Legendary Newswoman Barbara Walters Dies At 93

TV news anchor and host Barbara Walters, known for her work on NBC’s Today and ABC’s 20/20 and The View, as well of her series of ABC primetime pre-Oscars interview specials, has died.

“Barbara Walters, who shattered the glass ceiling and became a dominant force in an industry once dominated by men, has died. She was 93,” tweeted ABC News on Friday evening.

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

Born on September 25, 1929 in Boston, Barbara Walters made her on-air debut in 1956 on CBS’ The Morning Show, where she was a writer, modeling one-piece bathing suits with four other young women. She joined NBC’s Today show in 1961 as a writer and researcher and moved up to become that show’s regular “Today Girl,” handling lighter assignments and the weather. Within a year, she became a reporter-at-large developing, writing, and editing her own reports and interviews. In 1974, and following then anchor Frank McGee’s death, she was officially named as the program’s first female co-host.

She moved to ABC and became the first female co-anchor of a network news program in 1976, co-anchoring the ABC Evening News with Harry Reasoner.

“We were all influenced by Barbara Walters,” ABC News’ David Muir said in a tribute Friday, remembering Walters as an “extraordinary human being, journalist, pioneer, legend.”

“She broke barriers behind the scenes and she broke news on-camera. She got people to say things they never would’ve said to another journalist.”

Walters 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.