Historical Figure
Oprah Winfrey
b. 1954
American media personality and proprietor (born 1954)
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Biography
Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. Globally, she is the richest Black woman and the wealthiest female celebrity. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", she was the richest African-American of the 20th century and was once the world's only Black billionaire. By 2007, she was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world.
In Their Own Words (5)
Well, I don't call you an atheist then. I think if you believe in the awe and the wonder and the mystery, then that is what God is. That is what God is, not the bearded guy in the sky.
citation , 2011
I will continue to use my voice. I believed from the beginning that [the lawsuit] was an attempt to muzzle my voice, and I come from a people who have struggled and died in order to have a voice in this country. And I refused to be muzzled.
"Oprah: 'Free speech rocks' " in CNN (February 26, 1998) , 1996
I've been stopped cold from eating another burger!
Reacting to guest Howard Lyman's belief that American cattle are at risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow disease"), "Dangerous Food", The Oprah Winfrey Show (April 11, 1996) , 1996
I had a lot of wealthy men calling, telling me that they would run my campaign and raise $1 billion for me. I am actually humbled by the fact that people think that I could be a leader of the free world, but it's just not in my spirit. . . it's not in my DNA
In a 2018 60 Minutes Overtime interview according to Oprah Winfrey reportedly considered running for president with Mitt Romney (October 16, 2023) , 2011
I would say, we can't allow ourselves to be frightened into not living our lives, and I think that we have to keep going and we have to keep going with the faith that thing will get better … And things will get better when we make them better.
Interview on Entertainment Tonight, as quoted in "Oprah Winfrey Offers Words of Wisdom in Wake of Deadly Las Vegas Shooting", KTVB (October 2, 2017) , 2011
Timeline
The story of Oprah Winfrey, told in moments.
Born Orpah Gail Winfrey in Kosciusko, Mississippi. The name on the birth certificate is Orpah, from the Book of Ruth. Everyone mispronounces it. It becomes Oprah. Her mother is a teenage housemaid. Her father is a barber in Nashville. She is raised by her grandmother on a farm with no running water.
Sent to live with her father Vernon in Nashville after a troubled childhood in Milwaukee. He imposes strict rules: homework before anything, five new vocabulary words a day, a book report every week. She later credits him with saving her life.
Gets a job at WVOL, a Black radio station in Nashville, while still in high school. She is 17. At 19, she becomes the youngest and first Black female co-anchor of the evening news at WTVF-TV in Nashville.
Takes over a struggling morning talk show in Chicago called AM Chicago. Within months it's the highest-rated talk show in the market, beating Phil Donahue. Within a year, it's renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. She is 30.
The Oprah Winfrey Show goes into national syndication. 10 million viewers in the first year. She creates Harpo Productions (Oprah spelled backward) to own the show and its content. She is one of the first women in television to own her own production company.
Launches Oprah's Book Club. Her first pick, The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard, goes from modest sales to the top of the bestseller list overnight. Publishers start calling it "the Oprah effect." Over 25 years, every book she selects will become a bestseller. Every single one.
Sued by the Texas beef industry after saying on air that mad cow disease 'just stopped me cold from eating another burger.' The case goes to trial in Amarillo. She moves her entire show to Texas for the trial. She wins. Beef prices had dropped $12 million.
Endorses Barack Obama for president. Researchers at the University of Maryland estimate her endorsement delivered approximately one million additional votes in the Democratic primary. She campaigns alongside him in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. She'd never endorsed a political candidate before.
Show full timeline (11 entries)
Opens the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. She personally interviews applicants. The school costs $40 million to build. Critics call it extravagant. She builds it anyway.
Airs the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show after 25 seasons and 4,561 episodes. At its peak, the show reached 48 million weekly viewers in the United States and aired in 149 countries. She's already launched OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, four months earlier.
Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama. The same year, Forbes estimates her net worth at .8 billion. She grew up without indoor plumbing in rural Mississippi.
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