Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg had a sweet reunion 40 years after filming “The Color Purple” as the former talk show host was a guest on Whoopi’s “The View.”
Oprah Winfrey & Whoopi Goldberg Reminisce on Filming ‘The Color Purple’
Oprah, who was just 31 years old when she filmed the iconic film “The Color Purple,” joined the hosts of “The View” on Wednesday, January 14. She and former costar Goldberg, who was 30 when the film premiered, reminisced about the Oscar-nominated film.
“We were in that movie as babies,” Goldberg, now 70, shared with a smile as a photo from the film appeared on screen.
Joy Behar asked the former costars, “I understand [that film] changed both of your lives?”
“Oprah was already working in television,” Goldberg explained. “I was doing stuff on stage, and we came together like this,” she said, interlocking her fingers.
Winfrey excitedly recalled signing her contract to start her own talk show in the middle of filming the 1985 classic.
“Whoopi, remember, I left to go sign the contract, in the middle of filming, and I said, ‘I’m gonna go do this—I gotta go sign the contract to do this talk show,’ and you were like, ‘What is it? What is this? Is it radio, or? What are you doing?'”
She continued, “And I go, ‘Well, it’s a TV kinda show.'”
According to Goldberg—who would go on to become one of just 19 stars to earn an EGOT—continued, “It was amazing. Our lives, sort of… I guess that was the first time people saw us.”
“We had people surrounding us who really wanted us to succeed,” she added, as Winfrey conceded, “We blossomed from that role.”
As an image of the late Barbara Walters appeared on screen, surrounded by female journalists on her last day at “The View,” Goldberg noted, “It’s interesting because you look at us from ‘The Color Purple,’ then you look at us [in the photo]. Yeah, and then you look at us now, we’ve evolved.”
‘The Color Purple’ Celebrates 40 Years
“The Color Purple” debuted on December 18, 1985. Directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Quincy Jones, the film also starred Danny Glover and Laurence Fishburne.
The beloved period drama based on the 1982 novel by Alice Walker went on to be nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and five Golden Globe Award nominations. While the film did not win any Oscars, Goldberg took home the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.
