Oprah, American presenter, when she died. Oprah Winfrey's success story. The pupils replaced the children

Celebrity biographies

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29.01.15 09:34

At the age of 9 she understood what violence was, at 14 she lost her first (and only) child, for a long time she did not know that people wore shoes and “sported” in dresses made of potato sacks. Now TV presenter Oprah Winfrey, with her almost 3 billion dollars in capital, is the richest show business lady on the planet.

Biography of Oprah Winfrey

Poor thing from the banks of the Mississippi

She was unlucky with her parents - her mother Vernita was too young to realize how great the responsibility for a newborn child was, her father Vernon served in the army. They wanted to name their daughter, born on January 29, 1954, in honor of the biblical heroine, but the negligence of the maternity hospital workers “renamed” baby Orpah Oprah. No one began to argue with the error in the documents, and Oprah went through life with such an unusual name. Mom and Dad's marriage was not registered, Vernita went to work, and Oprah remained in the arms of her grandmother. She called the old woman mom and loved her very much.

The biography of Oprah Winfrey as a girl is worthy of a film adaptation - viewers would shed many tears over the ordeals of the poor girl from the banks of the Mississippi. Life on the farm was boring and monotonous, Oprah found salvation in books, since she learned to read very early. She wore rags and walked barefoot - she only found out that she was entitled to different clothes when she went to school. Oprah was smart beyond her years; she was transferred straight from first grade to third. But the cloudless life with grandma ended when her parents took her. Or rather, at first Oprah lived with her mother in Milwaukee, then for some time with her father in Nashville. At the age of 12, she again found herself in the Milwaukee ghetto, where she suffered to the fullest.

If it weren't for my father...

Even during her first stay with her mother, Oprah was raped by her nineteen-year-old cousin - he paid her off with ice cream. Other “relatives” also began to harass me. But then Oprah rebelled. She ran away from Vernita, stealing money for the trip. She doesn’t even know where she ran. The runaway was caught and was going to be placed in a center for troubled teenagers. It turned out to be overcrowded, the girl was taken by her father. She will spend the next five years in Nashville.

Even then the girl was pregnant, she lost her premature baby. Now everything in my life will go differently, decided Oprah Winfrey, whose biography changes radically from that moment on. Thanks to Vernon's persistence, she gained self-confidence and became an excellent student, participating in the school council, the drama studio, and winning debates.

On the way to a dream

Among the representatives of gifted youth, Oprah visited the White House, and then was hired by a local radio station - this is where her oratory skills came into play. Student Winfrey received the title “Miss Black Nashville” while studying at the University of Tennessee in her first year. And in the second, she was already an assistant news commentator at the Nashville CBS affiliate. Thus began the television biography of Oprah Winfrey.

She had not yet graduated when in 1976 she was offered a job as an announcer and reporter at the Baltimore affiliate of ABS, and she took the chance. At 22 she became a commentator. Only one thing bothered her - the girl was too emotional, had difficulty holding back tears if she told bad news. She was scolded for this - they say, you will never become a tough journalist. But it was precisely this quality that later helped her to merge with her interlocutor in her own talk show; compassion and sincerity became the “tricks” of the future star-TV presenter Oprah Winfrey.

Own show

Then there were morning radio news shows, Baltimore Talks, Chicago Afternoon News, and wherever Winfrey worked, the ratings for the programs immediately began to rise. At first she tried to imitate her idol, Barbara Walters, and then developed her own style.

In 1985, Oprah was chosen to play the role of Sophia in the film adaptation of Walker's novel The Color Purple (a Pulitzer-winning feminist work about the fate of black women living in the outback at the beginning of the 20th century). The drama was directed by Steven Spielberg. The black actress was nominated for an Oscar. And this helped her in creating her show.

The whole world has long known what “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is, and then the appearance of an uninhibited and outspoken black woman as the owner of the studio was a shock. She was not afraid to raise the most pressing issues in her programs, talked about violence against children, and invited homosexuals who were still persecuted at that time as guests. Every broadcast was an event.

Black billionaire

The brainchild of TV presenter Oprah Winfrey ended up in a syndicate that included branches from 138 US cities, which brought in about 125 million in profit in one season alone. The former "ragamuffin from Mississippi" instantly became the highest paid TV star. The Harpo company she created very soon began to bring huge dividends. After 7 years, the show reached 99% of the domestic market and 64% of foreign markets - from Japan to the Netherlands.

Since 2011, Oprah has her own TV channel, she patronizes the academy for girls she created, is involved in charity work, owns a radio studio, a magazine, and an entire network of real estate - from the plot in California where she lives to her own land on the island of Maui. She has an apartment in Chicago, from where her show is broadcast. The most frank confessions and shocking details from the stars are heard in her programs.

Personal life of Oprah Winfrey

The pupils replaced the children

Oprah's family includes her dogs, her friend Gayle King, with whom she has been friends for 40 years (there were once rumors about their homosexuality, but this is just idle gossip), and, of course, her boyfriend Steadman Graham. She has shared her home with her partner for almost two decades.

