Television icon. Barbara Walters spent six decades as a hard-hitting journalist — interviewing everyone from controversial political leaders to some of the world’s most high-profile stars — prior to her retirement in 2014.
Walters started her career in the 1960s with the TodayShow, where she worked behind the scenes as a writer and producer before making her way on the screen as a popular cohost.
Her reach grew further in the decade that followed, when she was offered a cohost job at ABC Evening News — the network that she would call home for the next five decades. The Massachusetts native’s tenure on the news program, coupled with her own Barbara Walters Special, which gave her access to (and insight in) public figures such as President Richard Nixon and Fidel Castro, Lucille Ball, and Fred Astaire.
In 1979, Walters landed another career-defining role as the host of ABC’s 20/20She held this position until 2004. Her fame grew alongside her role as a television anchor who was able to give interviews to many celebrities. Her enduring catchphrase — “I’m Barbara Walters, and this is 20/20” — held up so well through the decades that she briefly came out of retirement in order to utter the words on New Year’s Eve 2019.
Walters not only created a path for herself during her many years working in the television industry but also amplified her fellow female stars by creating The ViewIn 1997. After the Emmy-winning Emmy-winning daytime show was established by broadcast journalists, she cohosted it for close to 20 year. She sparred and discussed current events with a variety of hosts, including Rosie O’DonnellAnd Whoopi Goldberg.
Walters announced her retirement in May 2013.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time and this is what I want to do. … I’m not walking into the sunset. I don’t want to appear on another program,” she told viewers at the time. “I want instead to sit in a sunny field and admire the gifted women and OK, some men, too, who will be taking my place. I’ve had an amazing career beyond anything I could ever have imagined.”
Keep scrolling to see Walters’ most memorable moments — including her multiple marriages and her incredible career success — through the years:
