Back before "Beloved" tanked, Winfrey was an Oscar nominee. In her major film debut "The Color Purple" (1985), Winfrey's portrayal of Sofia was so good audiences forgot she was, well, Oprah Winfrey. She has also executive produced such feel-good made-for-TV movies as "Tuesdays with Morrie" and "Amy & Isabelle." 
        But if anyone can be credited for getting a nation of non-readers to crack open a book or two, we've got to give our props to Winfrey. Oprah's Book Club made literature exciting and gave some fans the opportunity to sit down with the authors, share a meal and talk about the vivid characters. She made celebrities out of authors -- some unwillingly, including Jonathan Franzen, who famously resisted having The Corrections chosen.
        Though Winfrey leaned toward the classics, or at least well-respected novels, not all her picks were gems. Robert James Waller's The Bridges of Madison County was just plain bad. That it became a best seller was an insult to writers across the country.
        And when Winfrey ended her club, only to reinstate it later, a slew of imitators instituted their own book clubs on morning talk shows. 
        Winfrey has so much power that a seal of approval by Oprah's Book Club spikes sales at least tenfold. For her work in promoting books, she was given an honorary National Book Award in 1999. That same year, the National Book Foundation honored her as well.

        Who can forget the wagon of fat? 
        It was 1988, and Winfrey had just lost a ton of weight. OK, it was actually 67 pounds. But when she wheeled out the fat and announced she had lost enough weight to fit into a pair of Size 10 designer jeans, she began a wave of yo-yo dieting that seemingly never ended.
        Like many of us, she is plumper now than she was then. But she also seems to have more energy, thanks to a healthy diet that includes actual food and an exercise routine that includes a daily 45-minute cardio workout.
        "Oprah is a good athlete, only she never knew it because she never exercised," Winfrey's longtime trainer Bob Greene has said. "She's incredibly focused on whatever she sets her mind to doing."
        This has included completing marathons and learning how to swim -- which she acknowledged was a big no-no for many African-American women who didn't want to ruin their hair.
        "By 50, a lot of people have looked at death pretty closely," says Wu. "Someone they know has probably died, and they have probably had some kind of medical scare themselves. So they really start taking care of their bodies like they've never done before. 
        "Oprah has been [taking care of herself] for the past 20 years, but there's the possibility for her to be even greater and more fearless. I know of people who've trekked across Tibet and can imagine Oprah tackling some amazing adventures."

        Six million dollar man? Try the one billion dollar woman. 
        Winfrey made more money last year than any entertainer other than Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Her personal worth of $1.1 billion makes her one of only two African Americans on Forbes magazine's billionaire list. (The other is Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson.)
        Though she claims to know little about money, Winfrey knows how to make the most of what she has. After parlaying a gig hosting "A.M. Chicago" into the nationally syndicated "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 1986, she purchased ownership of the show and founded Harpo Studio in the West Loop. 
        She is a magazine publisher (O, The Oprah Magazine, was the most successful start-up magazine ever); has a piece of the cable TV market with the Oxygen network, and generated more than $1.6 million in ticket sales during her 2001 "Live Your Best Life" motivational speaking tour.
        And if you're a favored guest on her show, she can make your career. Dr. Phil and financial expert Suze Orman got their own shows. And Winfrey's personal trainer Bob Greene and chef Rosie Daley each hit No. 1 on the book charts.
        In short, when Winfrey talks, the world listens. After she uttered a single sentence on a show about mad cow disease in Europe -- saying "It has just stopped me from eating another burger!" -- she was sued by the Texas cattle industry. She later was vindicated in court.
        But despite her status as a Chicago icon -- who brings celebs to town and promotes local businesses like favorite Garrett Popcorn -- not even her enormous popularity could sustain her days as a restaurateur. The Eccentric, which served up fabulous comfort food including her much loved mashed potatoes, closed in 1995.

        Long before she met Stedman Graham -- her boyfriend of the past 17 years -- Winfrey was head over heels in love with a boy named Bubba. At 16, she was so enamored of her high school sweetie that she convinced her employer to hire him at the radio station where she worked. 
        But it wasn't until she met Graham that Winfrey found her soulmate. Though she decided long ago that kids and marriage were not in the cards for her, she has found contentment with her 6-foot-6 businessman and their dogs Solomon and Sophie.
        "Stedman is very different from me in that he's very vision-oriented and sets goals," Winfrey said in 1995. "I live in the moment and expect it to carry me. And one of the things I admire and love about him is that once he gets something or figures it out, he always wants to give back and share."
        Of his famous girlfriend, Graham said at the time, "I'm with a very powerful woman -- I would say the most powerful woman in the world. She's smart and beautiful and kind. And when you're with someone like that, you just want the best for her, so I support her 175 percent."
        As for being perceived as Mr. Winfrey, Graham doesn't let it bother him.
        "I have a very full life of my own," he said. "Who has time to worry about things like that?"

        Over the years, Winfrey has donated more than $40 million to charities -- and exhorted watchers to help, as well. Her Angel Network featured ordinary people helping others with whatever they had to give. Guests such as Susan Sarandon showed how buying a single goat for a family in South Africa could have make a difference -- besides drinking the milk, the family could sell milk and send the children to school instead of work.
        Though unabashed about enjoying the luxuries she can now afford, Winfrey hasn't forgotten her humble roots. She has talked of growing up poor in the South, being molested as a child and having a baby when she was 14. (The child didn't survive.) Some of her most significant charitable contributions benefit women and children; she is a spokeswoman for A Better Chance, which guides minority students toward educational opportunities. 
        After befriending Nelson Mandela and making a life-altering trip to South Africa in 2002, Winfrey has remained steadfast with her relief work there. Recently, she donated $10 million to build the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, which will open next year near Johannesburg.
        As she has gotten older, Winfrey has become more vocal about her relationship with God. In the early years of her show, Winfrey used a generic spiritual umbrella to represent all things to everyone. But today, viewers notice she isn't afraid to offend nonbelievers by referencing the Bible and Jesus.