After making news for 53 years and sitting down with top entertainment personalities like Oprah Winfrey and powerful dictators such as Fidel Castro, Barbara Walters' list of interview subjects is unmatched.
Her professional career took off when she became the first female co-host of NBC's Today show in the 1960s and soared even higher when she landed the role of the first female co-anchor on a nightly newscast on ABC in the 1980s.
As the television news personality retires from her on-air work on The View and ABC News this week, The Hollywood Reporter recalled five of her most memorable interviews.
PHOTOS: Barbara Walters: Her Career in Pictures
Oprah Winfrey
On a rare occasion in December of 2010, Oprah answered questions instead of asking them in a three hour ABC special with Walters. In the revealing interview, Oprah addressed lesbian rumors and even cried as she talked about her relationship with best friend Gayle King. "She is the mother I never had. She is the sister everybody would want. She is the friend that everybody deserves," she said. "I don't know a better person."
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Monica Lewinsky
When the former White House intern sat down with Walters, a record 74 million viewers tuned in to watch. Walters helped to humanize Lewinsky as she shed light on her affair with former President Bill Clinton. At the end of the interview, she asked Lewinsky, "What will you tell your children when you have them?" to which Lewinsky replied: "Mommy made a big mistake." Walters added, "And that is the understatement of the year."