The star has not had any children since her first pregnancy ended in tragedy. Her daughters are replaced by students from her academy, who love and respect their mentor very much. “In retirement, I will sit in a quiet corner next to my students and teach them home economics,” says the billionaire. But, observing her vigorous activity, can you really say that she will ever retire?

Oprah Gail Winfrey. Born January 29, 1954. American TV presenter, actress, producer, public figure, host of the talk show “The Oprah Winfrey Show” (1986-2011). Forbes magazine named her the ninth most powerful woman in 2005 and the first in 2007, the most powerful person in show business in 2009, and the most powerful celebrity in 2010 and 2013.

In 2013, Oprah Winfrey's net worth was estimated at $2.8 billion, more than any other woman in show business. She is the first and only black female billionaire in history. She holds the record for being on the list of the hundred most influential people of the year according to the American magazine Time. A successful media mogul, Winfrey owns her own film studio, O, The Oprah Magazine, the commercially successful Oprah.com resource, a radio network, and finally her own cable TV channel OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.

She was born in Kosciasco, Mississippi, into a Baptist family. Her real name is Orpah Gail Winfrey, given to her in honor of the biblical character, Orpah, the sister of Ruth. There are conflicting reports about how she became Oprah. According to Winfrey herself, her family and friends could not pronounce “Orpah,” so the letters were swapped on her birth certificate. However, there is an opinion that the midwife mixed up the letters when filling out the documents for the newborn.

Her parents were unmarried young people. His mother, Vernita Lee, was a maid, and his father, Vernon Winfrey, was a miner, then a hairdresser, and later a member of the municipal council. When Oprah was born, her father was in the army. After Oprah's birth, her mother moved north, and Oprah spent the first six years of her life in the rural wilderness, living with her grandmother, Hattie Mae. Her grandmother taught her to read before she was three years old and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed “Preacher” for her ability to recite chapters from the Bible. When Oprah was a child, her grandmother would often whip her with a rod if she did not do some household chores or behaved badly.

At the age of 6, Winfrey moved to the old ghetto area of ​​Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother, who was less supportive and kind than her grandmother.

Oprah says that as a child of 9, she was molested by her brothers, uncle and their friends, was raped at 9 and became pregnant at 14. Despite a rather difficult home life, Oprah was educated enough to start attending school in a suburb of Milwaukee. Although Oprah was quite popular, she could not afford to appear in the city as often as her wealthy classmates. But, like many teenagers in the late 60s, Oprah rebelled and ran away from home and onto the streets.

When she was 14 years old, she became pregnant and gave birth to a child who died shortly after birth. Then her upset mother sent her to live in Nashville, Tennessee, with her father.

Vernon was strict but reliable and made her education a priority. Oprah was one of the honor students and was chosen Most Popular Girl. She won a speech competition, which allowed her to attend Tennessee State University, a historically black university, where she studied communications. At age 18, Oprah won the Miss Black Tennessee pageant.

Oprah's grandmother said that from the moment Oprah began speaking, she was always on stage. As a child, she interviewed dolls made from corncobs and crows on the fence.

At 17, Oprah was working and studying at university. She was the youngest reporter working for local media (CBS) and the first black female television reporter in Nashville. In 1976, she moved to WJZ-TV in Baltimore as an assistant on the six o'clock news and became one of the hosts of the morning talk show "Baltimore Talks." Then the first fame came to her. In 1986, Oprah created her own program, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which made her not only famous, but also a very rich and influential woman in the United States.

On January 1, 2011, Oprah launched her own television channel called OWN, and she also plans to host her own prime-time show on the channel in the future.

On August 3, 2011, it was announced that Oprah Winfrey would receive an honorary Oscar in the Gene Hersholt Award category on November 12, 2011.

Oprah Winfrey currently lives at The Promised Land, a 42-acre ocean and mountain property in Montecito, California, near Santa Barbara. Winfrey reportedly liked the property, which had been abandoned by its previous owners, so much that she reportedly bought it for $50 million with a check, even though the property was not for sale. Winfrey also has a home in Lavalette, New Jersey, an apartment in Chicago, property on an island near Miami, a ski lodge in Telluride, Colorado and property on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Winfrey's show is based in Chicago. Thus, she spends most of her time in the Streeterville neighborhood, the rest of the time she resides in California.

Oprah Winfrey and her partner Steadman Graham have been together for about 20 years. Sophie and Solomon are her two cocker spaniels, and she also had three retrievers, one of which died. After the death of her first child, Oprah never had any more children. The girls from Africa’s Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, which she created, she believes, were destined to become her daughters.

Oprah's best friend since she was 20 is Gayle King. King was the host of The Gayle King Show and she is currently the editor of O, the Oprah Magazine. Since 1997, when Oprah and Gayle starred in films, they have been the target of constant rumors that they are homosexual. “I understand why people think we are homosexual,” Oprah said in the August 2006 issue of her magazine, “there is no definition in our culture for this type of relationship between women. And I understand why they put labels on it - how can you be so close (to someone) without being sexual? I said something like my whole answer is there. People think that I should be ashamed of being gay and not allow it. Nonsense...".

