Barbara Walters' Final Day on "The View" Announced - East Idaho News
Arts & Entertainment

Barbara Walters’ Final Day on “The View” Announced

  Published at

051313 BarbaraWaltersView?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1396874582493ABC/Lou Rocco(NEW YORK) — Almost a year after she announced her plan to depart daily television, Barbara Walters is preparing to say farewell.

Her last day co-hosting The View, a program that she created, will be May 16, and ABC will air a two-hour special highlighting her life and career that night, from 9-11 p.m. ET. Though she’s leaving the on-air panel, Walters will continue to executive produce The View, and will be a lifelong member of ABC News, contributing as news warrants.

“In this business there are legends, there are icons, and then there is Barbara Walters,” said Bob Iger, Walt Disney Company chairman and CEO. “She’s a dear friend and colleague as well as someone I deeply admire, and it’s impossible to fully convey her impact and influence on television. She broke barriers, defied convention, made history and set the standard for journalistic excellence for more than 50 years. It’s hard to imagine television without her.”

Walters joined ABC in 1976, becoming the first female anchor on an evening news program. Three years later, she became a co-host of the 20/20 news magazine and in 1997, she launched The View.

Because of these accomplishments, among others, ABC News headquarters in New York City will be named in her honor during a dedication ceremony that will take place this spring. Meanwhile, in the days leading up to her retirement, The View will toast Walters’s career with a week-long celebration.

After Walters announced her retirement last year, she told ABC News that she was excited “to find out if there’s something I can do besides television.”

“I did not sleep last night,” she said at the time. “I thought, ‘Am I doing it now? Should I do it later?’ But then I thought it was better to go when people are saying, ‘Why is she leaving?’ than, ‘Thank goodness she’s leaving!'”

Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION