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LOS ANGELES: Barbara Walters, a familiar face in US television news since the 1960s and one of the top interviewers in the country, got a Hollywood "Walk of Fame" star Thursday, making her the 2,340th person to receive the honor.
The ceremony took place outside Oscar-famed Kodak Theater in the presence of Robert Iger, chief executive of Walt Disney Co., the parent company of ABC television, where Walters, 77, is employed.
"To me this award is an Emmy and an Oscar and a Tony all in one, and I will walk taller and prouder from this day on," Walters said during the ceremony.
Walters is creator, producer and host of ABC's morning talk show "The View" that on Monday clinched a telephone interview with now jailed celebrity party girl Paris Hilton, and for which she is tapped for an Emmy award, to be announced on Friday.
Paris's mom Kathy and her sister Nicky were in Hollywood for the unveiling of the star but dodged questions about their imprisoned relative.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in New York City and Miami Beach, Walters throughout her celebrated career has interviewed top personalities and world leaders, including all the US presidents and their first ladies since Richard Nixon.
Her major coup, however, came in November 1977, when she arranged the first joint interview between then Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin.
The list of heads of state and government she has spoken one-on-one with include Russia's Boris Yeltsin, China's Jiang Zemin, Britain's Margaret Thatcher, India's Indira Gandhi, the Czech Republic's Vaclav Havel, Libya's Moamer Kadhafi and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the former shah of Iran.
Another milestone in Walter's career came in 1999 when she interviewed Monica Lewinsky, just as the sex scandal was breaking around then president Bill Clinton. The interview was watched by 74 million people.
"What will you tell your children about this matter?" asked Walters. "I guess `Mommy made some mistakes,'" replied the former White House intern. - AFP/sh
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