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Oprah
Winfrey
Oprah
Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954. She went to Tennessee State University
and got a B.A in Speech & Performing Arts. Oprah is engaged to Stedman
Graham since 1992.
 Humble
Beginnings: Born
to unwed teenage parents in Kosciusko, rural Mississippi, O
prah spent her childhood
living in extreme poverty with her Bible- thumping grandmother. She moved
to Milwaukee to live with her mother, Vernita Lee when she was 12. There,
she was sexually molested, first, by her 13-year-old cousin. Soon, more
cousins, uncles and relatives did the same. At age 14, she gave birth
to a premature baby, who died shortly thereafter. Next, Oprah went to
live with her father, Vernon Winfrey, a barber and businessman in Nashville.
He instituted a strict discipline and stressed education. Under his iron
fist, Oprah turned her life around.
First
Break: At
age nineteen, Oprah landed her first broadcasting job - as a reporter
at radio station WVOL in Nashville - and enrolled at Tennessee State University.
In her sophomore year, 1972, Oprah switched mediums and became the first
African-American anchor at Nashville's WTVF-TV. She moved to Baltimore
in 1976 and, after two years working as a reporter and co-anchor at WJZ-TV,
sh e
was hired to host the station's chat show, People
Are Talking
Without
professional experience, Oprah landed the role of Sofia in Steven Spielberg's
The Colour Purple, earning her
an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. This publicity re-launched
her chat show, re-named The Oprah
Winfrey Show, as a nationally syndicated programme in 1986.
Obst acles:
One
of the first blacks in college as well as in varsity and early working
life. Being a black, overweight woman edging into a 'white man's appearance'
obsessed world when she first started as anchorwoman with WJZ-TV was hard.
Viewers, however, responded exceedingly well to her. In 1984, after eight
years at WJZ, Oprah accepted a job as host of A.M.
Chicago, scheduled opposite Phil Donahue's top-rated national talk
show. Despite Phil's high-profile guests and his polished interviews,
Oprah carved a niche with her very-personal-interview approach.
In
mid '90s, talk TV had turned trashy. But rather than walk away and pursue
her acting and producing interests, Oprah pledged to refocus her show
on less sensationalistic but meaningful subjects. She featured less prostitutes
and psychopaths, and offered more poetry, family themes and pop psychology.
 Overweight
Oprah's constant 'battle-with-the-bulge'. At 5'7'', Oprah's weight fluctuated
from over 200 pounds to 150. When she hired nutritionist Rosie Daley as
her cook together with Bob Greene as personal trainer, she regained her
svelte figure. (Later Daley and Greene each went on to publish Oprah-related
books, which viewers made immediate best-sellers). Oprah's weight still
gets media attention, spinning exercise programmes, and more money for
her.
Plus
Points: Gift
of the gab, ambition and a determination to tough it out. Also being a
black and a woman, the radio station pulled in both the minoritiesof blacks
and women by hiring Oprah! Also, Oprah's honesty in confessing personal
problems like cocaine abuse, rape, weight problem etc. seemed a good technique
to anchor the audience.
Her
constant innovative ideas to keep faithful viewers from straying, through
exclusive or controversial interviews, gifts to stage audience and other
gimmicks.
Claim
To Fame:
When
her talk show became more popular, Oprah made good
money and established Harpo Productions, with a major studio based in
Chicago. With this, she became the third woman in history - after Mary
Pickford and Lucille Ball - to own a major studio and was on her way to
becoming America's first black billionaire. (She made US$97 million in
1996 alone).
 She
produced and starred in the 1989 mini-series about women denizens of a
city, The Women of
Brewster Place, and contracted it for prime-time programming for ABC.
Social
Concerns: Oprah
shares her fortune of millions with several charities and friends. The
largest financial recipients are educational institutions, including her
alma mater, Tennessee State University, and her own 'Family For Better
Lives Foundation'. She is a children's rights activist, and stood beside
President Clinton when he signed into law a 1994 Bill to create a national
database of convicted child abusers, which Oprah had proposed. Oprah is
also known for her generosity with friends.
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