Barbara Walters to make like a tree and leave TV

Barbara Walters is retiring.

The veteran ABC News anchor is set to announce Monday morning on “The View” that she will retire from TV journalism during the summer of 2014.

ABC said in an announcement late Sunday that, until then, Walters will continue to anchor and report for the network, appear on “The View,” and anchor specials throughout the year.

She will remain executive producer of “The View,” the weekday talk show she created in 1997.

The 83-year-old Walters has spent 37 years at ABC News, joining the network in 1976 to co-anchor its evening newscast and, three years later, becoming a co-host of its “20/20” newsmagazine.

Throughout her career she has been largely remembered for her intimate interviews with celebrities and public figures. In 1977, Walters won accolades after hosting Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat together, but in 1981 drew ridicule for asking Katherine Hepburn what kind of tree she was.

Before coming to ABC, she spent 15 years at NBC News, where she was a co-host of the “Today” show.

“I am very happy with my decision,” Walters, who is Jewish, said, “and look forward to a wonderful and special year ahead.

“I do not want to appear on another program or climb another mountain,” she added. “I want instead to sit on a sunny field and admire the very gifted women — and, OK, some men, too — who will be taking my place.”

ABC News President Ben Sherwood said “there is only one Barbara Walters. We look forward to making her final year on television as remarkable, path-breaking and news-making as Barbara herself.”

“We look forward to a year befitting her brilliant career,” he said, “filled with exclusive interviews, great adventures and indelible memories.”