Names and faces

Saturday, May 17, 2014

• Oprah Winfrey and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton surprised Barbara Walters on Thursday as she taped her final edition of The View to end a five-decade career on television. Actor Michael Douglas, a longtime friend and frequent subject for Walters' interviews, also dropped by for the tribute, which aired Friday on ABC. Walters, 84, was presiding over a studio audience of friends, colleagues and fans on hand to witness a bit of history. Although she will retain a behind-the-scenes role as executive producer of the talk show she created 17 years ago, she is ending her daily on-air involvement while limiting ABC News appearances to the occasional story or interview. "I can't believe this day has come, and I can't believe it's for real," Clinton told Walters, who began her career on NBC's Today in 1962, then moved to ABC in 1976, where her many duties ranged from co-anchoring 20/20 to hosting scores of specials as well as The View. Winfrey said she looked up to Walters. "You're the reason I wanted to be in television," she said. "You shattered the glass ceiling for so many women." Winfrey then brought on a parade of about two dozen prominent on-air women including Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts, Gayle King, Connie Chung and Joan Lunden. "You are my legacy," Walters, visibly moved, said to them as they crowded around her onstage. Walters closed the hour with a heartfelt statement looking back with amazement on her career, then signing off with a pledge to "take a deep breath and enjoy my View."

Bryan Cranston said he's excited to be part of Godzilla 2014 but he almost turned down the role because he was still working on Breaking Bad and thought he should follow it with "something serious." The actor said he was worried people might compare the two roles and say, "Oh, that's not anywhere near as good as Breaking Bad." Cranston, 58, who's currently playing President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Broadway play All the Way, said he read the Godzilla script at his agent's urging and concluded that the TV series and film were so different, they couldn't be compared. "It's different camps altogether," he said. In Godzilla, which opened Friday, Cranston plays a nuclear scientist who becomes obsessed with what caused the destruction of a nuclear-power plant in 1999. The Emmy-winning and Tony-nominated actor ended his role as Walter White on Breaking Bad with last year's series finale after a five-year run.

A Section on 05/17/2014