Oprah Winfrey hasn’t had her wildly successful talk show for years, but she is still one of the biggest names in entertainment, and she has become incredibly wealthy as a part of her success. Money certainly isn’t a big deal for Oprah now, but apparently, it never really was, as she recently spoke about taking a remarkably small payday for her role in The Color Purple.
Oprah Winfrey is a producer on the new The Color Purple movie, the adaptation of the stage musical of the Alice Walker novel, but she made her film debut in the original Steven Spielberg-directed film in 1985. It earned her an Oscar nomination, and it was the beginning of her career that led to massive success. But it all started because she took a role that wasn’t offering her much money. In Essence, where Oprah interviews the new The Color Purple cast, she says that what money she earned was worth it. Oprah explained:
Thank you all for this. I can’t even begin to tell you what it means to me—a person who wanted nothing more in my life than to be in The Color Purple. And God taught me to surrender—that was the big lesson for me. They were only offering $35,000 to be in this film, and it is the best $35,000 I ever earned. It changed everything and taught me so much.
Oprah Winfrey was a newcomer to Hollywood when she appeared in The Color Purple, which might explain the salary, but even in 1985, for a major role in a major studio production, $35,000 wasn’t a great deal of money. The opportunity was still huge though, and she certainly took advantage of it. It’s difficult to imagine Oprah becoming who she is today without The Color Purple.
The Color Purple was a groundbreaking book when Alice Walker’s novel was released, and every iteration of the story that has followed has continued to resonate with ensuing generations. Oprah firmly believes the new movie will do the same. She said:
It is God moving through my life. And to have all of you beautiful Black women bearing witness to the story, as the story moves forward, means so much. I believe that what Fantasia has said is true: Everybody who comes to see our film is going to be touched. They will be moved. And they will be healed. So thank you for the blessing.
Fans can revisit Oprah's performance in a new 4K Blu-ray of The Color Purple, which is arriving ahead of the new film's Christmas release on the 2023 movie schedule. One certainly has to wonder if the new The Color Purple will change the lives of its cast the way the original movie did for Oprah. If not, we can be confident they were likely all paid a lot better.
