Harpo Productions Information & Harpo Productions Links at HealthHaven.com

The sign in front of Oprah Winfrey's Chicago based Harpo Studios.

Harpo Productions is an incorporated US-based multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey (the name 'Harpo' is 'Oprah' spelled backwards, and was the name of her on-screen husband in The Color Purple). It also includes Harpo Films (the company's film production company) & Harpo Radio, Inc. (the company's radio division). It is based in Chicago, and Harpo Studios (the company's TV production studio) is located in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago.

The land where the studio now sits once housed a cold storage warehouse that was used as a makeshift morgue for victims of the capsizing of the steamer SS Eastland.^[1] The 88,000-square-foot (8,200 m²) facility was renovated and opened in the late 1980s for use by The Oprah Winfrey Show.^[2]

In late 2008, Harpo Films signed an exclusive output pact with HBO.^[3] Previously, Harpo films had a deal with ABC, which included production of Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom's For One More Day.^[3]

[edit] Harpo productions

[edit] Television

Marquee above entrance at Harpo Studios

2009-present: The Dr. Oz Show
2006-present: Rachael Ray
2005: Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God, with a teleplay by Suzan-Lori Parks and Misan Sagay
2003-2006: Oprah After the Show
2002-present: Dr. Phil
1998: The Wedding, miniseries
1990: Brewster Place, a spinoff from the 1989 miniseries
1989: Gloria Naylor - The Women of Brewster Place, with a teleplay by Karen Hall
1986-2011: The Oprah Winfrey Show

[edit] Film

2009: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
2007: The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington, with a screenplay by Suzan-Lori Parks and Robert Eisele
1998: Beloved, starring Oprah, novel by Tony Morrison, with a screenplay by Akosua Busia
1985: The Color Purple, starring Oprah

[edit] Radio

Oprah & Friends

[edit] References

^ "The Oprah Winfrey Show trivia", www.oprah.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-28.
^ Colander, Pat (1989-03-12). "Oprah Winfrey's Odyssey: Talk-Show Host to Mogul". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE3DC1038F931A25750C0A96F948260.
^ ^a ^b Frankel, Daniel (2008-12-16), "Oprah Winfrey pacts with HBO", Variety, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117997464.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

[edit] External links

Harpo Films
Harpo Productions at the Internet Movie Database
Color Purple SlideShow [1]
Oprah Winfrey's biography

This article about a film production company or film distributor is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[0] "The Oprah Winfrey Show trivia", www.oprah.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-28.

[1] Colander, Pat (1989-03-12). "Oprah Winfrey's Odyssey: Talk-Show Host to Mogul". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE3DC1038F931A25750C0A96F948260.

[varietyHBOpact-2] Frankel, Daniel (2008-12-16), "Oprah Winfrey pacts with HBO", Variety, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117997464.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

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