Barbara Walters, a legendary journalist and trailblazer has passed away at the age of 93.
The groundbreaking newswoman and TV personality spent more than 50 years on the screen, covering top stories and interviewing big names during her career as a journalist.
Walters was a pioneer who became the first woman to co-host a morning and evening newscast, USA Today reports. She spent time as a 20/20 host, and in 1997, she created the hit female-aimed show, “The View.”
Walters on-air debut started in 1956 as a writer for CBS’ “The Morning Show,” she and four other women modeled one-piece bathing suits. Then in 1961, she became NBC’s “Today Girl. Thirteen years later, she became the first female co-host of “Today.”
In 1976, she teamed with Harry Reasoner as a co-anchor of ABC’s “Evening News.” However, it was widely known that Reasoner was not a fan of her, yet she and her career survived.
She went on to establish a successful career that included her “Barbara Walters Specials.” She has interviewed many celebrities and politicians, including Richard Nixon, John Wayne, the Shah of Iran, Fidel Castro, and Barbra Streisand. Perhaps her most memorable interview was with Monica Lewinsky, which drew a record news-broadcast audience of 48.5 million viewers.
In a 2008 interview, Walters answered a question she often asked others: How did she want to be remembered? “On a personal level, as a loving mother. On a professional level, I don’t want to be remembered for asking Katharine Hepburn what kind of tree she’d like to be, which I didn’t do. Or as an interviewer who made people cry – which I don’t do anymore – but as a good journalist.”
