Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/NEW YORK: Barbara Walters, one of the most prominent TV interviewers and visible women on US television, died at age 93, on Friday.
Walters, who founded the popular ABC women’s talk show “The View” in 1997, passed away at her New York residence, according to a statement from Robert Iger, CEO of ABC’s corporate parent, The Walt Disney Co. Her death’s circumstances weren’t disclosed.
Iger wrote, “Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer for women in journalism as well as journalism itself.”
US broadcaster interviewed world leaders
In a broadcasting career spanning five decades, Walters interviewed a variety of world leaders, including Fidel Castro of Cuba, Margaret Thatcher of Britain, Moammar Gadhafi of Libya, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin of Russia, and every president and first lady of the United States since Richard Nixon.
Walters reached the pinnacle of her profession despite a speech impediment as she faced difficulty pronouncing R. She was born in Boston and her father as worked in showbiz as a booking agent and a nightclub owner.
She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and before joining NCB’s ‘Today’ show she worked in public relations as a segment producer and writer in 1961.
She began getting air time with feature stories. Walters’ three marriages – to theatrical producer Lee Guber, businessman Robert Katz, and television executive Merv Adelson ended in divorce.
