Barbara Walters

Guide Note

Barbara Walters is an American broadcast journalist who appears regularly on The View and 20/20. Walters has interviewed hundreds of the most prominent celebrities and newsmakers over the past thirty years and is often sought out by publicists for her personal and engaging style.

Fast Facts

1. Born: September 25, 1929
2. Received B.A. in English from Sarah Lawrence College in 1953
3. Most known for her role as co-host of the ABC newsmagazine, 20/20, a position she has held since 1984
4. Co-owner, co-executive producer, and co-host of ABC talk show The View
5. First woman to co-anchor an evening news program
6. Imitated on Saturday Night Live by Gilda Radner in 1970s

In 2008, Walters admitted on The Oprah Winfrey Show to having a lengthy affair in the 1970s with then-married Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke, a man whom she said she was "infatuated" with and who was "exciting" and "brilliant."

Walters began her career in broadcasting in 1961 as a writer for the NBC morning program, The Today Show. After rising through the ranks at the increasingly popular morning program, she became the show's co-anchor in 1974. In 1976 she was named co-host of the ABC Evening News along with Harry Reasoner and became the first female co-anchor of an evening news program in American history.

Walter has been married (and divorced) three times, and is rarely shy about her private life. In the 1970s, she dated future Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.