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Today: April 15, 2025

Barbara Walters Fast Facts

December 05, 2012

(CNN) โ€” Hereโ€™s a look at the life of famed journalist Barbara Walters.

Personal

Birth date: September 25, 1929 (some sources say 1931)

Death date: December 30, 2022

Birth place: Boston, Massachusetts

Birth name: Barbara Jill Walters

Father: Lou Walters, a theater producer

Mother: Dena (Selett) Walters

Marriages: Merv Adelson (1986-1992, divorced); Lee Guber (1963-1976, divorced); Robert Henry Katz (1955-1958, divorced)

Children: Adopted with Guber: Jackie, 1968

Education: Sarah Lawrence College, B.A., 1953

Other Facts

Walters interviewed every US president and first lady from Richard and Pat Nixon through Barack and Michelle Obama.

Other notable interviews include Fidel Castro, a joint interview with Israelโ€™s Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Michael Jackson and Monica Lewinsky.

Nominated for 33 Daytime Emmy Awards and won three. Also received an honorary award.

Nominated for 19 News and Documentary Emmy Awards and won seven. Also received an honorary award.

Nominated for 11 Primetime Emmys and won once. Also received an honorary award.

Timeline

1961-1974 - Reporter, writer and panel member on NBCโ€™s โ€œThe Today Show.โ€

1974-1976 - Co-hosts โ€œThe Today Show.โ€

1975 - Wins a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Talk, Service or Variety Series for โ€œToday.โ€

1976-2014 - Host of โ€œThe Barbara Walters Specials.โ€ The special โ€œ10 Most Fascinating Peopleโ€ became a regular year-end program.

1976-1978 - Becomes the first female to co-anchor โ€œABC World News Tonightโ€ for an unprecedented salary of $1 million a year.

1980 - Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Programs and Program Segments for โ€œPost Election Special Edition.โ€

1982 - Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Interview/Interviewer (Program) for โ€œThe Barbara Walters Specials.โ€

1983 - Wins a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series for โ€œThe Barbara Walters Specials.โ€

1983 - Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Interview/Interviewer (Segment) for โ€œThere But For The Grace Of God.โ€

1984-2004 - Co-host and chief correspondent for ABCโ€™s โ€œ20/20.โ€ She gives up her regular spot on the show in September 2004 but continues to report on occasion.

1987 - Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Interview/Interviewer (Segment) for โ€œThe Woman Under The Crane.โ€

January 7, 1990 - Is inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.

1992 - Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Interview/Interviewer (Segment) for โ€œArthur Seale/Patricia Reso Interviews - No Way Out.โ€

1996 - Wins a Peabody award for the โ€œ20/20โ€ episode โ€œThe Journey of Christopher Reeve.โ€

1997-May 16, 2014 - Co-host of โ€œThe View.โ€

1999 - Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Special Classification for Outstanding News and Documentary Program for โ€œThe Millennium.โ€

2000 - Winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Daytime Television.

2003 - Wins a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show (Executive Producer) for โ€œThe View.โ€

June 14, 2007 - Receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

May 2008 - Reveals that she had an affair with married US Senator Edward Brooke for several years in the 1970s.

2009 - Wins a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host for โ€œThe View.โ€

2009 - Wins a News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story - Long Form for โ€œInauguration 2009 - Barack Obama.โ€

September 21, 2009 - Receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

May 2010 - Undergoes heart surgery to repair a valve.

January 19, 2013 - Is hospitalized after falling on a stair while visiting the British ambassadorโ€™s residence, leaving her with a cut on her forehead.

May 13, 2013 - Announces on โ€œThe Viewโ€ that she will retire from TV journalism in summer 2014.

May 16, 2014 - Waltersโ€™ last episode as co-host of โ€œThe Viewโ€ airs. She continues as co-executive producer.

February 2015 - Donates $15 million to Sarah Lawrence College towards the Barbara Walters Campus Center. The Center officially opens on August 31, 2019.

December 30, 2022 - Dies at the age of 93.

The-CNN-Wire
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