In 1989, the issue of AIDS, so often discussed on her show, touched Oprah personally when her assistant Billy Rizzo fell ill. "I love Billy like a brother," she said at the time, "he's a wonderful, talented guy and it's very painful to see him in this state." Winfrey visited him daily during his final days.

In April 2009, Oprah started a microblog on Twitter, opening it with the entry: HI TWITTERS. THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME. FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY.

Filmography of Oprah Winfrey:

1985 - Flowers of purple fields (The Color Purple) - Sofia
1986 - Native Son - Mrs. Thomas
1989 - Women of Brewster Place, The Mattie Michael
1992 - Lincoln Elizabeth Keckley
1993 - There Are No Children Here LaJoe Rivers
1997 - Broken Hearts (Before Women Had Wings) - Miss Zora
1994-1998 - Ellen (Ellen Therapist)
1994 - All-American Girl
1998 - Beloved Sethe
1999 - Our Friend, Martin Coretta - Scott King
2001 - A Prayer for America: Yankee Stadium Memorial
2003 - Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives - narrator
2005 - Emmanuel's Gift - Narrator
2006 - Charlotte’s Web - goose
2007 - MF Bee Movie: Honey Conspiracy (Bee Movie Judge Bumbleton)
2009 - The Princess and the Frog Eudora
2013 - The Butler - Gloria Gaines
2014 - Selma - Annie Lee Cooper
2015 - Queen Sugar.

Oprah Winfrey is a famous American TV presenter, actress, producer, public figure, and the first black female billionaire. The TV presenter regularly appears on Forbes magazine's lists of the most influential stars and has set a record for the number of times she has been included in Time magazine's similar list. In 2013, Oprah Winfrey's net worth was estimated at $2.8 billion.

The TV presenter's real name is Orpah, in honor of the biblical heroine. But the midwife who delivered her mother on January 29, 1954, mixed up one letter: so Orpah became Oprah. The TV presenter herself denies this rumor and says that she changed her name because it was difficult for her friends to pronounce it. Be that as it may, Oprah is not only the owner of a rare name, but also the most popular TV presenter in the world.

Her mother gave birth to Oprah at the age of 18, while her father was serving in the army far from his hometown. The parents were not married. Soon after the birth of her daughter, the mother went to Milwaukee and got a job as a maid. The girl stayed with her grandmother: Oprah would later say that her grandmother was her only mother. The celebrity spent six years in the rural wilderness. Oprah was not yet three years old when her grandmother began teaching the girl to read and write. The TV presenter considers those lessons a valuable gift. The grandmother raised her granddaughter in strictness and punished her for disobedience with a rod. From kindergarten, Oprah went straight to first grade, and from first grade to third grade.

At the age of 6, her mother took Oprah to the Milwaukee ghetto. The star remembers this period of her life as the most difficult. To dispel the melancholy, the girl began performing in poetry competitions. When Oprah Winfrey turned 8 years old, her father invited his daughter to his place. The girl stole money from her mother and ran away, but lived with her father for only a year, after which she returned.

Oprah Winfrey's childhood was difficult, and the reason for this was not poverty or the social status of her parents, but the betrayal of loved ones and the psychological trauma that Oprah received in childhood. At the age of 9, the girl was raped by her cousin: the girl experienced a tragedy within herself. Poverty and humiliation did not have the best effect on Oprah's morale. At the age of 12, the girl returned to school, but a year later, unable to withstand the bullying, she escaped from the ghetto.

The angry mother abandoned her daughter - Oprah Winfrey ended up in a shelter for troubled teenagers, but the father took her daughter with him. At 14, the girl became pregnant, the child died shortly after birth.

Oprah's father was a strict man, he forced his daughter to resume her studies. The girl also studied public speaking. At the age of 16, Oprah won a competition and received a chance to enter the University of Tennessee. There, Oprah Winfrey studied public relations: judging by her future career, her years of study were not in vain.

TV

Oprah's television career began in 1971 with the Miss Black America pageant. After him, Oprah was offered a job at CBS. Oprah became the first black employee to assist as a news commentator. The girl was too sentimental for such work; Oprah spoke about a tornado or earthquake in a trembling voice. Nine months later she was fired from the TV channel.

In 1976, Oprah Winfrey began working for the WJZ-TV channel, first as a newsreader and then as a television host of the morning show Baltimore Talks. The channel's ratings went up. Then Oprah was offered a job as a TV presenter for a show that was ranked last. Oprah agreed and signed the contract. A month later, the program broke viewing records.

In 1985, Oprah was offered to star in the film The Color Purple. Her supporting role brought her two prestigious awards at once (Golden Globe and Oscar). The following year, she starred in the film “Native Son,” where she played the main character’s mother. Then there were several more series, but Oprah’s life project was the television program “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” The show not only made the presenter famous throughout the world, but also made her the richest woman.

