Oprah Gail Winfrey was born January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. After a troubled small farming community where she was sexually abused by a number of male family members and friends of her mother she moved to Nashville to live with her father he worked as a barber and businessman. She went to Tennessee State University in 1971 and began working in radio and television broadcasting in Nashville.
In 1976 Winfrey moved to Baltimore did it for eight years, then she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host A.M. Chicago. Her major competitor in the time slot was Phil Donahue. several months later oprah’s open, warm-hearted style had won her 100,000 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 in the 1985 film, The Color Purple, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Winfrey started the Oprah Show in 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 and making more and more money from syndication.
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,. Winfrey also signed a multi-picture contract with Disney. The initial project, 1998's Beloved, based on Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by TONY MORISON and starring Winfrey and danny glover got mixed reviews and generally failed to live up to expectations.
Winfrey, who became almost as well-known for...