The Oprah Winfrey Story

Packet 56
Credits: 1
Number of questions: 6

It was in 1986 that the nationwide American public first met Oprah Winfrey. She's never been out of the headlines since. First there was the hugely successful Oprah Winfrey Show, then the film The Color Purple, then the terrible struggle with her weight, then the TV movie The Women of Brewster Place.

Oprah doesn't talk much about her early years. She doesn't talk about the problem of growing up an abused girl. She doesn't boast about being an honor student and winning a scholarship to Tennessee State University.

She got started as a reporter long before she left school. She nearly quit because she cared too deeply about the people she interviewed. Once, while she was still a college student, she interviewed a young woman after a terrible fire. The woman had lost her children and her home in the blaze. Oprah was so upset she burst into tears. She couldn't continue the interview. She felt she was exploiting the woman by interviewing her, and apologized on the air.

After college, Oprah worked as a reporter and co-anchor for a Baltimore TV station. Management wanted her to change her image--different makeup, different clothes, different hair style. Her self-esteem plunged, especially after a bad perm left her almost bald. From that moment on, she made a vow "to live my own life, to always be myself."

The TV station moved its rebellious young reporter to the morning show. This was meant to be a punishment, but it was the best thing that could have happened to Oprah. She was an immediate success in the show's chatty format. Her warm interest in people and her tremendous intelligence were clear for all to see. The show's ratings went through the roof.

What happened next is history. Chicago's ABC TV station invited her to host their morning show. The show was so successful it was expanded to an hour and renamed the Oprah Winfrey Show. By 1986, the show was syndicated nationwide. This meant that all ABC's TV stations, not just the one in Chicago, could broadcast the show. Within five months it had become the most popular talk show in the nation. Over ten million people watched it every day as it aired in 192 cities.

Oprah now became a star of movies as well as TV. She won an Oscar nomination for her role in The Color Purple. She played the gutsy Sofia. Her friend Whoopi Goldberg played her mother-in-law.

All this success and attention hasn't been easy for Oprah. Her battles with her weight have received national attention. In 1988 she lost 67 pounds--she dramatized the event on her show by striding into the TV studio dragging a red wagon filled with 67 pounds of animal fat. But she couldn't keep the weight off. People all over the country have sympathized with her over her dieting difficulties.

Besides being a star, Oprah is also a successful businesswoman. Variety Magazine estimated she earned $31,000,000 in 1987-88 alone. She runs her own company, Harpo Productions (Oprah spelled backwards). Harpo co-produced the made-for-TV movie The Women of Brewster Place. At first, all three networks-- CBS, NBC, and ABC--turned down this story about six women struggling to survive in a Northern ghetto. But Oprah is a woman with clout at ABC. She insisted its executives read the book. They read it and agreed to co-produce the film with Oprah. How did an African-American woman feel to have this much power? "Double G, three R's, E, A, capital T," she shouts.

Oprah Winfrey has become an important role model. Along with Nelson Mandela and Jesse Jackson, she was recently chosen as one of the most admired African-Americans. And Oprah continues to be a caring person. She's interested in a lot more than just making money. She feels she is meant to make a difference in people's lives. Among her many charitable deeds, she has given ten students a four-year scholarship to her old college. Everything is covered--books, tuition, room and board, even pocket money. But there is one condition. The students must maintain a B average. Oprah is closely involved. Two students let their grades slip. She wrote them herself to let them know they must keep their side of the bargain.

For the moment, her attitude is to keep as healthy as she can and to find a way to live with food. What with the daily show, Harpo Productions, and a training program she started to bring more people of color into the TV and film industry, Oprah Winfrey has plenty of things to keep her busy.