Rosie O'Donnell to Depart "The View" in June | Playbill

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News Rosie O'Donnell to Depart "The View" in June Actress Rosie O'Donnell, whose Broadway credits include Grease!, Seussical and Fiddler on the Roof, will leave her co-hosting job on ABC-TV's "The View" when her contract expires in mid-June.

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Rosie O'Donnell

ABCNEWS.com reports that O'Donnell was unable to reach a contractual agreement with the daytime talk show created and co-hosted by Barbara Walters.

In a statement Walters said, "I induced Rosie to come back to television on 'The View' even for just one year. She has given the program new vigor, new excitement and wonderful hours of television. I can only be grateful to her for this year. I am very sad that ABC Daytime could not reach an agreement with her for a second year. We will all miss Rosie on 'The View,' and hope she will be back with us often next season. She remains for me a cherished friend and colleague."

O'Donnell added, "This has been an amazing experience, and one I wouldn't have traded for the world. Working with Barbara, Joy and Elisabeth has been one of the highlights of my career, but my needs for the future just didn't dovetail with what ABC was able to offer me. To all the viewers out there, I just want to say 'thank you' for opening up your hearts and your homes to me this past year. But you can always find me at rosie.com. Here's hoping there's more confetti for all of us going forward."

O'Donnell also told ABCNews.com, "I'm not going away. I'm just not going to be here every day."

It was a difficult year for O'Donnell, who became embroiled in a celebrity feud with Donald Trump. Broadway fans, however, were thrilled that O'Donnell's arrival on "The View" meant more television time for Broadway shows. In fact, the March 21 broadcast of "The View," which celebrated O'Donnell's birthday, featured performances from the casts of The Color Purple, Les Misérables and A Chorus Line. ABCNEWS.com says a source told the network that O'Donnell is pursuing other television opportunities.

Rosie O'Donnell was most recently on Broadway in the revival of Fiddler on the Roof. The actress made her Broadway debut as Rizzo in the 1994 revival of Grease!, and she played a limited engagement as the Cat in the Hat in the Ahrens-Flaherty musical Seussical. The performer also spent some time on the other side of the footlights as producer of the Broadway version of Boy George's Taboo. O'Donnell rose to fame as a stand-up comic before landing roles in such films as "A League of Their Own," "Sleepless in Seattle," "The Flintsones" and "Exit to Eden." Her Emmy-winning talk show, "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," ran from 1996 to 2001, and her more recent TV credits include appearances on "Will & Grace" and "Queer as Folk" as well as the made-for-television movie "Riding the Bus with My Sister." O'Donnell is married to Kelli Carpenter O'Donnell; the couple have four children. O'Donnell's autobiography is titled "Find Me."

 
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