In 1976, Winfrey moved toBaltimore, where she hosted theTVchat show,People Are Talking. The show became a hit and Winfrey stayed with it for eight years, after which she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show,A.M. Chicago. Her major competitor in the time slot wasPhil Donahue. Within several months, Winfrey's open, warm-hearted personal style had won her 100,000 more viewers than Donahue and had taken her show from last place to first in the ratings. Her success led to nationwide fame and a role inSteven Spielberg's1985 film,The Color Purple, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Winfrey launched theOprah Winfrey Showin 1986 as a nationally syndicated program. With its placement on 120 channels and an audience of 10 million people, the show grossed $125 million by the end of its first year, of which Winfrey received $30 million. She soon gained ownership of the program from ABC, drawing it under the control of her new production company, Harpo Productions ('Oprah' spelled backwards) and making more and more money from syndication. With the debut in 1999 of Oxygen Media, a company she co-founded that is dedicated to producing cable and Internet programming for women, Winfrey ensured her place in the forefront of the media industry and as one of the most powerful and wealthy people in show business. In 2002, she concluded a deal with the network to air a prime-time complement to her syndicated talk show. Her highly successful monthly,O: The Oprah Magazinedebuted in 2000, and in 2004, she signed a new contract to continueThe Oprah Winfrey Showthrough the 2010-11 season. The show is seen on 212U.S.stations and in more than 100 countries worldwide.In 1994, with talk shows becoming increasingly trashy and exploitative, Winfrey pledged to keep her show free of tabloid topics. Although ratings initially fell, she earned the respect of her viewers and was soon rewarded with an upsurge in popularity. Her projects with Harpo have included the highly rated 1989 TV miniseries,The Women of Brewster Place, which she also starred in. Winfrey also signed a multi-picture contract withDisney. The initial project, 1998'sBeloved, based on Pulitzer Prize-winning novel byToni Morrisonand starring Winfrey andDanny Glover, got mixed reviews and generally failed to live up to expectations. Winfrey, who became almost as well-known for her weight loss efforts as for her talk show, lost an estimated 90 pounds (dropping to her ideal weight of around 150 pounds) and competed in the Marine CorpsMarathoninWashington,DC, in 1995. In the wake of her highly publicized success, Winfrey's personal chef, Rosie Daley, and trainer, Bob Greene, both published best-selling books. The media giant contributed immensely to the publishing world by launching her "Oprah's Book Club," as part of her talk show. The program propelled many unknown authors to the top of the bestseller lists and gave pleasure reading a new kind of popular prominence. According to Forbes magazine, Oprah was the richest African American of the 20th century and the world's only Black billionaire for three years running.Lifemagazine hailed her as the most influential woman of her generation. In 2005,BusinessWeek named her the greatest Black philanthropist in American history. Oprah's Angel Network has raised more than $51,000,000 for charitable programs, including girls' education inSouth Africaand relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Winfrey is a dedicated activist for children's rights; in 1994,President Clintonsigned a bill into law that Winfrey had proposed to Congress, creating a nationwidedatabaseof convicted child abusers. She founded the Family for Better Lives foundation and also contributes to her alma mater,TennesseeStateUniversity. In September, 2002, Oprah was named the first recipient of The Academy ofTelevisionArts & Sciences' Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. Winfrey campaigned for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama in December 2007, attracting the largest crowds of the primary season to that point. Winfrey joined Obama for a series of rallies in the early primary/caucus states ofIowa, New Hampshire, andSouth Carolina. It was the first time Winfrey had ever campaigned for a political candidate.The biggest event was at theUniversityofSouth Carolinafootball stadium, where 29,000 supporters attended a rally that had been switched from an 18,000-seat basketball arena to satisfy public demand. "Dr. (Martin Luther) King dreamed the dream. But we don't have to just dream the dream any more," Oprah told the crowd. "We get to vote that dream into reality by supporting a man who knows not just who we are, but who we can be."
Winfrey said the woman's contract with the school wouldn’t be renewed, and that the academy's screening process will be revised.Though she wasn't directly in charge of the screening process, Oprah said “the buck always stops” with her. Winfrey had recently flown toSouth Africafor an emergency meeting with parents and school administrators at the campus nearJohannesburg. A tearful Winfrey asked parents to forgive her for letting them down. "I've disappointed you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she said, according to numerous South African media reports. In March 2007, some parents complained the school was too strict and access was comparable toprison rules.Two months later, some parents complained that when they visited the school they had to go through asecuritygate.The $40 million academy has been dogged by controversy since it opened in January 2007 with a star-studded launch attended by actor Sydney Poitier, singers Mariah Carey, Tina Turner and Mary J.Blige, comedian Chris Rock and filmmaker Spike Lee. Winfrey hand-selected the first class of 152 poor, mostly black pupils to attend the posh school, where tuition and board is free. The academy also provides its 450 students with textbooks, uniforms and meals. Since 1992, Winfrey has been engaged to Stedman Graham, a public relations executive. The couple lives in Chicago, and Winfrey also hashomesin Montecito, California, Rolling Prairie, Indiana, and Telluride, Colorado. | ||||||||||
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