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Show WHOOPI - GOLUBERE mothersaid no one would respect her. So ade HEN WHOOPI Goldberg did are a lot of vanitytitles,” she said, “but I'm hands-on. The cast, the billing—even the dressing rooms. | ask whatthe actors need and see that they get it. If you have a good working environment, they'll go to the end of the world for you. There are arguments, prima donnas. Not everyone wins every time.” Would she ever return to Broadway? “There's a show I may bring to Broadway— Thoroughly Modern Millie. Andrewsdid it as a movie.” So is the business side of showbiz taking her one-woman show on Broadway in 1984, Mike Nichols directed. When she made her film debut in The Color Purple, ‘Steven Spielberg was the director. Now as an executive producer, she teams with Barbra Streisand on What Makesa Family, aTV movie for Lifetime.“You believe in working with the best,”I said. “I’m just lucky, I guess,” Whoopisaid, laughing. Well, not entirely. The best seek Whoopiout. Take Nichols, for example. “I was doing my show in a smaller venue in New York,”she said, “and he came. He wrote to me, saying he’d like to direct it. Then a second letter saying the only place he could find was a Broadwaytheater. Broadway can be brutal, butit worked.” As for The Color Purple, both Whoopi and her daughter had read the novel, and Whoopi sent a letter with her résumé to Alice Walker.“I wasn't sure I'd even get an answer, but a purple envelope arrived. Alice said she’d seen my one-woman show. She sent my stuff to Quincy Jones, who sent me on to Steven Spielberg. I was looking for Oprah's part, but Steven j 1980 (Oscar); Sister Act, 1990; Sister Act 2, 1993; How Stella Got includes Comic Relief, 1987-; Star Trek: The thoughtI could do the lead. I said, ‘I’ve never made.a movie, * and I don’t want to screw up.’ Poop) But Steven cast me, and ever Goldberg Siow, since, whenever I run into him, 1992-93; Cinderella, 1997; I say, ‘It’s all your fault.” Hollywood What Makes a Family, which Squares, 1998-; What Makes a airs Jan. 22, is based on a true Family, 2001. story of lesbian lovers (Brooke Shields and Cherry Jones) in the Does Whoopilook for propShe's Whoopi Goldberg, erties with an edge? “You can Hollywood nonSquare, As an actor, she can make us laugh, ‘Moms, 1960s whojointly raise a daugh- ter. When Cherry’s character makeus ery. As an ‘A FunnyThing dies, Shields battles the 5-yearHappened... 1897, \d child's grandparents forcusexecutive producer, "onsWhoopi Goldberg, include Alice, 1992; Book, 997. tody in the Florida courts, Anne Meara is the grandma, an id Whoopi plays Shields’ attorney, she’s hands-on, entertain people and give them a little information at the same time. Your mind doesn’t stop working when you become an actor.” Had Whoopi worked with Brooke before? “T've known her since she was a kid,” Whoopi said. “You know,until Suddenly Susan, people didn’t know how good an actor she was or how funny she could be,” And is Anne Meara, wife of Jerry Stiller, funny? “Funny down to the marrow of her bones,” 1B PAGE 26 | JANUARY 14, 2001: PARADE MAGAZINE: |