Barbara Walters, the foremost American TV interviewer of her generation and the first woman to lead a US network evening news program, has died aged 93.
Over the course of her 50-year career, Walters was queen of the “get” – a term for securing the first interview with prominent figures making news, whether that was a movie star, politician or figure of criminal notoriety.
Central to her talents was to investigate the emotional state of her interviewees, often securing an evocative response considered the top prize of any encounter. At the peak of her career, as host of NBC’s Today show, Walters coaxed out interview time with the major figures of note of the day, including every US president and first lady since Richard and Pat Nixon, show business stars, celebrities and foreign leaders.
Read This: Former Pope Benedict XVI Dead Aged 95…
Her range was dizzying: From Cuba’s Fidel Castro to Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, from pop’s Michael Jackson to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein to Bill Clinton’s intern-turned-mistress, Monica Lewinsky, wayward boxing champion Mike Tyson to screen star-turned-royalty Princess Grace of Monaco, Walters became, in some exchanges, not just the interlocutor but also an equal to her subjects.
Fidel Castro, center right, responds to a question from American NBC reporter Barbara Walters, center left, during a news conference in Havana, Cuba, in 1975. Photograph: AP
“I never thought I’d have this kind of a life,” Walters said in a 2004 Chicago Tribune interview. “I’ve probably met more people, more heads of state, more important people, even almost than any president, because they’ve only had eight years”.
“An American institution”, Lynda Carter, best known for her TV character Wonder Woman, said of Walters. “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. Her impact cannot be overstated.”
President Barack Obama talks with Barbara Walters on the daytime TV talk show The View in New York City in 2010. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Read Also: Brazilian Football Icon Pele Dies Aged 82…
Her death, at home in Manhattan, in New York City, was announced by Robert Iger, CEO of Walt Disney, the parent company of ABC. The TV network broadcasts Walters’ later-career, all-female flagship talkshow The View, which she created in 1997 to help champion women’s voices.
Barbara Walters with Elton John in 1997. Photograph: Maria Melin/AP
The circumstances of her death were not given.