“The Oprah Winfrey Show” premiered in 1986 and was broadcast in 138 cities. In the first two years, the profit from the project exceeded $125 million. Oprah became the highest paid TV presenter. In 1993, her show was recognized as the most popular in America and was broadcast in 64 other countries.

The guests were prominent politicians, businessmen, actors, and musicians. During the existence of the project, almost 5 thousand episodes were filmed. In 1993, Oprah Winfrey interviewed the King of Pop, which attracted approximately 85 million viewers in the US alone and ranked as the 4th highest-viewing program in television history. Another memorable episode was the guest episode, in which the actor “went crazy”, allowing himself emotional stories about love and other antics.

Also, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” included a series of programs under the general title “Master Class from the Stars,” where two dozen celebrity guests shared their own secrets of success.

The authoritative American magazine TV Guide included “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in the TOP 50 greatest programs in America. The project lasted until 2011, and then Oprah Winfrey decided to close it. She became closely involved in her own channel “OWN” and the affairs of a media company engaged in the production of television projects and documentaries.

Oprah has her own magazine and restaurant, Eccentric, in Chicago. Oprah is also an active philanthropist.

The characters of Oprah Winfrey's programs and colleagues say that a woman has a unique gift for sensing her interlocutor and tuning in to the right wave. The TV presenter does not hide her emotions, and hypersensitivity is Oprah’s professional style, what sets Oprah apart from thousands of TV presenters.

Personal life

For more than twenty years, Oprah Winfrey has been living in a civil marriage with Steadman Graham. They have no children - after an early pregnancy that ended in tragedy, the TV presenter can no longer get pregnant.

The media published a sensation about Oprah Winfrey's "secret son" - Calvin Mitchell. But the TV presenter dispelled the rumors and said that in the 90s she helped Calvin and his mother move into a normal apartment, find a job, and got the boy into a private school.

The TV presenter says that the girls from the school that Oprah founded became her daughters. Oprah dreams of living on campus after retirement, teaching home economics and being around girls.

Oprah also loves animals. Today she has two cocker spaniels, and before that the family had retrievers.

Oprah maintains an official personal account in “ Instagram", in which the TV presenter has 10 million subscribers.

Oprah Winfrey now

In 2016, Oprah Winfrey's filmography was supplemented with two more films. This year, the Oprah Winfrey Network channel released the dramatic television series Greenleaf, in which Oprah Winfrey played the role of Mavis MacReady and acted as a producer of this serial film. Also in 2016, Oprah became the creator of another series, “Queen of the Sugar Plantations,” which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

At the beginning of 2017, Oprah Winfrey released her first personal work, the cookbook Food, Health and Happiness: Top-notch Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life. It was originally planned that Oprah Winfrey would write her own biography and describe her success story, but the TV presenter later changed the concept of the book.

In 2017, Oprah Winfrey will play the role of Mrs. That is in a family science fiction film based on the book “A Crack in Time” by American writer Madeleine L’Engle.

Projects

• 1971 - "Miss Black America"
• 1976 - “Baltimore Speaks”
• 1985 - “Purple Fields”
• 1986 – “Native Son”
• 1986-2011 – “The Oprah Winfrey Show”
• 1997 – “Broken Hearts”
• 1994-1998 – “Ellen”
• 1994 – “American Girl”
• 1998–“Beloved”
• 1999 – “Our Friend Martin”
• 2006 – “Charlotte’s Web”
• 2007 - “BiMovie: Honey Conspiracy”
• 2009 - “The Princess and the Frog”
• 2013 - “The Butler”
• 2014 – “Selma”
• 2016 - “Greenleaf”
• 2016 - “Queen of the Sugar Plantations”
• 2017 - “A Wrinkle in Time”

Quotes

• “I had no idea that being myself could make me so rich. If I had known, I would have done it much earlier."
• “Go ahead. And fall. The world looks different from below.”
• “The best thing you can do is to make a person feel his own importance.”
• “You can achieve any goal if you are willing to work hard.”
• “Luck lies not in chance, but in the ability to take advantage of it.”

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In 2013, Oprah Winfrey's net worth was estimated at $2.8 billion, more than any other woman in show business. She is the first black female billionaire in history. She holds the record for being on the list of the hundred most influential people of the year according to the American magazine Time. A successful media mogul, Winfrey owns her own film studio, magazine O, The Oprah Magazine, a commercially successful resource Oprah.com, a radio network, and finally the signature cable TV channel OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.

Biography

Oprah Winfrey- American TV presenter interesting personality, famous not only in the United States, but throughout the world. She is trusted more than the president, her fees are huge, and in popularity she has surpassed Elvis and Superman.

Every day, 34 million American women and 15 million Americans sit down in front of the television when The Oprah Winfrey Show comes on. This is a sacred ritual. There is an army of her TV fans in 117 countries around the world. Its audience is 55% larger than that of its closest competitors. The ratings of Oprah's show are higher than those of the three programs combined that air simultaneously with her broadcast.

Oprah Winfrey is one of the richest and most powerful women in America. She is like America's alter ego, loved, admired and worshiped every day by all audiences. Contrary to her TV persona, she is a capable owner of her own company. Winfrey does everything in her uniquely compelling way, never stepping over other people's heads on her way to the top. She embodies the American spirit and commercial success.

