Illinois Hall of Fame: Oprah Winfrey

By Mark Rhoads

The biography of Chicago-based entreprenuer, broadcaster, publisher, author, and actress Oprah Winfrey reads like a 19th Century Horatio Alger (1832-1898) rags to riches success story.  Alger wrote more than a hundred books on the theme that through honesty, hard work, and strong determination, the American Dream was available to anyone willing to make the journey.  Oprah Winfrey has made that journey so far all the way from an early childhod in the rural poverty of Mississippi to the status of being America's first black billionaire and listed as one of the 270 richest Americans.  She is also a philanthropist who recently was listed by Business Week as the 32nd most generous individual donor in the country with gifts to many causes totaling about $250 million in 2005. 

Oprah was not a wealthy person when she moved to Chicago in late 1983 to work for WLS-TV as host of AM Chicago.  But twenty years ago in September 1986, her Oprah Winfrey Show went national and quickly overtook competing talk show host Phil Donahue in the ratings.  Oprah enjoys living in several residences including an estate in California.  But her Chicago residence is said to be in the Streeterville neighborhood.  To learn more about the TV shows, movies, and magazines of Oprah Winfrey, visit the Oprah.com web site.

By Mark Rhoads

The biography of Chicago-based entreprenuer, broadcaster, publisher, author, and actress Oprah Winfrey reads like a 19th Century Horatio Alger (1832-1898) rags to riches success story.  Alger wrote more than a hundred books on the theme that through honesty, hard work, and strong determination, the American Dream was available to anyone willing to make the journey.  Oprah Winfrey has made that journey so far all the way from an early childhod in the rural poverty of Mississippi to the status of being America's first black billionaire and listed as one of the 270 richest Americans.  She is also a philanthropist who recently was listed by Business Week as the 32nd most generous individual donor in the country with gifts to many causes totaling about $250 million in 2005. 

Oprah was not a wealthy person when she moved to Chicago in late 1983 to work for WLS-TV as host of AM Chicago.  But twenty years ago in September 1986, her Oprah Winfrey Show went national and quickly overtook competing talk show host Phil Donahue in the ratings.  Oprah enjoys living in several residences including an estate in California.  But her Chicago residence is said to be in the Streeterville neighborhood.  To learn more about the TV shows, movies, and magazines of Oprah Winfrey, visit the Oprah.com web site.