Oprah Winfrey Receives Honorary Oscar for Philanthropy
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey can add yet another title to her resume: Oscar winner. The former talk show host, who was nominated for 1985's The Color Purple, received the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, given for philanthropic efforts.
"I never imagined receiving an Oscar, especially for doing what is part of my calling, part of my being," she said, according to People. "If you are not a former colored girl born in Mississippi in 1954, it is impossible for you to know what this journey has meant."
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Winfrey's former colleague at Baltimore station WJR-TV, Maria Shriver, presented her with the honor, and friends including Tyler Perry, Sidney Poitier, Gayle King and John Travolta attended the ceremony.
James Earl Jones and makeup guru Dick Smith (The Exorcist, The Godfather) also were given honorary Oscars at the Governors Awards held in Los Angeles.