Barbara Walters Biography

NAME: Barbara Walters

OCCUPATION: News Anchor, Television Producer, Journalist

BIRTH DATE: September 25, 1929 (Age: 82)

EDUCATION: Sarah Lawrence College

PLACE OF BIRTH: Boston, Massachusetts

Journalist, writer. Born Barbara Jill Walters on September 25, 1929, in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Dena Seletsky Walters and nightclub impresario Lou Walters. She had two siblings: older sister Jacqueline, who was born developmentally disabled and died in 1985, and brother Burton, who died of pneumonia in 1932. Walters was born Jewish, though her parents weren't practicing Jews.

In 1937, Lou Walters opened a chain of nightclubs that expanded his business from Boston, Massachusetts, to Miami Beach, Florida. As a result, Barbara attended Fieldston and Birch Wathen private schools in New York City, and graduated from Miami Beach High School in 1947. Barbara was surrounded by celebrities from an early age, which has been said to account for her relaxed manner when interviewing famous people.

A co-host and co-creator of daytime TV's The View, Barbara Walters is a veteran broadcaster who made her name in the 1970s with interviews of world leaders and A-list celebrities. Walters's long career in national television began in the late 1950s. She spent fifteen years (1961-76) with NBC as a correspondent and co-host for The Today Show, then jumped to ABC News in 1976 to become the first woman to co-anchor a nightly news show (her on-air partner was veteran newsman Harry Reasoner).

In 1979, Barbara Walters became a part-time correspondent for the ABC news show, 20/20. She scored an exclusive interview with former President Richard Nixon in 1980—his first TV interview since his resignation in 1974. By the fall of 1981, she was a regular contributor to the program. She, along with former Today show partner Hugh Downs, was elevated to co-host in 1984. Downs retired in 1999, and Walters continued to co-host the show with John Miller and later John Stossel. In September 2000, Walters renewed her contract with ABC News for five more years. Her reported $12 million yearly salary made her the highest-paid news host in history. In September 2004, at the age of 73, Walters stepped down as co-host of 20/20. Her final regular appearance on the program featured a 25-year retrospective of her interviews with heads of state, entertainment personalities, the famous, and the infamous.