Barbara Walters Biography

Barbara Walters’ career brings words such as “legendary”, “pioneering”, and “inspirational” to mind. She was more than just any other pretty person that was on a TV screen. “Walters was born September 25, 1929, and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts”(world book). From an early age, she had been surrounded by celebrities, many people say this attributed to her relaxed manner while she interviewed people. Her father, Louis Edward Walters, had opened a string of nightclubs called the Latin Quarter. “Walter’s spent a lot of time there, it was common for famous people to come in and out for a good time” (Lemann 1). “She became the first woman co-anchor of a network evening news program and earned roughly an unprecedented twelve million dollar salary.

“After a brief stint as a secretary, she landed her first job in journalism as the assistant to publicity director and Republican activist Tex McCary of WRCA-TV. After sharpening her writing and producing skills at the NBC affiliate, Walters moved to CBS, where she wrote material for the network's Morning Show.” (world book). She worked her way up to become a writer, through hard work and determination.“NBC hired Barbara Walters to work as a researcher and writer, her initial assignments were slanted towards female viewers”(world book). The more important assignments were given only to the male writers, despite the fact that Walters’ skill level was far superior than theirs. “Walters also was not allowed to ask the “serious” guests questions until the male hosts had finished asking theirs”(Lemann 1). She received the name the “Today Girl”, but it was mostly for publicity. Her face was on the screens, but she was not doing any of the real work. In her memoir, Audition, she talks about how McGee made her agree to not chime in until the fourth question. She was treated second best because she was a woman in a “man’s world”, but Walters did not settle for this. She shows determination even when she struggled in her early days, Walters pushed past

She showed determination towards the end as she made her final years something extremely memorable. In 1997, Walters along with the help of Bill Geddie began a talk show that would take up the daytime airing block on ABC, it is called The View. Walters along with four other women, Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, and Rosie O'Donnell were the original hostess of the quickly popular talk show. “Barbara Walters remained on "The View" from its debut in 1997 to May 2014, when the veteran news journalist officially retired.” (NewsDay Staff). Soon after, a show called “The Talk” aired. It was almost identical to “The View”. The two shows competed for head to head, Walters and her co-hosts did everything in their power to keep “The View” on top. Even during the intense competition, Sharon Osbourne threw shade at most of the stars of the view, but she continued onto say that “The situation is Barbara: Idolize her, divine, she is super-human. I love Barbara Walters.” Walters’ work left an impact on people watching, even her competition. There was no denying she was on top, because of this, people just assumed she would just stick around forever. Larry King went on to say that “I thought she and television were like ham and eggs.” (Setoodeh). Walters shocked the world on May 13, 2013, as she announces, through tears, her final goodbye. “She did not formally leave until the following year” (Setoodeh). With Walters help,