Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
2 appearances
Actor, comic and producer, made her name in The Color Purple and won an Oscar for Ghost; one of few to win an Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Emmy.
On the island
Eight records
Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)
Van Morrison, you know, I just love him. And this is another song that is about positiveness.
it just filled me with light, you know, and I knew that somehow this man or this voice was channeling the spirit and the spirit of whatever God you believe in.
It just is a reminder. You only get a specific amount of time. You don't know when or how much, but it's finite, and you've got to pay attention.
One of the great songs, greatest songs ever written, Superstition.
I revere her because she stood for who she was. She knew that she had to do her art. And this is the truth. The price for doing you can sometimes be very, very, very high.
I love this little girl. I've never met her. I don't know her. But this song, Me and Mr. Jones, is so reminiscent of the music I grew up with listening to my mother listening to the music.
Joan Sutherland and Jane Berbié
I want to weep at their ability to do. this, to be able to sing like this, because there's something pure in it.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:16Did you do a sort of private performance for [Steven Spielberg]?
He asked if I would mind bringing the Broadway show to him. And since it was just me, it felt like it would be all right. So I went and before I went in, they said to me, Now we want you to do whatever you want to do, whatever piece you want to do, but we also know you do a piece called Ble T, which was about the Black E. T. And they said, We don't think that would be a good idea. … So I do the show, I walk out and I come out onto what I think is just a private stage, and everyone that for me at the time, you know, like Ashford and Simpson and Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones, those are the people who are sitting in the audience, friends of Stevens. And so I do my show and they're very happy, but they say more, more, more. And I say, well, I have more, but I've been asked not to do this piece. And Stephen said, But why? I said, They said you would be annoyed because it's really it's about E.T., the black E.T. … He said, Oh, I want to see it. … So I did it. And he laughed and laughed and laughed. And I thought, Oh, first lesson of the world. Ask the person directly. Don't let someone else tell you that it's not going to work for somebody else. You should ask them.
Presenter asks
4:09What did you say in your letter [to Alice Walker]?
I said, you know, my name is Whoopi Goldberg and I'm a performer in San Francisco, California, and this is a great book. And if uh they ever make a movie, I'd like to be, you know, in it. I'd like to play the dirt. That's how much I like this. And so I sent her my resume and stuff. And a couple of months later, I had been invited to New York. And I stayed with my mom. And she said, Oh, so some mail came for you. She handed me a purple envelope. That said Alice Walker on it. And I opened it up and it basically said, Dear Whoopee, I live in San Francisco. I know your work. I already sent your stuff to them.
The keepsakes
The luxury
Presenter asks
7:10Was it a tough upbringing [in the projects]?
Every time I talk about it, I always laugh because people say, Young, you came up to degradation of it. I actually didn't. I came up in a really good neighborhood that was not wealthy. It was a poor neighborhood. You know, we lived in a what you call the council houses. You know, and we call them the projects. And in New York, no one ever said, Oh, you poor, poor children. You know, Christmas and Hanukkah and all those holidays came and we got gifts. I don't know how she did it, but she did it.
Presenter asks
9:51At school, I imagine [dyslexia] made things incredibly difficult?
Well, they assumed I was being lazy because I was I was so smart in other ways. There were things I could do and I could remember things and so they knew I wasn't dumb. They just thought I was being lazy.
Presenter asks
13:19When did the drugs happen?
Well, they happened or They happened a lot and often through a lot of years. You know, I know it's really not PC to say, but, you know, at the time when I was growing up, it was perfectly great. Experimenting with things like LSD and, you know, talking about mind expansion, and heroin was a drug that took you to places that you'd never been before. It was, for me, a really good learning time. I don't recommend it to anybody because the rough part about it is it wants to stay with you, you know, and you want it to because you find that it's easier to live outside of life. And for me, I actually like living. So it really came down to okay. If you go down this path and stay here. Pretty much you're gonna die. It's a given fact. … And so I experimented, and I enjoyed my time. in the experimental stage and then I, you know, cleaned up. Got married, had a baby, and that sort of put the combosh on getting getting high anymore.
Presenter asks
25:09What's the price been for you [for being an artist]?
Oh, friendships and relationships and Things that end in ships. … I'm just uh the truth is I'm just not very good at it. I love the wedding part because I love you know, everybody's always happy. But it's the day after that I have trouble with.
Presenter asks
1:20Did you do a private performance for Steven Spielberg? Tell me about that.
He asked if I would mind bringing the Broadway show to him. And since it was just me, it felt like it would be all right. … So I do the show and they're very happy, but they say more, more, more. And I say, well, I have more, but I've been asked not to do this piece. … He said, Oh, I want to see it. … And he laughed and laughed and laughed. … First lesson of the world. Ask the person directly.
Presenter asks
4:12What did you say in your letter to Alice Walker?
I said, you know, my name is Whoopi Goldberg and I'm a performer in San Francisco, California, and this is a great book. And if they ever make a movie, I'd like to be, you know, in it. I'd like to play the dirt. That's how much I like this. … I opened it up and it basically said, Dear Whoopee, I live in San Francisco. I know your work. I already sent your stuff to them.
Presenter asks
10:20Did you not go to senior school at all?
No, no, I hated school. … I was very lucky to have a mother who got it. She understood something was different about me.
Presenter asks
13:23Tell me about your experience with drugs. When did they happen?
Well, they happened a lot and often through a lot of years. … Experimenting with things like LSD and … heroin was a drug that took you to places that you'd never been before. It was, for me, a really good learning time. I don't recommend it to anybody. … For me, I actually like living. … Pretty much you're going to die. … I experimented and I enjoyed my time in the experimental stage and then I cleaned up. … I only one drug that scares me, and that's an opium.
Presenter asks
25:13What has been the price for being an artist?
Oh, friendships and relationships and things that end in ships. … I'm just not very good at it. I love the wedding part but it's the day after that I have trouble with. … It's having to think about someone else constantly who isn't a child. I don't think love should be executed as a duty. … people are mean when the woman is the more famous. … Those fully formed people are generally married to other people.
“Ask the person directly. Don't let someone else tell you that it's not going to work for somebody else. You should ask them.”
“If you don't care if other people like you and your choice. Then you'll be alright.”
“I get life from performing. It's like a battery. I I feel like when I when I'm working I'm plugged in and I'm charged and I'm attuned to everything that's around me.”
“I'm not a big believer that your kids should have role models outside of their parents. I think the first role models you should have are the people who are raising you. And if they're not good role models, then you look outside.”
“First lesson of the world. Ask the person directly.”
“If you go down this path and stay here. Pretty much you're going to die.”
“I get life from performing. It's like a battery. I feel like when I'm working I'm plugged in and I'm charged.”
“You don't really want your kids emulating me, do you? … I'm just going to stay black. How's that?”
“Sister Act was put together for Bette Midler. Jumpin' Jack Flash was put together for Shelly Long. Ghost was written for, I think, a woman called Teresa Wright. But they wouldn't let me audition for Ghost.”