One of Chicago's most revered celebrities, her name alone has convinced millions of Americans to start reading again. One mention of a product on her show can make or break that particular item. Winfrey was a huge fan of African-American author Toni Morrison's writing. Morrison, who wrote the phenomenally popular (and some AP English students would argue confusing) novel Beloved, following the exploits of Sethe, a slave living in the 19th century and mother of several young daughters. Interested in seeing Beloved adapted to the silver screen, Oprah bought the rights to the story and saw the movie brought to life in the way she (and Morrison) saw fit. Simply not satisfied with just producing Beloved, Oprah took a large supporting role in the movie as well. This was one of Oprah's few silver screen appearances.
Given her track record, the stellar The Color Purple in 1986 and Beloved some 12 years later and her millions of dollars, to say Oprah's been doing okay for herself as of late would probably be the biggest understatement of the year.
Never fear, she still has her long-running TV show, and she recently taught at sold-out class at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
For more information, visit their website: http://www.oprah.com/
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