Barbara Walters


 

Barbara Walters (born September 25, 19291) is an American media personality known for her many years as the first woman network news anchor, on ABC News starting in 1976. Fifteen years earlier she began as a writer on NBC's The Today Show and within a year became a reporter-at-large, developing, writing and editing her own reports and interviews. In 1974, NBC officially designated her as the program's first female co-host. She is also known for her years on the ABC newsmagazine 20/20 where she joined host Hugh Downs in 1979 and became the show's sole host in 1999. She left "20/20" in 2004. More recently she often co-hosts the daytime women's talk forum The View, of which she is also co-owner and co-executive producer. Throughout her career at ABC, Walters has appeared on ABC news specials as a commentator, including presidential inaugurations and the coverage of 9/11. Many of her regular and special programs are syndicated around the world.

Related Topics:
September 25 - 1929 - American - Media personality - Woman - News anchor - ABC News - 1976 - NBC - The Today Show - 1974 - 20/20 - Hugh Downs - 1979 - The View

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She follows the line of "personality journalism" that was a specialty of Edward R. Murrow, and is known for her "scoop" interviews, such as the Monica Lewinsky interview that won the highest ratings of any journalist interview. In November 1977 she achieved a joint interview with Egypt's President Anwar Sadat and Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Her interviews with world leaders from all walks of life are a biography of the latter part of the 20th century. They include Russia's Boris Yeltsin, China's Jiang Zemin, the UK's Margaret Thatcher, Cuba's Fidel Castro, as well as Indira Gandhi, Václav Havel, Moammar Qaddafi, Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and King Hussein of Jordan. Not all her interviewees remain dry-eyed, and critics accuse Barbara Walters of pumping for the ratings-generating public tears. Critics have also accused Walters of not asking enough tough questions to her subjects, relying mainly on so-called "softball" questions to elicit sometimes unexpected answers. Her Barbara Walters Specials are top-rated, and since 1993 her year-end Ten Most Fascinating People offers a review of the year's most prominent newsmakers.

Related Topics:
Edward R. Murrow - Monica Lewinsky - Anwar Sadat - Menachem Begin - Boris Yeltsin - Jiang Zemin - Margaret Thatcher - Fidel Castro - Indira Gandhi - Václav Havel - Moammar Qaddafi - Shah of Iran - Mohammad Reza Pahlavi - Hussein of Jordan

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Barbara Walters was widely lampooned in 1981 and oftentimes since, when during an interview with actress Katharine Hepburn, Walters allegedly posed the infamous question, "If you were a tree, what kind would you be?" As she has often pointed out, and the video clips confirm, Hepburn initiated the comment by saying she would like to be a tree, and Walters merely followed up with, "What kind of a tree?"

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Her idiosyncratic speech with its rounded "R" inspired Gilda Radner's "Babwa Wawa" impersonation on Saturday Night Live, which the normally high-self-esteemed Walters has admitted felt very hurtful. She has been spoofed on the show by many comediennes, including Cheri Oteri and Rachel Dratch, as well as a DuckTales character named Webra Walters. To her credit, she has been an attractive target for comedians because of her unique style and fame. Also to her credit, her career has mirrored the opening of doors for women in journalism, that when she started out were doors usually leading to studio kitchens. She has seldom minced words when describing the visible, on-the-air disdain her co-anchor, the now-deceased "old school" reporter Harry Reasoner displayed for her when she was teamed up with him on the ABC Evening News. Fortunately, Reasoner's contemporary Hugh Downs had a decidedly more professional demeanor, and the 20/20 team flourished for two decades.

Related Topics:
Gilda Radner - Saturday Night Live - Cheri Oteri - Rachel Dratch - Old school - Harry Reasoner

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She was one of the two daughters of the late Louis Edward Walters, a immigrant from London, England, who owned the famed New York nightclub "The Latin Quarter", and who was, among other things, a Broadway producer (he produced the Ziegfeld Follies of 1943), and his wife, Boston-born Dena Seletsky, who was of Polish descent. Barbara had a sister, Jackie, who was developmentally disabled and who died of ovarian cancer. Barbara named her daughter, whom she adopted with her second husband, Lee Guber, after her late sister. On shows such as A&E Biography, Barbara has commented that being surrounded by celebrities when she was young kept her from being "in awe" of them, an important factor in being able to conduct high-profile interviews.

