Barbara Walters Dead At Age 93

Barbara Walters has died at age 93.

She was an absolute pioneer of journalism and television, an absolutely trailblazing icon.

She will be missed by so many.

BREAKING: Barbara Walters, who shattered the glass ceiling and became a dominant force in an industry once dominated by men, has died. She was 93. https://t.co/tydwREgTb2 pic.twitter.com/b4jOEHVYFE

— ABC News (@ABC) December 31, 2022

From ABC News:

Barbara Walters, the trailblazing television news broadcaster and longtime ABC News anchor and correspondent who shattered the glass ceiling and became a dominant force in an industry once dominated by men, has died. She was 93.

Walters joined ABC News in 1976, becoming the first female anchor on an evening news program. Three years later, she became a co-host of “20/20,” and in 1997, she launched “The View.”

Barbara Walters’ Memorable Interviews Through the Years
Bob Iger, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company which is the parent company of ABC News, praised Walters as someone who broke down barriers.

“Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer not just for women in journalism but for journalism itself. She was a one-of-a-kind reporter who landed many of the most important interviews of our time, from heads of state to the biggest celebrities and sports icons. I had the pleasure of calling Barbara a colleague for more than three decades, but more importantly, I was able to call her a dear friend. She will be missed by all of us at The Walt Disney Company, and we send our deepest condolences to her daughter, Jacqueline,” Iger said in a statement Friday.

In a career that spanned five decades, Walters won 12 Emmy awards, 11 of those while at ABC News.

She made her final appearance as a co-host of “The View” in 2014, but remained an executive producer of the show and continued to do some interviews and specials for ABC News.

“I do not want to appear on another program or climb another mountain,” she said at the time. “I want instead to sit on a sunny field and admire the very gifted women — and OK, some men too — who will be taking my place.”

Barbara Jill Walters was born in Boston on Sept. 25, 1929, to Dena and Louis “Lou” Walters. Her father worked in show business as a booking agent and nightclub producer, and discovered comedians Fred Allen and Jack Haley, who would go on to star as the Tin Man in the classic film “The Wizard of Oz.”

Growing up around celebrities taught a young Barbara a lesson that she relied upon throughout her career.

“I would see them onstage looking one way and offstage often looking very different. I would hear my parents talk about them and know that even though those performers were very special people, they were also human beings with real-life problems,” Walters said in a 1989 interview with the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences. “I can have respect and admiration for famous people, but I have never had a sense of fear or awe.”

Wow, vintage:

RIP Barbara Walters!

We lost such an incredible woman today 💔 pic.twitter.com/J9Y4vp33o3

— Olivia Garvey (@LivGarvey6) December 31, 2022

An iconic moment of Barbara laying out the Kardashians:

https://twitter.com/itswolfgangruth/status/1609019346998759428

Here she is asking Lady Gaga if she’s “part man, part woman”:

https://twitter.com/AMENARTPOP/status/1609025841480204288

Now, it may be too soon, but I can’t think of Barbara Walters without thinking of Norm Macdonald.

And yes, this is the second Norm story I’ve published tonight.

Perhaps Norm is the true icon.

Here is Andy Dick reading a joke Norm wrote regarding Barbara and The View:

My favorite Norm Macdonald written joke. RIP to the great Barbara Walters pic.twitter.com/2VhYL7YZJd

— Dane Crane (@DaneCrane55) December 31, 2022

And speaking of Barbara and The View, here is the most infamous Norm appearance ever.

Still legendary.

Here is Norm going on The View and telling Barbara how Bill Clinton “murdered a guy” (Vince Foster)

Norm was a hero.

Watch here:

RIP Babs.