Conversation | 03/13/2008 7:02 pm

Whoopi: 'I Don't Think I Was Ever Mean'

LIZ: Well, don’t go without me because I love Greece myself.

WHOOPI: Oh, please. I would take as many people as I could.

LIZ: Would you ever mount a one-woman show again?

WHOOPI: Yes, I would. I’m trying to find a way to mount one about Moms Mabley.

LIZ: Oh, great.

WHOOPI: I’m hopeful that I can get it done. And I hope to make movies again. I know that it’s going to take a little while for me.

LIZ: You know, I’m such a fan of yours. I’ve just made a note to myself. You have made so many movies. You played a housekeeper, a romantic lead to Ray Liotta, a nanny. You played a nun who was actually a lounge singer. You played a fake psychic, a lesbian sharecropper, a detective, a nurse. You have made almost every kind of genre film.

WHOOPI: Yes.

LIZ: So you want to make more?

WHOOPI: I do. I’m desperate to do a scary movie.

LIZ: Oh, really? That’s one you haven’t done.

WHOOPI: I have never done it. I want so much to do science fiction and a couple of fright movies.

LIZ: Oh, great. Well you did do science fiction. You did Star Trek.

WHOOPI: Yes, I did. And I, you know, I couldn’t get enough.

LIZ: Well maybe you can produce your own movie next time and make a lot of money. I want to ask you if fame, which actually came to you fairly early on — you weren’t a kid, but — has it been all it’s cracked up to be?

WHOOPI: Yes and no. There’s a lot that I didn’t know about. I would have been smart to know more, so I would have some way of doing better … a better way of embracing the fame. I love when people come up and they like what I do. It’s hard to hear because what I see is not what other people see.

LIZ: You’re sort of skeptical of the praise?

WHOOPI: Yeah. I’m always skeptical of praise for myself.

LIZ: Well, you must be very skeptical of me.

WHOOPI: No, no, no. But I know how easily what I do comes to me.

LIZ: Oh, really?

WHOOPI: Oh, yeah. As an actor, oh yeah. It’s really … it’s what I love the most.

LIZ: You mean little drops of blood aren’t standing out on your forehead when you’re acting?

WHOOPI: No. Only these days I get concerned because my memory is not as good as it used to be.

LIZ: Oh, well. There’s too much to remember now. Now, Whoopi, you’ve had some spectacular, famous boyfriends and I’ve known at least two of them. So how’s your love life now?

WHOOPI: My love life is quite good. It’s quite good. It’s rewarding and it’s sort of real, you know. I guess maybe I’m realer than I’ve been before.

LIZ: We’ll leave you a few shreds and tatters of your privacy. You know, you have played men on stage a couple of times; lots of times in your one-woman show and then in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. What do you look for in a man?

Read more about: Culture, Film, Politics, Theater

105 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Hi Whoopi I have a screenplay that is a social commentary wrapped in a romantic screwball comedy. The conflicts involve men and women and Black and White people, it is very topical. I hope you can read it - thanks www.bygeorgescreenplay.com

By brad berger on 03/28/2008 7:35 am

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All wowowow participants are welcome to read “By George” www.bygeorgescreenplay.com

By brad berger on 03/28/2008 8:53 am

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Brad, I noted your NJ address and recommend contacting Barney Lichtenstein’s screenwriting group http://www.selectscreenplays.com/ to find out when/if he still teaches online UCLA screen analysis class. He teaches both live and online classes, at least he did. He is beyond excellent. I took some of his classes at UCLA. Many fellow students had MFA degrees in film, and were working in the business. Barney is a total gentleman /class act and can provide the inside guidance everyone needs. A good book is by Peter Miller, “Get Published! Get Produced!” My interest in film studies were strictly learning the Vogler mono-myth story structure used at Disney, Fox, Warner Brothers to make my novel read like a film. But as a result of the classes my work was chosen as an example of excellent student work which led to a gig writing a master story for a Emmy winning composer of major film scores who was extremely pleased with what I produced. And Barney said I could leave the class and go immediately into script analysis…although who’d want to. Pays peanuts and loads of work and pressure! His class was fantastically interesting, and well worth the time. Bonne chance.

By Buh-Bye Hillary Hillary Buh-Bye on 03/28/2008 1:47 pm

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Thank you, thank you, thank you Whoopi for being part of Wow.

By Mi Mi Benedict on 03/30/2008 9:35 am

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Ms. Whoopi you have been my idol for as long as I can remember. We are the same age, and born in the same month, just at opposite sides of New York State.

I have a funny story: We were stationed at Quantico Marine Corp Base in VA, my neighbors where African American, me I’m what pop’s use to call lilly white, it’s the irish/english in me,lol Anyways the young lady from next door and my little girl were watching your video with me and laughing like crazy. They could only watch certain parts due to language,lol. Well after you did your bit on wanting to be a white girl with long hair,the two of them went into my bedroom got some sweatshirts and went la de da around the house. My x@@@@@husband is Serbian and dark skin and dark hair, and my little girl got all daddy’s traits and none of mine. Hell you wouldn’t even know either of my kids were mine if they didn’t introduce me as such, my son looks like my dad, who was dark haired with brown eyes.