The story of a woman who emerged from poverty and made a career. Oprah is the first African American female billionaire.

Success Story, Biography of Oprah Winfrey

Oprah's real name is Orpah. She was named after the biblical character Orpah (that was the name of the daughter-in-law of the biblical heroine Ruth). But no one ever called the girl Orpa that way. There are two versions according to which Orpah became Oprah. According to the first, neither parents nor friends could pronounce such a strange name, and it was decided to change it even on the birth certificate.

And the second version says that the midwife, filling out documents at the maternity hospital, simply confused or misunderstood and wrote Oprah’s name into the child’s documents.

Oprah Winfrey's childhood and adolescence

The childhood of the famous TV presenter was very difficult. Her parents, her mother a maid and her father a miner, never married. At the time of Oprah's birth, her father, Vernon Winfrey, was away in the army at a naval base. Her mother, Vernita, moved to Milwaukee to take a job as a cleaner, leaving Oprah on the farm under the supervision of her maternal grandmother, who raised her strictly. If a girl behaved badly or did not do what her grandmother punished, she was often beaten with a rod.

During her early childhood, Oprah didn't hear anything about boots for several years. She also did not have a dress, having received it for the first time to attend school. The isolated farm forced Oprah to invent and create her own entertainment. She became friends with pets and found solace in books. They had no television and, according to Winfrey, her grandmother gave her one of the most valuable gifts she ever received, teaching her to read and write at the age of two and a half.

Her grandmother took her to church every Sunday, and the locals even gave Oprah the title of “preacher” because this precocious child could recite chapters from the Bible like no other. The church parish was filled with awe, and many thought that the spirit of God had descended on the girl. This early success was not forgotten by the impressionable Oprah. This unusual incident sparked her first dreams of becoming a missionary or preacher. Later, her fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Denworth, encouraged her to become a teacher.

Oprah Winfrey said: “ I grew up loving books…. It was a means of escaping into another person's life" When Grandma enrolled Oprah in kindergarten, she diligently wrote a letter to the pre-kindergarten teacher with an explicit request to transfer her directly to first grade. The surprised teacher translated her. After studying this year, Oprah jumped straight into third grade. It was an early sign of the great potential of the poor, lonely girl from the banks of the Mississippi. Oprah remembers her strict grandmother as her first significant role model: " I - well, what I am today is the result of the work of my grandmother: my strength, my way of thinking, everything, absolutely all of this I already had at the age of six. Basically, I'm no different now than I was when I was six years old.».

When Oprah was six years old, her mother took her. Together with her half-brother and sister, Oprah moved to the old ghetto area of ​​Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There were completely different morals there than in the rural outback.

Despite poverty, humiliation and a difficult life, the girl continued to speak publicly, participate in poetry competitions in black social clubs and at church meetings, where she became known as “our little speaker.” Later in an interview with Lyn Thornaby of Woman's Day she said: " I don’t know why, but somewhere deep in my soul I always knew that someday I would be able to become exactly who I became».

After moving, Oprah Winfrey spent two years with her mother, and at the age of eight, she stole money from her, running away to live with her father and his new family. She lived there for a year, until Oprah's mother, who had the legal right to custody of her, forced her daughter to leave her father and move back to the ghetto of Milwaukee, where everything was saturated with tragedy.

At the age of thirteen, Oprah, tired of bullying and humiliation, stole money from her mother and once again ran away from home. When the money ran out, she went to her priest. He took Oprah home to her angry mother, who abandoned her. Oprah ended up in a shelter for troubled teenagers, and by that time she was already pregnant. Her father took her from a dirty and cold orphanage. In an interview, Oprah Winfrey admitted with tears in her eyes: “ My father literally saved my life. The child could not be saved - he died shortly after birth».

Despite her unhappy childhood, this ambitious young girl continued to immerse herself in dreams of wonderful countries read from books. She told Good Housekeeping in 1991: " Books showed me that there are different possibilities in life. Reading gave me hope. For me it was like a door ajar" About her life in Milwaukee she said: " I preferred to hide in the toilet and read with a flashlight. What can I do, others laughed at me, thinking that I was trying to become something. And I was already».

At the age of fourteen, Oprah began living with her hairdresser father's family in Nashville. From this moment on, a new story appears, suspiciously reminiscent of the American dream. Her father surrounded her with care and attention, as a result of which the ugly duckling began to turn into a swan before our eyes.

In one of her interviews, Oprah said: “ My father simply turned my life around, claiming that I was more than I really was, and firmly believing that I could be even more. His love for learning showed me the right path" Vernon insisted that Oprah add five new words to her vocabulary every day or she would go without lunch. Always talented, Oprah became a real student. At age fifteen, she was selected through a competition to perform in California with church groups, and after viewing the Hollywood Walk of Stars, she said, “ Someday one day I will place my own star among these stars" Since that trip, Oprah has chaired the high school board, participated in the drama club, and excelled in both public speaking and debating. At sixteen, she won the Elks Club's public speaking competition, which earned her admission to the University of Tennessee. She was invited to the White House by President Nixon as an "outstanding American teenager" and representative of Nashville's youth. Winfrey would later speak of this as the result of her father's influence on her, which remade her: " It's all because of him. It's because of him that I am where I am today.».

