Barbara Walters, Legendary TV Journalist, Dead at 93

Barbara Walters, a television anchor and broadcaster known for a decades-long career, has died at the age of 93. The news was broken on Friday via a report from ABC News, the company she worked at for much of her career. The cause of death is currently unknown at this time. Born on September 25, 1929 in Boston Massachusetts, Walters began working as a journalist in 1951, and continued through her retirement in 2015. In addition to her own standalone news specials, including the annual Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People, her work included stints on Today, 20/20, and the ABC Evening News. She also co-created, produced, and co-hosted The View, which she appeared on from 1997 through 2014.

After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 1951, Walters moved to New York City and began work as a television producer and writer, ultimately joining The Today Show in 1961 and eventually becoming the “Today Girl” who reported on the weather and other topics. She then moved to ABC’s ABC Evening News and 20/20, two shows she was associated with for the remainder of her career. 

In the decades that followed, Walters interviewed countless noteworthy world leaders, including Fidel Castro, Vladimir Putin, and ever United States president and first lady from  and celebrities, including Michael Jackson, Katherine Hepburn. Her last public appearance was in 2016. She appeared as herself on projects like Nashville, Saturday Night Live, and Sesame Street.

“I do not want to appear on another program or climb another mountain,” Walters said upon her retirement. “I want instead to sit on a sunny field and admire the very gifted women — and OK, some men too — who will be taking my place.

Walters received countless awards during her life, including twelve Emmys, an induction into the Television Hall of Fame in 1989, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007. Part of ABC News’ New York headquarters was renamed in her honor in May of 2014.

“People ask me very often, ‘what is your legacy?’ and it’s not the interviews with presidents, or heads of state, nor celebrities. If I have a legacy, and I’ve said this before and I mean it so sincerely, I hope that I played a small role in paving the way for so many of you fabulous women.”

She was married four times to three different men, and adopted a daughter, Jacqueline, with her second husband Lee Gruber.

Our thoughts are with Walters’ family, friends, and fans at this time.