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(FILES)US President Barack Obama talks with Barbara Walters as he appears on the ABC daytime television talk show, "The View" in New York, in this July 28, 2010 file photo. Trailblazing US television journalist Barbara Walters, famed for her political and celebrity interviews in a career spanning more than half a century, is to retire next month, the ABC network confirmed April 7, 2014. Walters, 84, who had already confirmed she would retire in 2014, will bring the curtain down on 53 years of broadcasting when she co-hosts her chat show "The View" for the last time on May 16. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB / FILES Image Credit: AFP

Barbara Walters plans to make her final appearance on The View on May 16, part of a daylong retirement celebration that will include ABC News naming its New York headquarters after her.

Later that night, ABC will air a two-hour prime-time special on her career. Walters, who is 84, began in television in 1961 and became the medium’s best-known interviewer. She announced last year that she will retire from regular TV appearances.

Walters will remain involved behind the scenes as an executive producer at The View, the daytime talk show she invented.

“That way, I can keep my eye on all of you,” she said on Monday’s show, with a glance at her fellow panelists, as well as watch her longtime producer Bill Geddie “get older and balder — as I get blonder.”

Walters will be a lifelong member of the ABC News team, and she will make special appearances as news warrants.