First experience working in the media in biographies of Oprah Winfrey - radio station WVOL. She was called there by the station's host, John Heidelberg, who noted her abilities in the Miss Fire Prevention competition, which she won (this was how Winfrey's emotional speeches were noted, calling for watching gas stoves and not allowing children to play with fire). Oprah combined work with studying in high school (the last year before university, where she had already secured a place for herself). On weekends, Oprah read breaking news broadcasts. She did a good job and received one hundred dollars a week. Finally, Winfrey's oratorical abilities began to be paid.

During her first year at the University of Tennessee, where Winfrey majored in speech and drama, she was named Miss Tennessee and then Miss Black Nashville. In 1971, she competed in the Miss Black America pageant, walking in a carnival parade. Soon the local CBS television station offered her a job, and Oprah became the first black female assistant commentator for the Nashville evening news. She was only nineteen at that time.

In her inimitable style, she told Cosmopolitan in 1986: “ Of course I was a symbol. But, darling, I was a symbol of happiness!»

This is how second-year student Oprah Winfrey first appeared on television and became a news anchor on Nashville television. Moreover, she is not just a presenter, but the first African-American woman to hold such a position! Does this seem strange to you? Well, just think, a black girl is the presenter. Now the President of America is black! But at that time - a time of brutal racism - it would have been easier for Oprah to get into the USSR Politburo than to take a top position in the US television business!

However, a colossal failure awaited her in this field... News was clearly not her profession. Reporting about another hurricane that swept over California, Oprah swallowed back tears. Her voice trembled when talking about lowering rates on the stock exchange. The rare gift of sincere empathy, which, in fact, later brought her success and money, turned out to be the worst of vices for the commentator. Nine months later she was removed from the news. But Oprah does not give up and confidently moves on. No wonder they say: “ No event is a failure until you consider it to be one.».

Before graduating from college in 1976, Winfrey was offered a very good chance to be a Baltimore reporter and co-anchor of the six o'clock news on WJZ television. Winfrey accepted the offer. After working for two years, she receives an invitation to become the host of the show “People Are Talking”. The audience greeted the fat, dark-skinned presenter with surprising warmth and enthusiasm. Oprah's ratings began to rise sharply. " After the first broadcast, Oprah recalled, I felt like I was finally starting to breathe».

In 1984, after six years at WJZ-TV, 29-year-old Oprah Winfrey was invited to Chicago to host the entire Chicago Afternoon News program, which at that time occupied the lowest line in the ratings. " On the very first day in Chicago, September 4, 1983, I walked around this entire city, wandered the streets - as if I saw my roots, felt my homeland. I knew for sure: this is all mine, and I belong to this city"- this is how Oprah recalled her move to Chicago.

Winfrey signed a four-year contract worth $200,000 a year. Honest to the point of brutality, Winfrey asked her host, Dennis Swanson, whether having a black commentator on the Chicago Afternoon News would be a problem. Dennis said: " I wouldn't worry even if you were green. All I want is to achieve victory. I'm only interested in winning in business, and I want you to be interested in that too.».

In accepting the offer, Oprah was worried not only about how viewers would perceive the black presenter. The fact is that her program was released at the same time as the most popular show in the USA by the famous Phil Donahue. She was worried about how the audience and the team would evaluate her work. Will she be able to interest the audience with her show when a show of a venerable showman, whose experience amounts to more than one year, is taking place nearby?

But the fears were unfounded: a month after Winfrey's debut, the program had already received its highest ratings of the year, and a few months later Donahue wisely moved to New York, unable to withstand the competition from Oprah. Viewers only watched Oprah. Over the course of a year, the ratings for morning programs with her participation jumped by 50%!

In 1987, People magazine wrote: “ Oprah has a quicker wit than anyone else on television, yes, including Carson and Letterman" Winfrey is soon becoming the best friend of all American housewives. Her show is a complete mystery of success. Today, let's say, Danny and Mary Osmond are visiting her, and tomorrow, please, homosexuals. She explained her ability to listen carefully to points of view that were completely opposed to her own as follows: “ I'm not trying to change people. I'm trying to show them what they're all about" She had wanted to be a teacher since she was in fourth grade and now found solace in teaching every day to audiences of attentive and interested listeners across the country. " I saw my work in television as an opportunity to be an educator and make life easier for my viewers." Winfrey's ability to deal with drug addicts and alternative lifestyle individuals made her realize: " We are all responsible for ourselves, for our victories and our defeats" She loved every minute of her programs, and the audience loved her for it.

