Walters, Barbara

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    Book Review: ‘The Rulebreaker,’ by Susan Page

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    In “The Rulebreaker,” Susan Page pays tribute to a pioneering journalist who survived being both a punchline and an icon.THE RULEBREAKER: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters, by Susan PageMuch of the material in “The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters” has been told before, with persuasive narrative control, by the late television journalist herself in her dishy 2008 memoir, “Audition.” Don’t let that stop the reader of this thorough, compassionate biography by Susan Page: It’s a valuable document, sobering where “Audition” aimed for sassy.If anything, the 16 long years between autobiography and biography endow the two books, taken together, with a memento mori gravitas for any student of Walters, or of television journalism, or of the past, present and future of women in the TV workplace — or, for that matter, of Monica Lewinsky. More on her in a moment.Walters called her autobiography “Audition” to emphasize the need she always felt to prove herself, pushing her way to professional success in a world that never made it easy for her. Nearly 80 then and still in the game, she acknowledged that personal contentment — love, marriage, meaningful family connections — lagged far behind. She wrote of being the daughter of an erratic father, who bounced — sometimes suicidally — between flush times and financial failure as a nightclub owner and impresario.She told of her fearful mother, and of the mentally disabled older sister to whose welfare she felt yoked. She wrote of the three unsatisfying marriages, and of her strained relationship with the daughter she adopted as an infant.She breezily acknowledged the ease she felt throughout her life with complicated men of elastic ethics like Roy Cohn and Donald Trump. She leaned into her reputation as a “pushy cookie.”Page, the Washington bureau chief of USA Today, who has also written books about Barbara Bush and Nancy Pelosi, tells many of the same stories. (“Audition” is an outsize presence in the endnotes.) But in placing the emphasis on all the rule-breaking Barbara Jill Walters had to do over her long life — she died in 2022 at 93 — the biographer pays respect to a toughness easy to undervalue today, when the collective memory may see only the well-connected woman with the instantly recognizable (thanks to Gilda Radner’s “SNL” impression) speech impediment.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Barbara Walters’s Wardrobe Was For Sale This Week in NYC

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      Women in media recently had a chance to browse and buy clothes owned by the trailblazing TV news anchor.If anyone could make a baby pink suit look intimidating, it was Barbara Walters. The TV news anchor coolly lobbed questions at the Libyan dictator Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in a 1989 interview while sheathed shoulder to knee in pastel Chanel and pearls.Back then Ms. Walters, who died in 2022 at the age of 93, reigned among the most celebrated, highly paid and formidable journalists in broadcast news. A trailblazer, she made history as the first female co-host of the “Today” show — and then made history again when she became the first female anchor of the ABC evening news. Later in her decades-long career she migrated to the newsmagazine show “20/20” and to “The View,” the daytime talk show she cocreated.Ms. Walters wore a pink Chanel skirt suit while interviewing the Libyan dictator Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in 1989. Kimberly Butler/Getty ImagesAlong the way Ms. Walters, who formally retired in 2014, became as famous as many of the high-profile subjects she interviewed, a group that included Katharine Hepburn, Anna Wintour, Michael Jackson and Monica Lewinsky, as well as several U.S. presidents and other world leaders, like Margaret Thatcher, Fidel Castro and Vladimir Putin.Her wardrobe for such encounters was both shrewdly considered and often audacious, filling with brash hits of color as her fame grew. This week bits of Ms. Walters’s sartorial legacy were on view — and on sale — at a showroom in Midtown Manhattan as part of a two-day event that drew a steady stream of women in media eager to comb through racks of clothing the journalist had owned.Gowns and cocktail dresses owned by Ms. Walters were among the items for sale.Mario Anzuoni/ReutersThe event also featured some of the more colorful attire owned by Ms. Walters.Lou Rocco/ABCWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Emmys In Memoriam Segment Pays Tribute to Matthew Perry and Norman Lear

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      The Emmys paid tribute to the actors, writers and producers who died since the last awards, taking an extra beat to honor Norman Lear, the famed TV writer and producer who died last month at 101.The in memoriam segment recognized two television actors who died unexpectedly: Andre Braugher, who was known for his roles on “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”; and Matthew Perry, the “Friends” star. (The musical accompaniment, from the duo the War and Treaty and Charlie Puth, included the “Friends” theme song.)Here are other members of the television industry who the program recognized:Angela Lansbury, the famed actress who starred in “Murder, She Wrote.”Angus Cloud, who portrayed a lovable drug dealer on the HBO show “Euphoria.”Barbara Walters, the pioneering TV news reporter.Bob Barker, the longtime host of “The Price Is Right.”David Jacobs, who created the soap opera “Dallas.”Harry Belafonte, the barrier-breaking performer in music, movies and TV.Leslie Jordan, the comic actor who was a cast member on “Will & Grace.”Mark Margolis, who played a fearsome former drug lord in “Breaking Bad.”Paul Reubens, the comic actor behind Pee-wee Herman.Richard Roundtree, the prolific actor who had recurring roles in “Heroes,” “Being Mary Jane” and “Family Reunion.”Ron Cephas Jones, who won two Emmys for his role on “This Is Us.”Stephen Boss, the dancer and reality star known as tWitch.Suzanne Somers, who gained fame on the hit sitcom “Three’s Company” before building a health and diet business empire. More