Whoopi Goldberg will be joining The View

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

It is official. Barbara Walters has announced that Whoopi Goldberg will be joining her and Elisabeth Hasselbeck on the television talk show, ‘The View’ the day after Labor Day. Indecently, Hasselbeck is due to go on maternity leave in November, which could provide Goldberg to find out what it is like sitting in the co-host chair. In the meantime, she will occupy the moderator’s chair.

Goldberg joked with host Barbara Walters when Whoopi sat down after being presented with her own coffee mug.  When asked if she had ever watched The View, Goldberg responded, “Once or twice, you look familiar.”

Whoopi Goldberg said it was a real thrill for her to be asked to come onto the show and promises to dress better. Barbara Walters, 77, said it was a “big day for us and a happy day for us” to have Goldberg join them for coffee and conversation.

Walter’s announcement follows the departure of Rosie O’Donnell who left the show a month before her contract was due to expire and Meredith Vieira who left in May to co-host NBC’s Today show.

The Oscar winning actress was born in the Chelsea section of Manhattan in 1955 with the name of Caryn Elaine Johnson. She worked at various labor jobs such as in a funeral parlor and as a bricklayer while taking small parts on Broadway. After moving to California and developing her skills as a comedienne by working with a variety of improve groups, she landed a starring role in The Color Purple, earning an Oscar nomination for her first film. She went on to win the Oscar in the smash hit Ghost staring Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze.

Whoopi Goldberg is a versatile actress with a flare for comedy as seen in Jumping Jack Flash and Sister Act. She has been married three times and has had two very public romances with Ted Danson and Frank Langella.