Acting experience

In 1985, Quincy Jones, who was producing the film adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple, was watching television in his Chicago hotel room when he saw Winfrey. He was looking for someone to play the role of Sophia. Winfrey had no acting experience other than college drama and a cameo appearance on American Master, but Jones chose her for the job. The film was released in December 1985 to the wild delight of audiences. Winfrey's performance was hailed by film critic Gene Siskel, who described her performance as "shockingly solid." He further said: " What she emphasizes above all is her relentless honesty in the role of this desperate black woman." Winfrey's lawyer negotiated with the Warner studios to get as much money as possible for her participation, but the always candid Winfrey said: " Jeff, I would still do it just like that - please, please don't ask them about money anymore.!» He said: " However, you didn't do it for free.».

For her work in the film, Winfrey received both an Oscar and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was also awarded the title and prize "Achieving a Woman" by the National Women's Association in June 1986 for her sensitive performance of the role. Winfrey's success led her to participate in the film Indian Son directed by Richard Wright in 1986. They filmed her as the hero's mother, but the film never came to fruition. Winfrey admits that she found it difficult to identify with her mother because, at thirty-two, she had too little experience of such experiences. Success in cinema helped “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. Her popularity skyrocketed. Subsequently, Oprah Winfrey starred in several feature films and more TV series, and also lent her voice to a couple of popular cartoons.

And the popularity is growing and growing

In 1986, Oprah's own program was born - the very famous "Oprah Winfrey Show". On September 8 of that year, the television syndicate King World Production included The Oprah Winfrey Show in its broadcast network, which at that time covered 138 cities. This showed promise during the 1987-88 season. bring in $125 million in profit. This instant turn of events made Winfrey the highest paid performer in show business. By 1993, the show had expanded its reach to an unprecedented 198 markets in America (99 percent of those in the country) and 64 foreign markets, including Japan, Norway, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

Over the 27 years of her career, Oprah Winfie has not interviewed any people, who has not taken part in her show: politicians (Clinton, Bush, Obama...) and musicians (in 1993, Oprah interviewed Michael Jackson, who rarely agreed for lengthy conversations with the press) and businessmen ( Facebook founder Mark Zuckberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Larry Ellison, Richard Branson) and actors ( Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Pacino...) and directors, and athletes (Michael Jordan)... it’s easier to say who hasn’t been on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”.

A word is worth its weight in gold

Winfrey's power over her television show is such that she can make an author's success in a single evening, as she did with Marianne Williamson and her book "Love Back." On Tuesday, February 4, 1992, Williamson appeared on Winfrey's show. Already on Wednesday, in just one day, thirty-five thousand copies of the book were sold. Within eight days, according to the publisher, the remaining three hundred thousand copies, that is, the entire circulation of the book, were sold, as a result of only one appearance by the author on television. This is unprecedented in the history of the book business, where the average hardcover book sells no more than ten thousand copies. In July 1993, the appearance of Deepak Chopra achieved a similar result, influencing the sales of his new book, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind.

“Texas farmers are suing Oprah” - newspapers published such headlines in 1998 after Winfrey inadvertently “dropped the phrase” in her program (two years after the world first learned about “mad cow disease”) - “ I get goosebumps just thinking about a burger." This phrase, as it turned out, led to unpredictable swings in beef prices and instability in the entire US meat market, costing Texas farmers $12 million in losses alone. They tried to collect it from the TV presenter. Oprah, of course, won the case.

Shortly before the presidential election, George W. Bush went on Oprah's talk show. During the conversation, he casually noted that he considered Oprah the ideal of a real American woman, and sealed his recognition with a kiss on the cheek. In response, the TV presenter patted him on the shoulder with a smile and returned compliment with compliment. Having seen such a touching scene, the spectators were touched and, brushing away a tear, decided for themselves who would become their favorite in the subsequent elections. In 2007, she openly supported Barack Obama in the presidential election.

Perhaps the fact that George W. Bush, followed by Barack Obama, became president is nothing more than a coincidence. But aren’t there too many coincidences associated with the name of this master of oratory? If Republican Representative Mitt Romney wants to win the 2012 US presidential election, he must somehow enlist the support of Oprah Winfrey.

True success is diverse

Having turned out to be the highest paid performer in show business, Oprah did not rest on her laurels. In October 1988, the TV presenter registered the company Harpo Entertainment Group (“HARPO” is Oprah’s name backwards) to produce programs for television..

The studio with an area of ​​9 thousand square meters cost her $20 million. Having become a businesswoman, she began by buying a film studio with an area of ​​9 thousand m2 in Chicago for $20 million. She filmed all episodes of her super-popular show at her own production base.

In addition to the television show, which is the company's main product and main brand, HARPO produces documentaries and sells them for broadcast on television.

In just five years of the company's existence, Oprah's personal income, according to Forbes magazine (September 1993), amounted to 98 million (for comparison: the income of movie king Steven Spielberg in the same years did not exceed $72 million).

Oprah became the first African American woman to own her own entertainment production company. She also became the third woman in the world, after Mary Pickford and Lucy Ball, to own her own studio and present her own show. The entrepreneur has limited the company's staff to the limit - she has only 86 employees under her command.

