BREAKING: Barbara Walters, the pioneering TV broadcaster who blazed a trail for women in a male-dominated medium, has died at age 93.
Barbara Walters, the pioneering TV broadcaster who blazed a trail for women in a male-dominated medium, died Friday. She was 93.
ABC, the network where she last worked, aired a special report Friday night announcing Walters' death and reflecting on her career. Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, parent of ABC, said in a statement Walters died Friday evening at her New York City residence.
“At some point, the things that had been a liability for her, being a woman trying to get a foothold in a male-dominated industry, began to become more of an asset,” Thompson said. “She was smart and prepared, but at the same time she came across as more compassionate .In some ways, Walters had been preparing for those trademark interviews all her life. Born in Boston on Sept.
Her big breakthrough came with an assignment to travel with Jacqueline Kennedy on the first lady’s trip to India in 1962. That led to more newsy pieces and a bump in status to co-hosting responsibilities opposite Hugh Downs — though she didn’t get the official title until 1974. By that time, Downs had left the network and was replaced by Frank McGee.
Her newfound celebrity also drew the ultimate back-handed honor: having her struggles pronouncing hard R's lampooned by Gilda Radner on “Saturday Night Live.” Walters later admitted she didn’t find the “Baba Wawa” skits funny. But it was her interviews that remained Walters’ passion, compiling her mix of tough and amusing questions on her trademark 3x5 index cards and fussing with the order even after the cameras started rolling. In the 2014 television special that commemorated her retirement from TV journalism, Walters showed off an autographed photo from Cuban despot Fidel Castro that hung on her wall: “For the longest and most difficult interview I’ve ever done in my life.
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