Barbara Walters

Barbara Walters
Walters in New York City, June 2011
Born	(1929-09-25) September 25, 1929 (age 87) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	1959–present
Notable credit(s)	Today co-anchor (1962–76) ABC Evening News co-anchor (1976–78) 20/20 co-anchor (1979–2004) The View creator/co-host (1997–2014) executive producer (1997–2015; 2016–present)
Salary	$12 million (2007)
Spouse(s)	Robert Henry Katz (m. 1955; annulled 1957) Lee Guber (m. 1963; div. 1976) Merv Adelson (m. 1981; div. 1984); (m. 1986; div. 1992)
Children	1

Barbara Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. Walters is known for having hosted of a variety of television programs, including Today, The View, 20/20, and the ABC Evening News. Since retirement as a full-time host and contributor, she has continued to occasionally report for ABC News.

Walters first became known as a television personality in the early 1960s, when she was a writer and segment producer of "women's interest stories" on the NBC News morning program The Today Show, where she began work with host Hugh Downs. As a result of her outstanding interviewing ability and her popularity with viewers, she received more airtime on the program. Even though her production duties made her a significant contributor to the program, she had no input in choosing a successor for Downs when he left in 1971, and Frank McGee was hired. In 1974, at the time of McGee's death, Walters acquired the co-host position on the program, the first woman to hold such a title on an American news program. In 1976, continuing as a pioneer for women in broadcasting, she became the first female co-anchor of a network evening news, working with Harry Reasoner on the ABC News flagship program, the ABC Evening News, earning an unprecedented US$1 million per year. From 1979 to 2004, she worked as co-host and a producer for the ABC newsmagazine 20/20.

In 1997, Walters created and debuted as a co-host on The View, a daytime talk show with an all-female panel. She retired as a co-host of The View in 2014 after 16 seasons. Walters initially retired as an executive producer of the program in 2015, but later returned to the position the following year. Since her retirement from The View, she has hosted a number of special reports for 20/20, as well as a documentary series for Investigation Discovery. Additionally, Walters has continued to host her annual 10 Most Fascinating People special on ABC.