The author who wrote the biography of the late Barbara Walters believes her legacy could be carried on with a Hollywood movie.
And she has some thoughts on who should play Walters in a potential big-screen production.
Susan Page, the author of “The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters,” spoke with Fox News following her appearance at the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival earlier this month.
When asked what actress she believes could play Walters, Page revealed:
“Meryl Streep would be great,” she said. “You know, in a way, it depends – are you talking about the young Barbara Walters or the older Barbara Walters because she had like a 50-year career. And so you might not have the same actress play her through her whole life.”
Page then suggested the hypothetical biopic mirror a similar page from Netflix’s drama series “The Crown,” which had three actresses play the late Queen Elizabeth across six seasons.
But Page was unsure as to who should play Streep’s younger counterpart.
However, Page went on to talk about the inspiration for writing the book on Walters.
“For women journalists, no one has been a more iconic figure than Barbara Walters,” Page said. “That’s true for women in TV broadcast journalism, it’s true for women in print journalism, like myself, as well. And there was no real biography of Barbara Walters ever written, and I thought she deserved one.”
“If you grew up watching Barbara Walters, it wouldn’t occur to you that a woman couldn’t do big interviews, couldn’t interview presidents and prime ministers and despots and murderers, and it also wouldn’t occur to you that a woman couldn’t make as much money or more than her male colleagues,” Page said.
Walters died in 2022 at age 93.