1954-
Television Star and Producer

Changing the Format.

Oprah Winfrey changed the format of the daytime television talk show in the 1980s, scoring huge ratings success with frank discussions of sensitive, sometimes controversial topics. Her nationally syndicated Oprah Winfrey Show was one of the most popular of the decade, and she earned honors as an actress as well.

Rough Childhood.

Winfrey came from a troubled childhood that included sexual abuse and a pregnancy when she was fourteen. Determined to rise above her unhappy circumstances, she entered beauty pageants in Nashville as a teenager and worked part-time at a local radio station. In 1973 she made the jump to television as a newscaster in Nashville; three years later, at age twenty-two, she was hired by ABC's Baltimore affiliate, WJZ-TV, to coanchor the station's local news. Her career in Baltimore initially foundered, but she found her niche in 1977 as...