Related Topics:
London - England - Ziegfeld Follies - Boston - Polish

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Significant Other(s):

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Husband: Robert Henry Katz, business executive; marriage annulled

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Husband: Lee Guber, theatrical producer; married December 8, 1963; divorced 1976

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Husband: Merv Adelson, CEO of Lorimar Television; married 1986; divorced 1992

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Family:

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Father: Lou Walters, nightclub owner, theatrical producer

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Mother: Dena Walters

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Daughter: Jacqueline Walters Guber Danforth; adopted with husband Lee Guber.

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Education:Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York (BA, English)

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1Barbara Walters' biographies often give her date of birth as September 25, 1931. That this is incorrect can be demonstrated by making reference to the 1930 Federal Census for the Enumeration District 41-184, where her family is shown on page 198, with father Louis Walters aged 34, wife Dena Walters, aged 33, Jacqueline, daughter, aged 3 years and 11 months, and lastly Barbara, aged 6 months. This was recorded on April 21/22, 1930, so Barbara would have been born around October 1929. This is compatible with her asserted date of September 25, 1931 minus 2 years.

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Latest news on barbara walters

Radio host Baker referred to Thomas Beatie as a "mutilated lesbian"

On the November 14 edition of his Minneapolis radio show, Chris Baker repeatedly referred to Thomas Beatie, a pregnant transgender man, as a "mutilated lesbian." He also referred to Beatie as a "freak." Baker also stated: "If a lesbian gets pregnant, I'm fine with it. I'm OK. Just stop alternating reality and trying to force me to buy into your psychosis." Baker made the comments while discussing Barbara Walters' interview of Beatie and his wife, Nancy Beatie. Guest co-host Nicole Remini said of Walters' interview, "[S]o Barbara goes, 'Are you pregnant again?' Like, bluh. Sorry, I just threw up in my mouth on the radio." Remini added: "It's disgusting. I really have a problem with it." Though Beatie identifies as a man, Remini, Baker, and KTLK guest host Todd Walker repeatedly referred to him as a female throughout the discussion. Baker stated Beatie is "not a guy," while Remini said, "You're a chick," and, "[S]top saying you're a man." Walker said, "She's a man," and said, "[D]id you see her as a woman when she was the beauty queen? She was pretty hot." Baker also stated: "Excuse me, I don't believe you're a guy. Can you stand up to pee? OK? There you go. Scoreboard." Baker later said of Beatie: "She had her hoots whittled off. And that's it. That's it. That's it; that's all. And when I think of all the women out there that have little hoots who would love to have those hoots, and this woman's throwing them away." ABC News reported in a November 13 "Barbara Walters Exclusive" that the Beaties are expecting their second child. Their first baby was born in June. As Media Matters for America documented, on the April 4 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, after playing a clip of Beatie's April 3 appearance on Oprah to discuss Beatie's first pregnancy, co-host Mika Brzezinski stated, "I'm going to be sick. I am going to be sick." During the same discussion, host Joe Scarborough stated: "I really do feel sick." From the November 14 broadcast of KTLK's The Chris Baker Show: BAKER: That mutilated lesbian's running around claiming to be a pregnant guy again. REMINI: She's pregnant again. It -- WALKER: She is? REMINI: Yes. You know? Ugh. BAKER: And it's not a guy. Yet -- this freak is on with Barbara Walters. REMINI: Yeah. BAKER: "Oh, the man is pregnant again." And this mutilated lesbian is literally saying, "Well, you know, after the first baby, I didn't want to go back to my testosterone injections." REMINI: Right. And so Barbara goes, "Are you pregnant again?" Like, bluh. Sorry, I just threw up in my mouth on the radio. BAKER: How is that happening? REMINI: It's disgusting. I really have a problem with it. BAKER: Look, you know what? I don't mind if -- look, I have no problem with a lesbian being pregnant, OK? REMINI: Right, but stop saying you're a man. BAKER: If a lesbian gets pregnant -- WALKER: Yeah, but she's a man. BAKER: -- I'm fine with it. I'm OK. Just stop alternating reality -- REMINI: Right. BAKER: -- and trying to force me to buy into your psychosis. REMINI: Right. You're a chick. WALKER: But did you see her as a woman when she was the beauty queen? She was pretty hot. REMINI: Was she? BAKER: Right. WALKER: Oh, she was smoking. I looked her up online. BAKER: Right. She's a mental case. WALKER: She was -- I mean, she was an attractive, attractive woman. BAKER: In order to -- REMINI: Her wife is not pretty. BAKER: -- in order to undergo the so-called gender reassignment surgery -- I'm telling you right now, I'm gonna throw this entire theory right out the window, all right? Here's the truth. In order to get this so-called gender reassignment surgery, a shrink has to diagnose you with a mental disorder known as gender -- what is it? -- gender -- REMINI: Is it a transgender -- BAKER: Yeah. Gender identification -- WALKER: Gender confusion. BAKER: -- gender identification disorder or some kind of stuff. You're a nut, technically. REMINI: Right. Right. BAKER: You know, basically. REMINI: Right. BAKER: OK? Look, just -- we love you as you are as a human being; just stop trying to screw up reality. [unintelligible] REMINI: Yeah, Todd, I don't need Botox. BAKER: Excuse me, I don't believe you're a guy. Can you stand up to pee? OK? There you go. Scoreboard. WALKER: So, is everything gone down there with her? REMINI: I think so. BAKER: Everything is the same. REMINI: Oh, no. It's the same because -- BAKER: It's a woman. REMINI: -- she had to be -- 'cause she had the baby. BAKER: Right. She didn't even have a cesarean, OK? How can you say, "I'm a guy," and you had a baby and it wasn't even by cesarean? WALKER: But didn't she have it rebuilt so there's an outie down there, though? REMINI: Oh, gosh. WALKER: I think she did. BAKER: No. No. No, not at all. That's why the whole thing is stupid. WALKER: So, it's just a woman having a baby. [unintelligible] BAKER: It's a mutilated lesbian. She had -- REMINI: Who happens to have a beard. WALKER: And who happens to have a moustache and beard, right. BAKER: She had her hoots whittled off. And that's it. That's it. That's it; that's all. And when I think of all the women out there that have little hoots who would love to have those hoots -- WALKER: Yeah. BAKER: -- and this woman's throwing them away. REMINI: I'd like to fill my hoots. Now, that's something I'd like to do. WALKER: Get rid of them? REMINI: No, fill them. WALKER: Fill -- really? Let's see them again. [laughter] BAKER: 651-989 -- REMINI: I have the best bra in the world on today, too. I would share it. WALKER: I don't think you -- there's any reason to do anything with them. BAKER: -- 5855.