In 2000, she created O, The Oprah Magazine, which became one of the most successful publications in the history of periodicals, with a circulation exceeding 2 million copies. In addition, she opened the Eccentric restaurant in Chicago, bought a cable TV channel, and also invested money in real estate. She now owns a beachfront estate in Santa Barbara worth about $50 million, a ranch in Colorado purchased for $4.3 million, a Challenger 601-ZA jet with an operating budget of $1.4 million a year, and four cottages. and a mansion in Santa Fe (New Mexico), as well as a farm in Indiana.

2006 Oprah entered into a deal with the satellite radio channel XM Satellite Radio worth $55 million. Among other things, Oprah Winfrey is the owner of the website Oprah.com, which has a considerable number of visitors - 4 million people a week.

Oprah Winfrey's Charitable Activities

Oprah happily donates money to various children's charities. And her charitable foundation spends millions of dollars, from funding schools in the poorest countries in Africa to helping victims of Hurricane Katrina. In 1994, she proposed a law to the US Congress for consideration, according to which the country should organize a system for recording all crimes against children. The law was approved and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, a great friend of Oprah.

In December 2011, Oprah Winfrey and actor Sean Penn arrived on a charity mission to a camp in Haiti, where the 2010 earthquakes claimed 200,000 lives and left millions homeless. Sean, whose organization has already helped more than 50 thousand people, shared with reporters: “ Anyone who has been to Haiti understands how important it is for the world to know what is happening here. We are very grateful to Oprah for being with us now." Oprah, in turn, noted: “ This is part of an international event, which will show interesting, surprising examples of how you can change the world for the better».

Latest release?

On May 25, 2011, Oprah Winfrey hosted the last episode of her show. The broadcast and filming took place without the traditional guest - only Oprah Winfrey herself was on stage the entire time. The living legend of American TV wanted to stay face-to-face with the viewer and say goodbye to his creation with him. Only a few times did Oprah invite her colleagues to the stage, thanking them for their many years of work. " I'm not telling you goodbye, I'm telling you until we meet again“said the TV presenter, holding back tears with difficulty.

The audience in the studio of the last program - as always, most of them were women - did not hesitate to cry bitterly. Housewives will miss Oprah. The viewer saw footage from the archives of the program. The program was accompanied by background music, which was written especially for this occasion by composer Paul Simon. And after the show, Oprah went down into the hall and shook hands with the audience sitting there.

On January 1, 2011, the TV personality launched her own channel called OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). At the time of its first broadcast, its audience in the United States amounted to 80 million people. She plans to host a new prime-time show there in the future. Apparently, it will be just as popular.

Oprah Winfrey's Secrets of Success

Forbes magazine estimates Oprah's net worth at 3 billion. What is the secret of the success of “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, which has not left the screens for a quarter of a century? Or maybe it doesn’t exist at all?

The answer is obvious - in the unique personality of its leader. First of all, for Oprah it was not a “job”, but the fulfillment of a childhood dream of teaching and helping people. She never put money first. Maybe for the second time. For example, she did not receive commissions for the products she advertised on her show, but she only featured products that she considered truly important. Paradoxically, Oprah's enormous wealth is the result of the fact that she never compromised her principles for the sake of wealth.

Winfrey has the unique ability to communicate without monotony, titillate without causing trouble, create desire without moralizing, and teach without preaching. Only Oprah would ask an adult film star on her show: “ You never get excited on set? – and receive full approval from the audience. Winfrey's charisma and sensitivity are infectious. This ability allows her to successfully run the show, dealing with objects that would be forbidden elsewhere. In one show, while looking at a collection of penises of various sizes, she blurted out: " Take one bigger one home to mom" Imagine something like this from Phil Donahue. Winfrey's frankness and sincerity are unique qualities in her profession. Her ability to get used to the character of her interlocutor, talking to him in front of an audience of spectators, allows her to ask questions that others would not even consider.

Winfrey's friend Maya Angelou calls her "America's most accessible and honest psychiatrist." Angelou describes Winfrey this way: " She boldly goes where the timid does not dare to tread... She is one of those who pave the way for us" Winfrey's ability to boldly go where others are afraid to tread is almost mystical. She intuitively knows everyone's weak spot and has a unique ability to bring out what the audience really wants to hear about that person. She has the ability and patience to listen carefully to sadists, fanatics and hired killers without judging or expressing her own emotional attitude.

As the owner of the Harpo Entertainment Group, she recognizes and admits only one advisor to her affairs - her lifelong lawyer and partner, Jeffrey Jacobs. In one of the interviews he said: “ Oprah owns her own show and manages her own money. There are no boards of directors, no committees. In the end, any important decision is made only by her." Jacobs claims that Winfrey still signs every check herself and performs all the routine job duties of every other employee of a major corporation.

« The secret of success is that there is no secret. Work and you will achieve your goal" - Oprah Winfrey

How many obstacles did she have to overcome on the path to success!? It is impossible to tell about all the obstacles, difficulties and failures that Oprah Winfrey had to go through, there are many of them. But Oprah did it!!! So you can too!