Oprah Winfrey, Hugh Jackman lead tributes to Barbara Walters, who has died aged 93
Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman have led a wave of celebrity tributes to legendary television presenter Barbara Walters, who has died at the age of 93.
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Tributes are flowing for Barbara Walters following the announcement of her death on Friday at the age of 93.
“Without Barbara Walters there wouldn’t have been me – nor any other woman you see on evening, morning, and daily news,” Oprah Winfrey, one of the most powerful figures in US media, wrote on Instagram.
“I did my very first television audition with her in mind the whole time.”
Veteran news anchor Dan Rather described her as a “trailblazer and a true pro.”
“The world of journalism has lost a pillar of professionalism, courage, and integrity,” he tweeted.
“She outworked, out-thought, and out-hustled her competitors. She left the world the better for it. She will be deeply missed.”
Actor Lynda Carter, who played the original Wonder Woman, described Walters as an “American institution”.
“As the first female national news anchor, she opened the door to endless possibilities for so many girls who wanted to work in TV, myself included,” she wrote on Twitter.
“Her impact cannot be overstated. I’ll miss you, Barbara. Thank you for everything.”
Actor Hugh Jackman tweeted on behalf of himself and his wife Deborah-Lee Furness.
“Deb and I are so sad that Barbara Walters passed away,” he wrote.
“She was a trail blazer, wickedly funny, generous, open hearted and a good friend. She also gave some of the most memorable dinner parties we’ve ever been to. Get ready heaven, Barbara’s coming to spice things up.”
Deb & I are so sad that Barbara Walters passed away. She was a trail blazer, wickedly funny, generous, open hearted and a good friend. She also gave some
— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) December 31, 2022
of the most memorable dinner parties we’ve ever been to. Get ready heaven, Barbara’s coming to spice things up. @Deborra_leepic.twitter.com/pQfLSG5m7a
Walters, one of US prime time television’s most well hosts and interviewers, was the first woman to anchor an evening news broadcast in the US.
“Barbara Walters, who shattered the glass ceiling and became a dominant force in an industry once dominated by men, has died. She was 93,” tweeted ABC News on Saturday afternoon.
Walters died on Friday night at her home in New York, according to Walt Disney Co. chief executive Robert Iger. A cause of death has not yet been released
Best known for her interviews of world leaders, entertainers and newsmakers, Walters rose from writing news releases for a local New York TV station in the early 1950s to become the grand dame of television news.
In the process, she broke down numerous barriers and cleared the way for a generation of women to follow in her footsteps including Diane Sawyer, Jane Pauley and Katie Couric.
Walters also ushered in the era of the journalist as celebrity. She became as famous as the subjects she interviewed, many of whom viewed a sit-down with her as a sign that they had arrived.
To newsroom purists, the approach of Walters and those who followed her marked a turning point in journalism, where landing the big TV interview was known as a “get” and pursuing a tabloid story often took priority over hard news.
In a career that spanned five decades, Walters won 12 Emmy Awards, 11 of those while at ABC News.
Considered the queen of celebrity interviews, she landed sit downs with everyone from Jimmy Carter to Clinton White House intern Monica Lewinsky and at one time was the highest paid journalist in the US, earning $A17m a year.
The Lewinsky interview was one of her most famous and was seen by 74 million people.
She asked Lewinsky: “What will you tell your children about this matter?” and she answered, “I guess mommy made some mistakes.”
That prompted Walters to look into the camera and say: “That is the understatement of the century.”
Her admirers say Walters moved deftly between hard and soft news. She interviewed almost every U.S. president since Richard Nixon and had the first joint interview with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1977. She was the second woman to moderate a presidential debate.
“Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer not just for women in journalism but for journalism itself,” Mr Iger said in a statement.
“She was a one-of-a-kind reporter who landed many of the most important interviews of our time, from heads of state to the biggest celebrities and sports icons.”
Barbara Jill Walters was born September 25, 1929, in Boston but grew up in New York City. She was born into a show business family – her father Lou Walters ran the famed Latin Quarter nightclub. Walters has said that being around famous people as a child took away their mystique when she became a reporter.
After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, she took a job in the public-relations department of the NBC television station in New York. She then segued into production, working on a children’s program called “Ask the Camera,” which was directed by Roone Arledge, who would go on to become the legendary head of ABC News and ABC Sports.
In 1961, Walters joined NBC’s “Today” morning program as a writer but soon was on air with a story on a Jacqueline Kennedy trip to India and Pakistan. By 1964, she was a regular “Today Girl” on the show and then its unofficial co-host.
Although Walters was winning over TV viewers with ease, getting respect from a male-dominated industry was slower in coming. “Today” co-host Frank McGee wouldn’t participate in joint interviews with Walters unless he asked the first three questions, she said in her 2008 autobiography Audition.
She wouldn’t become an official co-host until 1974, after McGee’s death.
ABC wooed Walters away from NBC in 1976 with a then-record $1 million-a-year contract and a chance to co-anchor ABC’s evening newscast with Harry Reasoner.
The pairing proved awkward, and Walters later said in an interview for the Archives of American Television that Reasoner “didn’t want a partner” and would often talk about how “terrible” she was on the anchor desk. “The studio was cold, and I was frozen out,” she said.
After her stint on the evening news ended, Walters became a correspondent and later co-host of the prime-time news magazine “20/20” where she spent 20 years until stepping down in 2004. She also became known for her broadcast specials before the Academy Awards, in which she would interview major show business personalities.
Walters also developed and starred in the long-running ABC daytime talk show “The View.” The program, starting in 1997, was a roundtable of female personalities including, over the years, Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell. Walters was an executive producer and part-time host of the show.
When she was on air, she tended to play the den mother and was often forced to try to make peace when other panellists would take shots at each other. The View remains a staple of ABC’s daytime line-up.
Walters’s social life was as intriguing as her career. She was married four times including twice to television producer Merv Adelson, as well as to theatrical producer Lee Guber. She had an early short marriage to Robert Katz.
While in college she dated Roy Cohn, who later was a prosecutor in the Rosenberg espionage case and a mentor to former President Donald Trump. In the 1970s, she dated former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and, as disclosed in her autobiography, had an affair with Republican Sen. Edward Brooke of Massachusetts.
Walters is survived by her daughter Jacqueline Danforth.
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