Off track again, Sorry, Anyways the girls were pretending to be you and her mother and I were laughing non stop, they told us they’d be back they were going out to the yard. When they came back in OH MY GOD::::: My daughters long hair was gone and it was Super Glued to Angie’s head, you know what came next.

Angie had to have her head shaved because of the glue and Deanna had to get some kind of a hair cut to look somewhat human, lol. It took almost six months for her hair to get into some kind of shape, they really did a butcher job on eachother.

In my family your number one, Robin Williams is two, and George Carlin, three, in the comic realm.

I’ve got most of your movies and since you joined the VIEW I never miss an show, even the occasional reruns. I’m so happy to watch and learn and laugh at something almost everyday of the wk. An I love you on Star Trek, I have informed my kids I want the complete collection of Star Treck: Generation for my next Bday, that and StarGate SG1.

Whoopi, i really agree with you about all the crazy tax’s in NY state, from cigs, to booze, to cloths. And I am taking your adivce to heart, I question all the tax’s on all my bills, I’ve been overcharged by many utitlies, cable bills are the worse especially if you have phone and internet packages and can’t get out of them till the contract runs out and then you have to start all over again with another carrier.

Keep us smiling and laughing, but most of all thinking. God Bless you Whoopi Goldberg :)

By Deniseann Taylor on 06/13/2009 6:22 pm

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scuze me for buttin in at the head of the line — that annie liebowitz pic of you on cobert last night was incredible. Can I get it on google images? you are sooooo hot — it’s no wonder brando came sniffin round like a coon dog on the trail of an irresistable scent.

By Michael Salling on 04/29/2008 8:22 pm

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Whoopi, The View has never been more enjoyable to me, both entertaining and informative, since you have been on it. I appreciate your honesty and also how you challenge other’s views. Great work!

By Donna W. on 03/28/2008 8:02 am

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This is what I’m talking about…conversation between two ladies who have been friends for God knows how long. Whoopi-Liz top of the morning to you both. Whoopi my impression of you has always been that you call it as you see and feel it. One of you said something regarding the bullshit we are constantly fed. Problems begin when you call those people on the carpet…that’s when stink begins to make its rounds from station to station accusing you-Whoopi- of being evil and insensitive. I too am over joyed that our fellow Americans now understand it’s okay to speak up…voice your opinions and your concerns. Afterall people have died so we all can take advantage of what we are doing right now. Talking loudly. Can’t wait to see your new work!!!

By Taylor Hall on 03/28/2008 8:37 am

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I have to say Whoopi that I am so much like you. I really enjoy you on The View. You add so much to the show.

By Marie McConnell on 03/28/2008 8:42 am

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I appreciate women like you Whoopi. Straight talk and no bull. Telling it the way it is without malice is good in my book. We can’t always tip-toe around important subjects for fear that someone might be offended. We are not, after all, responsible for other people’s reactions to our own opinions when the opinions are asked for and given without intentional harm. That’s what is so great about our country and so many people forget what IS great about it in the light of a looming recession. We still have freedom of speech.

By Hedda Lettuce on 03/28/2008 9:12 am

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I love smart women who ask questions and have civil discussion! Sometimes I fear too many people don’t know how to think critically. They only know how to react and push their own ideology. To paraphrase Anna Deveare Smith, it’s important for all of us to come out of our safe houses and relate to more than just those who agree with us. Cheers, Whoopi, and Liz, and the women of WowoWow!

By J.D. E. on 03/28/2008 9:27 am

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You are my hero. I, too, wish for more discourse, based on critical thinking, and expressed with respect. You are my hero. Please run for President.

By K O on 04/16/2008 2:27 pm

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I think that Whoopi, is excellent ,and finally I been wondering what her opinion was on alot of things, How many kids do you have 3? Amy

By Amy Van Cleave on 03/28/2008 9:47 am

I think we should talk about womens dieases, that have taken women out of the workforce.Like my dx. of Intersitital cystitis, more women have this then diabete’s and MS combined. We need a national spokeperson to shade like on this diaease. The pain is like the end stages of renal failure. Check out there website www.ichelp.org Or Pelvicpain.com

By Amy Van Cleave on 03/28/2008 9:54 am

I would love to know where Whoopi intends to go in Greece. I have a house on a Greek island and I love it. I do not own a TV, hardly ever read a newspaper, it is always a day late anyway, just read all the books that I can carry with me and entertain my children who visit and friends who come to stay. I wonder if Whoopi, who is such a personality and in the midst of all that is going on in todays world, would not become a little bit bored. She can come and visit me anytime but I would have to put up a fence to keep all the locals from wanting to be her friend.

By Sandra Robinson on 03/28/2008 10:04 am