Barbara Walters was the first female anchor on a network newscast and the highest paid news performer in her time.
Barbara Jill Walters was born in Boston on September 25, 1929, the daughter of Dena (née Seletsky) and Lou Walters (born Louis Abraham Warmwater or Varmvasser). Her parents were children of Jewish emigrants from Lodz, Poland. She lived in Boston, Miami and New York City, where her father founded a chain of successful night clubs. Lou’s life was filled with celebrities, and Barbara became comfortable around them while growing up. But according to Walters, the “dominant force” in her early life was the fact that her older sister, Jacqueline, was mentally retarded. “I always knew,” Walters recalled,” that I eventually would have to take care of her financially. I had tremendous guilt and sadness about her. Maybe that’s what interested me so much about people. My heroes are those who work with the handicapped.”
Walters graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1953 with a degree in English. A few years later, her family, who was very wealthy, lost almost everything. From that point on, Walters focused on supporting herself and helping to take care of her family.
Although her parents were not active in the Jewish community, her father always came home from his clubs on Friday nights to be present when her mother lit the Shabbat candles. Walters was married four times, three to Jewish men. Walters and her husband, Lee Guber had one daughter, Jacqueline, who was raised in their Jewish home and attended Hebrew school. Out of respect to her religion, Barbara decided to never air on Yom Kippur.
Barbara Walters first worked as a secretary for an advertising agency, then as an assistant to the publicity director for the NBC-affiliated television station in New York City. She soon worked her way up to become the youngest person ever to be a producer at the station.
Walters’ first big television break came in 1961. She was offered a job as a writer for NBC’s Today show, seen as a token woman’s slot among the seven other men writers. Before long, she was given some on-air assignments, including reading news and acting as a commentator. However, the Today show “girls” were not considered newswomen; they were expected to smile, engage in small talk, and even do some commercials. At Today Walters began doing interviews, an area of broadcasting that would become her specialty. Despite management’s concern that an educated female on the show might backfire, they gave her a trial run as a newscaster. Walter’s professionalism, along with her intelligence and poise, made her popular with television audiences. By 1963, her interviews became a featured part of the Today show. As her reputation grew, she became known for luring big names to the show. “I’m good at drawing people out,” Walters said. “There’s a thin line between asking critical questions well and making someone mad.”
In 1974, she became co-host of the Today show. Her spectacular rise peaked in 1976, when she became the first woman to cohost a news network show, the ABC Evening News. ABC offered Walters a record-breaking million dollar annual salary and a five-year contract, making her the highest paid journalist, male or female, up to that time.
However, Walters’ cohost, Harry Reasoner, did not want a partner and made the job very painful for Walters. Only a year and a half later, she left the anchor desk but fulfilled her contract with ABC by producing her own television special. Walter’s interviewing skills made The Barbara Walters Specials program an even greater success. Earning the respect of celebrities and political figures, she was able to obtain many exclusive interviews. Up until her retirement, she interviewed very president since Richard Nixon and every first lady since Lady Bird Johnson as well as just about every world leader and celebrity of her time. With her friend and cohost Hugh Downs, she developed one of the best investigative news shows, 20/20. Beginning in 1997, she produced and cohosted the daytime talk show, The View. Walter’s final appearance on ABC was in 2015, to interview then presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Other journalists admire Walters as someone who mastered the art of nonconfrontational interviewing. Editors, writers, producers, and publicists who worked with Walters praise her for skills in their own job areas as well her hard work.
Walters has collected virtually all of the broadcasting industries highest awards, including the President’s Award from the Overseas Press Club, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation, the Lowell Thomas Award for journalistic excellence, and four Emmy awards. In 1990, she was inducted into the Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007 and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 30th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards in 2008.
Walter’s memoir reveals her feeling of being an outsider, even as she broke glass ceilings and became an international public figure. “As I look back,” Walters wrote, “it feels to me that my life has been one long audition—an attempt to make a difference and be accepted.”
The first time Walters visited Israel was in 1973, at age 43, interviewing Prime Minister Golda Meir for the 25th anniversary of the State of Israel. The visit impacted her forever. “To my great surprise,” said Walters, “Israel overwhelmed me and aroused feelings I never know I had. I felt a startling and strong connection.” She went on to establish a friendly relationship with Israeli politicians such as Yitzchak Rabin and Moshe Dayan.
Barbara Walters is most proud of her work during the Middle East peace process in the 1970s. In 1977, she setup a joint interview with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after their historic meeting. This was the only joint interview the two men would give, held in the Knesset in Jerusalem.
In 2002 Walters visited Saudi Arabia to interview King Abdullah and was appalled by the antisemitism she witnessed. She was particularly disturbed by the depictions of Jews in school textbooks as well as harshly prejudiced and inaccurate historical views by a university student she interviewed.
Barbara Walters died on December 30, 2022. She was a fearless, dedicated, and passionate journalist who broke down barriers in the male-dominated world of journalism, embodying the Jewish trait of chutzpah. From Walters: “Success can make you a prima donna, or it can smooth the edges, take away the insecurities, let the nice things come out.”