Exclusive: Pregnant Man Expecting Again

Thomas Beatie tells Barbara Walters he is pregnant with his second child.

Hasselbeck, Shepherd still advance skewed View on California's Prop 8

During the November 10 edition of ABC's The View, co-hosts Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd again promoted the falsehood that without the passage of Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, members of the clergy could be jailed for refusing to perform same-sex marriages. Hasselbeck again referred to a Swedish priest who she falsely claimed was jailed "for not wanting to perform a marriage ceremony." And after being confronted with language from the California Supreme Court majority decision stating that clergy members will not be required to perform same-sex marriages, Shepherd suggested that that there is an "other side" to the issue. In fact, neither Proposition 8 -- which sought to overturn the California Supreme Court's May 15 ruling that affirmed the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry -- nor the Supreme Court decision itself had anything to do with members of the clergy. As Media Matters for America documented, on November 6, Shepherd said: "I don't want to know that my pastor -- because, you know, the church is preaching against homosexuality, and I don't want to know that my pastor could be jailed." In fact, as co-host Whoopi Goldberg noted on November 10 while citing information from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the California Supreme Court majority opinion made clear that its decision did not have any impact on clergy, stating that "no religion will be required to change its policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs." Nevertheless, referencing advertisements suggesting that ministers could be jailed, Shepherd said, "[Y]ou know, GLAAD said. ... I would like to hear the other side." But no "other side" exists on the question of whether members of the clergy could be jailed for failing to perform same-sex marriages. The claim that absent passage of Proposition 8, members of the clergy could have been jailed in such circumstances is simply false. From the November 10 edition of The View: SHEPHERD: Right. Well, I feel at a disadvantage here because, you know, we're getting from GLAAD what they say. I think the other side has -- would probably disagree. I don't know. So, if somebody else has -- GOLDBERG: Well, as I am saying to you, I checked the laws on two out of three of these. SHEPHERD: Well, you know, I saw, you know, the ads going, you know, "The minister will be jailed"; "No, they won't." You know, so, it's like, again -- HASSELBECK: I think, too -- SHEPHERD: I hear you. I just said, you know, GLAAD said -- HASSELBECK: You want the other side. SHEPHERD: I would like to hear the other side. Further, during the program, Hasselbeck repeatedly falsely claimed that Prop 8 won 62 percent of the vote; in fact, Prop 8 garnered 52.3 percent of the vote, according to the California Secretary of State's office. From the November 10 edition of ABC's The View: GOLDBERG: As you said, we did have a really, really spirited discussion about Prop 8. And Barbara and I both got phone calls from Ellen [DeGeneres]. BARBARA WALTERS (co-host): We should tell them what Proposition 8 is. GOLDBERG: Yes, I was gonna to let you. WALTERS: Oh, thanks. OFF-CAMERA: Go ahead. WALTERS: Well, Proposition 8 was put on the agenda in California, which banned same-sex marriage, which had been allowed. And Ellen called Whoopi and then called me because she was listening to our discussion, and there were some things about it that she liked or didn't like. And we were talking about the fact that there were some people who felt that churches could lose their tax exempt if they didn't perform same-sex marriages, and we were raising other que-- and would that mean that same-sex marriage would have to be taught in school and so on? And what Ellen's fear was, was that her marriage to Portia [de Rossi] and other marriages would be declared invalid. So we called Jerry Brown -- remember Jerry Brown? -- who is the attorney general of California, who said, "The language of Proposition 8 is silent on retroactivity, and California law generally provides the laws apply only prospectively." And he said, as the attorney general, "I will defend in court the marriages contracted before that Proposition 8 was signed." So Ellen and other people who were married before this -- right, Whoopi? -- is protected. HASSELBECK: So it's not