Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929)

Biography

Walters was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Dena (née Seletsky) and Louis Edward Walters, a theatrical booking agent and producer. In 1937, her father opened the first of a famous chain of nightclubs known as the Latin Quarter; he also was a Broadway producer (he produced the Ziegfeld Follies of 1943). Walters' elder sister, Jacqueline, was born developmentally disabledStated in interview at Inside the Actors Studio and died of ovarian cancer in 1985. Her brother, Burton, died in 1932 of pneumonia.James Conaway, "How to talk with Barbara Walters about practically anything," The New York Times, 10 September 1972, page SM40, 43-44 Walters' parents were Jewish, although she did not have a religious upbringing, as her father had become an atheist.

Being surrounded by celebrities when she was young kept her from being "in awe" of them. When she was a young woman, Walters' father lost his nightclubs and the family's penthouse on Central Park West. As Walters recalled, "He had a breakdown. He went down to live in our house in Florida, and then the Government took the house, and they took the car, and they took the furniture." Of her mother, she said, "My mother should have married the way her friends did, a man who was a doctor or who was in the dress business."Elisabeth Bumiller, "So Famous, Such Clout, She Could Interview Herself", The New York Times, 21 April 1996, page H1

After attending Fieldston School and Birch Wathen[http://nymag.com/news/features/28519/index1.html Can Barbara Walters's Career Survive Rosie and Donald's War?- New York Magazine ][http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2D71531F936A15750C0A966958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink And Now Back To You, Barbara - New York Times ] private schools in New York City, Walters graduated from Miami Beach High School in 1947. In 1951 she received a B.A. in English from Sarah Lawrence College.

Interviews

Walters is known for "personality journalism" and her "scoop" interviews. In November 1977 she achieved a joint interview with Egypt's President Anwar Al Sadat and Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Her interviews with world leaders from all walks of life are a chronicle of the latter part of the 20th century. They include the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his wife the Empress Farah Pahlavi, Russia's Boris Yeltsin, China's Jiang Zemin, the UK's Margaret Thatcher, Cuba's Fidel Castro, as well as India's Indira Gandhi, Václav Havel, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, King Hussein of Jordan, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Other interviews with influential people include pop icon Michael Jackson.