Pioneering television news journalist Barbara Walters has died at the age of 93.
His death was announced on his ABC airing Friday night.
Ms. Walters made headlines in 1976 as the first network news anchor, with a then-unprecedented $1 million annual salary.
For more than three decades at ABC, and before that at NBC, she became known for landing exclusive interviews with the famous and powerful.
Ms. Walters was the first woman to co-host Today, the hit American show news journal and magazine show, the first female evening news anchor in broadcast history and co-creator and co-host of the themed chat show The View.
He died Friday night at his home in New York, ABC News announced.
Robert Iger, CEO of Disney, which owns ABC, confirmed his death, calling it “sad news.”
He said Ms Walters was a “true legend”, a “one-of-a-kind reporter” and “a trailblazer not only for women in journalism but for journalism itself”.
Monica Lewinsky was interviewed by Ms. Walters about her relationship with US President Bill Clinton. It became the most watched episode of the primetime show 20/20.
In a television career that spanned five decades, Ms. Walters interviewed a variety of world leaders, including Cuba’s Fidel
Castro, Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and every US president and first lady since Richard and Pat Nixon.
With actor Michael Douglas
He earned 12 Emmy Awards, 11 of them while working at ABC News.
He is survived by his only daughter, Jacqueline Danforth.