retroactive. WALTERS: Well, you know, somebody could protest that, but that's the way it is for now. GOLDBERG: But GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, were also watching our Hot Topics that day, and they have sent us what they call fact and fiction. And a coup-- we were able to check out two things before we got on, but the third thing, which is this one, I was not able to get another source on. But GLAAD says that the fiction is, "Teaching kids about same-sex marriage will happen here in California unless we pass Prop 8." GLAAD is saying the fact is, "Not one word in Prop 8 mentions education, and no child can be forced against a parent's will to be taught anything health and family issues at school." That is the law in California. The second thing: The fiction that we were all believing was that churches could lose tax-exemption status. The fact is, the court decision that said same-sex marriage is legal says, "No religion will be required to change its religious policies with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs." HASSELBECK: As is stated in the -- GOLDBERG: As is stated in the law. It is law. Fact -- fiction: "If Prop 8 isn't passed, people can be sued over personal beliefs." The fact of the matter is in California -- California's law already prohibits discrimination against anyone based on race, sex, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. So those are the -- HASSELBECK: What is classified as discrim-- like, when we talk -- 'cause we talked about the case -- was it in Sweden? -- when the priest was originally put in prison for not wanting to perform a marriage ceremony. GOLDBERG: I can't speak to Swedish law. I can only speak to the law that exists right now in California. And that -- HASSELBECK: Are they exempt from that? The churches are exempt? GOLDBERG: They are. They -- California law prohibits discrimination against anyone based on race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. So you cannot be sued over your personal beliefs. WALTERS: But you know, what we were talking about was that you had said that you had mixed feelings about this. And, in truth, a great many people do. I mean, it's against whatever their ethical beliefs are, whatever their feeling is that matrimony is between a man or a woman. This was something you were expressing. SHEPHERD: Right. Well, I feel at a disadvantage here because, you know, we're getting from GLAAD what they say. I think the other side has -- would probably disagree. I don't know. So, if somebody else has -- GOLDBERG: Well, as I am saying to you, I checked the laws on two out of three of these. SHEPHERD: Well, you know, I saw, you know, the ads going, you know, "The minister will be jailed"; "No, they won't." You know, so, it's like, again -- HASSELBECK: I think, too -- SHEPHERD: I hear you. I just said, you know, GLAAD said -- HASSELBECK: You want the other side. SHEPHERD: I would like to hear the other side. HASSELBECK: It's important that the 62 percent of the popular vote was -- came out and said they didn't want the word "marriage" redefined, they wanted to protect the institution of marriage as it has been defined. And I think what happened -- this is a reaction to the Supreme Court legislating from the bench. They said, "No, you know what? This is about what the people want, and you tried to overreach." And so I thought the people came out and said in terms of how our system should work, how it should work for them is best when it represents what they want. And I'm happy about that because it think that's -- GOLDBERG: It's -- it is unfortunate that people used not-honest things to go about it, because if the fear -- if people put fear into people and made them believe things that weren't true, that's not how you want somebody to vote. You want them to vote the truth, and you want them to vote their heart. Now, maybe they would have voted the same way. But I'm saying to you that the law facts are, as they exist -- the only thing that I cannot say factually, 'cause I haven't read it myself, and we were not able to get it up quick enough -- that doesn't sound right -- get it to our attention fast enough, was that teaching kids about same-sex marriage. That's the one I have not been able to verify beyond that. [...] HASSELBECK: And it does change -- it does trickle down to what your kids are taught. I think that's what people vote on. Sixty-two percent of those people wanted to preserve it so that when their kids are taught something, they know what it is.