Here is a look at the life of Oprah Winfrey, who hosted the award-winning “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Personal:
Birth date: January 29, 1954
Birth place: Kosciusko, Mississippi
Birth name: Oprah Gail Winfrey
Father: Vernon Winfrey, a barber
Mother: Vernita Lee, a maid (parents never married)
Education: Tennessee State University, B.A., Speech and Performing Arts, 1976
Other Facts:
At age 19, while still a sophomore in college, becomes the youngest and first African-American anchor for WTVF-TV in Nashville.
Winfrey’s first name is spelled Orpah on her birth certificate but there was confusion over how to pronounce the name, so the spelling got changed to Oprah. In an interview with the Academy of Achievement, Winfrey explained that her aunt chose the name Orpah as a bible reference. Winfrey said that she’s happy the spelling got switched to Oprah because backwards it spells Harpo.
Stedman Graham has been her companion for more than twenty-five years.
Together, Winfrey and “The Oprah Winfrey Show” received a total of 16 Daytime Emmy Awards for “Outstanding Talk Show Host” and ” Outstanding Talk Show,” and one for her work as supervising producer of the “ABC Afterschool Special: Shades of a Single Protein.” Winfrey was also presented with two honorary awards.
After removing her name from competition in the Daytime Emmy Awards in 2000, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” won Emmy awards in the technical categories only.
Winfrey has been involved in various projects that have garnered many Primetime Emmy Award nominations, she has won one, and was also presented with an honorary award.
Two Academy Award nominations. Received one honorary award.
Two Tony Award nominations with one win.
Timeline:
1976 – Becomes a news co-anchor at WJZ-TV in Baltimore.
January 1984 – Becomes the anchor of “A.M. Chicago,” which airs opposite Phil Donahue.
September 1985 – The show is renamed “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
1985-2011 – Host of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” the highest-rated talk show in history.
1985 – Makes her film debut in “The Color Purple,” for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
November 8, 1986 – “The Oprah Winfrey Show” goes into national syndication.
1987, 1988, 1989, 1991-92, 1994-1996 and 1997 – Wins the Daytime Emmy Award for Best Talk Show for “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
1987, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1998 – Wins the Daytime Emmy Award for Best Talk Show Host for “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
1988 – Forms her own production company, Harpo Inc. Harpo is Oprah spelled backwards.
December 20, 1993 – President Bill Clinton honors Oprah by signing into law the “Oprah Bill.” This bill creates a national database that allows people to search for child abusers.
1993 – Wins the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Special, “ABC Afterschool Special: Shades of a Single Protein.” Oprah is also inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
1996 – Starts “Oprah’s Book Club” on her show. The book club becomes very influential in the publishing world as selected books rise to the top of bestseller lists.
1997 – Starts Oprah’s Angel Network, a charitable foundation.
1998 – Winfrey is presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmy Awards.
1998 – Produces the movie “Beloved.”
1998 – Partners with Oxygen Media, which plans to operate a 24-hour cable channel for women.
1999 – Withdraws her name for consideration in the Daytime Emmy Awards.
2000 – Wins the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie for “Oprah Winfrey Presents: Tuesdays with Morrie.”
April 2000 – Launches “O, The Oprah Magazine,” and the Oxygen Network.
2002 – Accepts the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
February 2003 – Becomes the first African-American woman on Forbes magazine’s “World’s Richest People” list, with a net worth of about $1 billion.
September 13, 2004 – Begins a new season of her talk show by giving each member of the audience a brand-new car.
September 26, 2005 – Winfrey announces that she is investing more than $1 million to bring the musical “The Color Purple” to Broadway in December 2005.
September 25, 2006-January 1, 2015 – Oprah and Friends (renamed Oprah Radio) airs on SiriusXM Radio.
January 2, 2007 – The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls opens in Henley-on-Klip, South Africa. The school houses 152 girls from deprived backgrounds and provides them with an education. Winfrey has reportedly spent $40 million dollars opening the school.
September 8, 2007 – Hosts a fundraiser for presidential hopeful Barack Obama at her California home.
October 2007 – NBC buys the Oxygen Network for $925 million.
January 15, 2008 – Winfrey and Discovery Communications announce that beginning in 2009 the Discovery Health Channel will be renamed OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.
November 20, 2009 – Announces on her show that she will discontinue her talk show on September 9, 2011. She will then move to California and launch OWN.
December 5, 2010 – Winfrey is honored at the Kennedy Center as part of the 33rd annual Kennedy Center Honors gala.
January 1, 2011 – OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network debuts.
May 25, 2011 – The last “Oprah Winfrey Show” airs. There are no guests for this episode.
June 19, 2011 – Receives the Chairman’s Crystal Pillar Award for her decades of work in network television from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
November 12, 2011 – Winfrey receives an honorary Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
January 1, 2012 – Winfrey’s new show, “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” debuts on the OWN network.
June 26, 2013 – Regains the #1 spot for Forbes’ World’s Most Powerful Celebrities.
November 20, 2013 – Is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.
October 19, 2015 – Winfrey and Weight Watchers announce a partnership in which Winfrey is buying a 10% stake in the company and taking a seat on its board of directors.
June 12, 2016 – Wins a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical for “The Color Purple.”
January 3, 2017 – Releases a cookbook, “Food, Health, and Happiness: 115 On-Point Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life.”
January 31, 2017 – CBS announces that Winfrey will be a special contributor to “60 Minutes,” starting in the fall of 2017.
March 2017 – Forbes, in its annual list of the world’s billionaires, estimates Winfrey’s net worth at $3 billion.
August 9, 2017 – Partners with the Kraft Heinz Company to produce a line of refrigerated comfort food called O, That’s Good!, available in stores beginning October 2017.
January 7, 2018 – Winfrey receives the 2018 Gold Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given “to a talented individual for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.”