Audition

Barbara Walters was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 25, 1929. She earned a B.A. in English from Sarah Lawrence College in 1951 and began her television career in the publicity department of an NBC affiliate in New York City. She went on to produce women's programs for an independent television station and later wrote and produced news and public affairs programs for CBS.

In 1961 Walters became a writer and reporter for the NBC television show Today. She was a regular panel member on the show from 1963 to 1974, when she became co-host. In 1976 Walters signed a then-record $1 million contract and moved to the rival ABC network as correspondent and the first female co-anchor of network evening news. In 1979 she began her 25 years as co-host of the television news magazine 20/20. She is also known for the Barbara Walters Specials, an irregularly scheduled celebrity interview series, as well as her participation and patronage of the daytime women's talk show, The View. She was a contributor to the magazines Good Housekeeping, Family Weekly, and Reader's Digest, and in 1970 her popular book "How to Talk to Practically Anybody about Practically Anything" was published. She has also written the autobiography "Audition."

In 1975 Walters was named broadcaster of the year by the International Radio and TV Society. She has won Daytime and Prime Time Emmy Awards and the GLAAD Excellence in Media award. Walters received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2007 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Women's Agenda in 2008. In 2009 she was honored at the 30th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

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