KEY POINTS
- A spokesperson for Barbara Walters says the pioneering TV journalist was a trailblazer "for all women".
- Over a 50-year career, Ms Walters won 12 Emmy awards.
- During that time she had exclusive interviews with rulers, royalty and entertainers.
Barbara Walters, one of the most visible women on US television as the first female anchor on an evening news broadcast and one of TV's most prominent interviewers, has died at age 93.
Ms Walters, who created the popular ABC women's talk show The View in 1997, died on Friday at her home in New York.
The news was confirmed by Robert Iger, chief executive of the US ABC Network's corporate parent, the Walt Disney Co.
Making history
In a broadcast career spanning five decades, Ms Walters interviewed an array of world leaders, including Cuba's Fidel Castro, Britain's Margaret Thatcher, Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and every US president and first lady since Richard and Pat Nixon.
She earned 12 Emmy awards, 11 of those while at ABC News, the network said.
Walter began her journalism career on NBC's The Today Show in the 1960s as a writer and segment producer.
She made broadcast history as the first woman co-anchor on a US evening newscast, opposite Harry Reasoner.
The intrepid interviewer, anchor and program host led the way as the first woman to become a TV news superstar during a network career remarkable for its duration and variety.
Ms Walters reached the top of her field despite difficulty pronouncing R's - a trait that made her the target of a biting "Bawa WaWa" impersonation by Gilda Radner on the "Saturday Night Live" sketch comedy show in the 1970s. Walters said the spoof bothered her, until her daughter told her to lighten up.
Ms Walters was born in Boston. Her father, Lou Walters, worked in show business as a nightclub owner and booking agent, and was credited with discovering such talent as comedian Fred Allen and actor Jack Haley, who would go on to play the Tin Man in the motion picture classic "The Wizard of Oz."
Former President Richard Nixon is interviewed by Barbara Walters in New York on 8 May 1980. Source: AAP / Ray Stubblebine
Interviews with rulers, royalty and entertainers
Ms Walters' death was announced by ABC on air Friday night and also by her publicist.
"Barbara Walters passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones.
She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists, but for all women," said publicist Cindi Berger in a statement.
During nearly four decades at ABC, and before that at NBC, Ms Walters' exclusive interviews with rulers, royalty and entertainers brought her celebrity status that ranked with theirs, while placing her at the forefront of the trend in broadcast journalism that made stars of TV reporters and brought news programs into the race for higher ratings.
Colleagues said Ms Walters left behind a very strong impression.
News anchor Stephanie Simoni said she owes her career to the example Ms Walters set.
"It motivated me to keep pushing for better stories, bigger interviews," she said on Twitter.
"She outworked, out-thought, and out-hustled her competitors," wrote journalist Dan Rather on Twitter.
Legendary drive
Ms Walters made headlines in 1976 as the first female network news anchor, with an unprecedented $US1 million annual salary that drew gasps and criticism.
Her drive was legendary as she competed - not just with rival networks, but with colleagues at her own network - for each big "get" in a world jammed with more and more interviewers, including female journalists who had followed on the trail she blazed.
"I never expected this!" Ms Walters said in 2004, taking measure of her success.
"I always thought I'd be a writer for television. I never even thought I'd be in front of a camera."
But she was a natural on camera, especially when plying notables with questions.
"I'm not afraid when I'm interviewing, I have no fear!" Ms Walters told The Associated Press in 2008.
Ms Walters is survived by her only daughter, Jacqueline Danforth.
