Barbara Walters Biography
Barbara Walters is a television personality and broadcast journalist who rose to prominence as the segment producer of NBC News’ ‘The Today Show’ women’s interest stories.
Barbara Walters Age
She is 93 years old as of September 2022. She was born Barbara Jill Walters on September 25, 1929, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Barbara Walters Education
She went to Brookline’s Lawrence School. Her family later relocated to New York City, where she graduated from Birch Wathen School in 1947. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and graduated with a B.A. in English.
Barbara Walters Height
Walter stands at a height of 5’5″ (165 cm) tall.
Barbara Walters Parents
She was born in Boston on September 25, 1929, to Jewish parents Dena and Louis Walters. Her father was a Broadway producer as well as the Tropicana Resort and Casino’s Entertainment Director.
Barbara Walters Husband – Children
In 1955, Walters married business executive Robert Henry Katz for the first time. The marriage lasted only a few months. In 1963, she married Lee Guber, a theatrical producer and theater owner. They had one daughter before divorcing in 1976. In 1981, she married Merv Adelson, the CEO of Lorimar Television. They divorced in 1984 but remarried in 1986. They divorced once more in 1992.
Barbara Walters Career
She moved to New York City after college to look for work. She spent a year at a small advertising agency before landing a job at WNBT-TV, the NBC network affiliate in New York City. ‘Ask the Camera,’ a 15-minute children’s program directed by Roone Arledge, was produced by her in 1953. She joined CBS in 1955 as a writer for ‘The Morning Show.’ She worked as a publicist for Tex McCrary Inc. before becoming a writer for ‘Redbook’ magazine. Walters began her career as a writer and researcher for NBC’s ‘The Today Show in 1961, and quickly rose to become the show’s regular ‘Today Girl.’ Women were only given lighter assignments at the time, such as weather reporting.
She began to create and write her own reports and interviews. In 1974, she became the first female co-host of ‘The Today Show.’ In 1976-78, she worked as a co-anchor on the ‘ABC Evening News with Harry Reasoner. However, the two had a strained working relationship because Reasoner disliked having a female co-anchor. She worked for ABC as a commentator on news specials such as presidential inaugurations and as a moderator during the 1976 Presidential Elections between candidates Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. She is best known for her work in personality journalism and interviewing. In November 1977, she conducted a joint interview with Egypt’s President Anwar Al Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
In 1979, she joined the ABC news magazine’ 20/20,’ and by 1981, she had become a regular special contributor. She had a great working relationship with Hugh Downs, with whom she had worked for many years. Over the course of her long and fruitful career, she interviewed world leaders such as Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Boris Yeltsin of Russia, and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. She has also conducted interviews with celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Sir Laurence Olivier, and Katharine Hepburn. She and Bill Geddie created the concept for the ABC talk show ‘The View,’ which has aired since August 1997. The show, which has aired for 17 seasons, features a panel of five female co-hosts who discuss a wide range of social and political issues.
Barbara Walters’s Net Worth
She has an estimated net worth of 170 million dollars.