Oprah Winfrey, Unique From the Very Beginning

In 1954, Oprah Gail Winfrey was born in poverty to Vernon Winfrey, coal miner, barber and later a city councilman and Vernita Lee, housemaid.  On her birth certificate, her given name, Orpah, was misspelled and her uniqueness began.

At age 2, Oprah learned to read.  When she was 5 she wrote a letter to the kindergarten teacher insisting she go into 1st grade.  At 6, she went on to 3rd grade and was given her first pair of shoes.  Even now she would rather go barefoot.

At age 14, she gave birth to a premature baby boy that died two weeks later.  Oprah was the victim of child molestation.  

She moved to Nashville when she was 16, to live with her father.  An honor student and gifted orator she went to work at WVOL radio.  At 19, she became news anchor on WTVF-TV, the youngest and first African-American woman to do so.  Her broadcasting career had begun.

A move to Chicago allowed the rising star to host "AM Chicago" for WLS-TV which in one month rose to number one locally.  Renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show," it was nationally syndicated in 1996 and became the highest-rated talk show in television history.  Then, with the establishment of Harpo Studios in 1988, Oprah became the third woman in American entertainment to own her own studio.  Her forerunners were Mary Pickford and Lucille Ball.

Harpo Productions, Inc. now produces "The Oprah Winfrey Show."  Seen by an estimated 46 million viewers a week in the US alone, it has remained the number one talk show for 21 consecutive seasons.

Oprah says, "Though I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn't changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I'm just wearing better shoes."