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Barbara Walters, news pioneer and ‘The View’ creator, dies

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NEW YORK (AP) — Intrepid interviewer, anchor and show host Barbara Walters paves the way for being the first woman to become a TV news superstar in a career notable for its length and diversity She was 93 years old.

ABC broke into the broadcast and announced Walters’ death, which aired Friday night.

“She lived a life of no regrets. She was a trailblazer not just for female journalists, but for all women,” her publicist Cindy Berger said in a statement, while Walters rested peacefully at her New York home. He added that he died.

A spokesperson for ABC was not immediately available for comment Friday night other than to share a statement from Bob Iger, CEO of ABC’s parent company, The Walt Disney Company.

“Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer not only of women’s journalism, but of journalism itself,” Iger said.

Walters’ exclusive interviews on ABC for nearly 40 years, and on NBC before that, bring her celebrity status with rulers, royalty and entertainers, putting her at the forefront of trends that make TV reporters’ stars. I put

Later in her career, she put a new twist on infotainment with “The View.” The live ABC Weekday Café Clutch covered topics ranging from world leaders to teen idols and featured an all-female panel of guests. With its sideline and unexpected hit, Walters considered “The View” the “dessert” of her career.

According to a statement from the show, Walters created “The View” in 1997 “to champion the voice of women.”

“We are proud to be part of her legacy,” the statement said.

Walters rose to prominence in 1976 as the first female network newscaster and was breathtaking with an unprecedented $1 million salary. Her drive was legendary as she competed not only with her rival networks, but also with her own network of colleagues. She competed for the big “get” in a world crowded with more and more interviewers, including female journalists following her trail.

“I didn’t expect this!” Walters said in 2004, evaluating her success. “I always thought she was going to be a TV writer. She never thought she would be in front of the camera.”

But she was natural on camera, especially when posing pointed questions to celebrities.

“Interviews don’t scare me, don’t scare me!” Walters told the Associated Press in 2008.

Walters asked candid, sometimes dizzying questions in a voice that never lost the traces of his native Boston accent or of substituting R for W.

“Offscreen, do you like it?” she once asked actor John Wayne, asking if Lady Bird Johnson was jealous of her late husband’s reputation as a lady’s man. rice field.

In May 2014, she taped the final episode of ‘The View’ in a series of ceremonies ending her 50-year career in television. (She continued to make occasional television appearances, ). During a commercial break, a bevy of TV newswomen she paved the way for, including Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts and Connie Chan, posed for a group photo.

“You have to remember this on bad days,” Walters said quietly.

Her career took off without such dignity.

Walters graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1943 and eventually landed a “temporary” backstage job on “Today” in 1961. Shortly thereafter, what was seen as an iconic female slot among her eight writers on staff opened. Walters took the job and she began making occasional on-air appearances in quirky stories such as “A Day in the Life of a Nun” and Playboy’s Bunny’s Tribulations. For the latter, she wore bunny ears and high heels to work at the Playboy Club.

As the number of appearances increased, she escaped the title of “Today’s Girl” that was given to her by her predecessor. But she had to pay her dues and would sometimes sprint to do dog food commercials between her interviews.

She gave the first interviews with Rose Kennedy, Princess Grace of Monaco and President Richard Nixon after the assassination of her son Robert. She traveled to India with Jacqueline Kennedy, China with Nixon, and Iran to cover the Shah’s celebration party. However, she faced a setback in 1971 with the arrival of new host Frank Magee. Maggie claimed to wait for him to ask three questions before opening her mouth during an interview with “The Powers.”

She achieved celebrity status in her own right, but the celebrity world was also familiar to her as a little girl. did. Lou Walters opened other clubs in Miami and New York, and young Barbara spent after hours with regulars such as Joseph Kennedy and Howard Hughes.

Those were good times. But tell me that her father makes and loses her fortune in a dizzying cycle, that her success is always in danger of being taken away, and that she cannot be trusted or enjoyed. I was.

Sensing the greater freedom and opportunity that awaited her outside the NBC studios, she hit the road to creating more exclusive interviews.

By 1976, she had the title of co-host of “Today” and was making $700,000 a year. But when ABC signed her to her five-year contract for $5 million, she was branded a “million dollar baby.”

The report failed to point out that her duties were split between the network’s entertainment division and ABC News, before sinking to number three. Meanwhile, her accomplished ‘ABC Evening News’ co-anchor Harry Riesner was said to resent her salary and her celebrity orientation.

It wasn’t just his volatile relationship with his co-anchor that brought trouble to Walter.

Comedian Gilda Radner satirized her as a rotassist commentator named “Baba Wawa” on “Saturday Night Live.” And after her interview with newly-elected President Jimmy Carter, Walters told Carter, “Be wise with us.”

She later recalled that it was a period that seemed to mark the end of everything she had worked for.

“I thought it was all over. ‘How stupid of you to quit NBC!'”

But salvation arrived in the form of a new boss: ABC News president Rune Arledge, who moved her from a co-anchor slot to a special project. was successful in She was a frequent contributor to the news magazine 20/20 and later became her co-host. Her longtime favorite was this year’s “10 Most Charming Her” review.

By the time she stepped down from 20/20 in 2004, she had scored over 700 interviews with everything from Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Moremar Gaddafi to Michael Jackson, Eric and Lyle Menendez, and Elton John. Her two-hour talk with Monica Insky in 1999, set to her former White House intern’s memoir about her relationship with President Bill Clinton, drew more than 70 million viewers. rice field.

Lewinsky tweeted She had lunch with Walters a few years ago and said, “Of course she was charming and witty, and some of her questions were still her signature interview style.”

A particular favorite for Walters was Katharine Hepburn, but a 1981 exchange that led to one of her most ridiculed questions was, “What kind of tree are you?” did. (Walters later countered that the question was perfectly reasonable in the context of their conversation).

Walters famously made his subjects cry, affirming he felt guilty for being “horribly sentimental” himself. Oprah’s Winfrey and Ringo Starr are one of the more famous shedders.

However, her work was also appreciated. She won a Peabody Award for her interview with Christopher Reeve, who was paralyzed in her horseback riding accident in 1995.

Walters’ first marriage to businessman Bob Katz was annulled a year later. A five-year marriage to producer Merv Adelson ended in divorce in 1990. Walters wrote her 2008 best-selling memoir, Audition. The memoir surprised readers by revealing her “long and rocky relationship” with US Senator Edward Brooke, whom she married in the 1970s. .

Walters’ self-disclosure reached another bar in May 2010 when he announced on “The View” that he was undergoing heart surgery in a few days. She featured in a primetime special that covered her successful surgeries and those of other celebrities, including Clinton and David Letterman.

Walters lost his daughter, Jacqueline Danforth.

“I hope that I will be remembered as a good and brave journalist. “I think it’s a huge accomplishment when you look at what you’ve done,” Walters told the AP of his retirement from “The View.” I don’t want to, but I think I’ve had a great career.

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Moore, a longtime Associated Press television writer who retired in 2017, was the primary author of this obituary. Associated Press journalists Stephanie Dazio and Alicia Rancilio contributed to the report.

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