Whoopi Goldberg Penned a Letter to ‘The Color Purple’ Author Before Landing Role

In a recent episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg and guest Laurence Fishburne reflected on how she got her famous part in ‘The Color Purple’.  The two performers shared their memories of working on the 1985 Steven Spielberg version of Alice Walker's book, which also starred Margaret Avery, Danny Glover, and Oprah Winfrey.

 The actor who portrayed Swain in the movie, Fishburne, recalls being overjoyed when Goldberg was selected to play Celie.  He mentioned that Goldberg, who had just finished her one-woman act, had been cast in a big project with Spielberg and that the book was quite popular at the time.

He shared Goldberg's love of stories, which inspired her to write to Alice Walker about how excited she was to appear in any kind of movie.  According to Goldberg's confirmation of the story, she had stated in her letter that she would be willing to play even a dirt on the floor in order to participate.

Image Courtesy: Whoopi Goldberg/ Instagram

 She continued by explaining how she initially came upon the novel.  She intended to buy her shoes when she was driving with her daughter in their Volkswagen van, but she insisted on obtaining ‘The Color Purple’ instead.  Goldberg was moved to contact the author as soon as they finished reading it together in the car.  Later, Walker, who had already seen her play in Berkeley and was already familiar with her work, wrote back to her.

When Goldberg and Fishburne thought back on the filming process, they recalled the North Carolina set's heat and insects.  Fishburne highlighted the film's relevance by pointing out that it was among the first he had worked on with three Black women in the starring roles, which felt revolutionary at the time.

 Since then, the narrative has been converted into a Broadway musical and a 2023 movie adaptation, in which Goldberg made a cameo appearance.

–Farheen Ali