Originally, Walters was mere window dressing for the Today show on NBC. She had little to do with the program except for reporting women’s features. Eventually she was able to show her prowess in incisive interviews and in-depth features before moving to ABC as a news anchor on ABC News Tonight with Harry Reasoner.

It was this move in 1976 that garnered Ms. Walters an annual salary of $1,000,000 -- an unprecedented sum for a woman broadcaster at that time. Reasoner and Walters didn’t quite click and Reasoner quit. Walters then put her own brand of interviewing style to work in Barbara Walters Specials, which garnered a birthday present for her on this night in 1983. The show received the Outstanding Informational Series Emmy.

In 1984, Barbara Walters was reunited on 20/20 with her former co-host on the Today show, Hugh Downs. She had been promoted from correspondent to co-host. One of her most famous exclusive interviews on 20/20 was with Gulf War hero General Norman Schwarzkopf on March 15, 1991, shortly after the end of Operation Desert Storm. We have also seen Barbara as anchor, taking turns with Diane Sawyer and Forrest Sawyer on the news documentary, Turning Point in 1994.

And, many wondered, when she was given the million-dollar salary, how someone who couldn’t pronounce r’s and l’s could be so successful in the news biz. Even comedians used Barbara in their material, referring to her as Baba Wawa. Ignoring the snide comments, Barbara Walters went on to become a highly respected and talented interviewer and journalist; and was elected to the Television Hall of Fame in 1990. That was not the end of her career, however. In 1997, Barbara Walters became a co-host of The View, a show she referred to as a forum for women of “different generations, backgrounds, and views.” She retired from ABC News and The View in 2014.

It matters not what you call her, whether Baba Wawa or Barbara Walters, she was a trailblazer and remains an inspiration for women in the broadcasting industry.