Barbara Walters, who broke barriers for women as the first female co-host of the “Today” show and first female host of an evening news program on the network, and who became one herself as a celebrity interviewer, helping to blur the lines between news and entertainment, died on Friday. She was 93.
Her death was reported by ABC News, where she was a longtime anchor and created “The View.”
Ms. Walters spent more than 50 years in front of the camera and continued to appear on The View until she was 84. In one-on-one interviews, she was best known for dealing with the personal lives and emotional states of movie stars, heads of state and other high-profile figures with aristocratic persistence.
Ms. Walters made her first mark on NBC’s “Today” show, where she began appearing regularly on camera in 1964; A decade later, she was officially named co-host. Her success opened the door for future network anchors like Jane Pauley, Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer.
Ms. Walters began writing for NBC in 1961, the symbolic woman in the Today writers’ room. When she left NBC for ABC in 1976 to co-host the evening news with Harry Reasoner, she became known as the “million dollar baby” because of her five-year, $5 million contract.
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