The former anchor of Good Morning America, Sawyer took over the network's evening newscast from Charles Gibson when he retired at the end of 2009. Her husband is Mike Nichols.

The daughter of a Kentucky politician, Sawyer was a teen beauty queen before attending Wellesley. She kicked off her television career in 1968 as a local news reporter in Louisville, before switching sides in 1970 to work in the Nixon White House press office. Following Nixon's resignation, Sawyer helped the disgraced President assemble his memoirs before making the rounds at various CBS programs. In 1989, Roone Arledge lured Sawyer to ABC as the anchor on Primetime Live and occasional fill-in on 20/20. She's been with the Disney-owned network ever since, taking over as co-anchor of Good Morning America and adding a dose of gravitas to the otherwise perk-saturated morning news scene. Finally, however, after a decade with GMA, Sawyer landed the plum position as anchor on the evening news.

Sawyer has landed some big gets over the years. Her sit-down with Saddam Hussein in 1990 was his first Western interview in a decade; she was also the first to interview Ellen DeGeneres shortly after she came out. More recently, Sawyer was the first to book a repentant Mel Gibson after his DUI/anti-Semitic rant, which has often led to tiffs with fellow ABC blonde Barbara Walters.

Sawyer married movie director Mike Nichols in 1988. They've never had any kids together, though Nichols has three kids from a previous marriage. [Image via Getty]