stair while visiting the British ambassador’s residence, leaving her with a cut on her forehead.
May 13, 2013 – Announces on “The View” that she will retire from TV journalism in summer 2014.
May 16, 2014 – Walters’ last episode as co-host of “The View” airs. She continues as co-executive producer.
February 2015 – Donates $15 million to Sarah Lawrence College towards the Barbara Walters Campus Center, which is scheduled to open in 2019. Walters is an alumnus of the college.
