Movies Were Better When Whoopi Was in Them

The actress has already achieved EGOT status. Now, finally, she’s a Master of Culture.

- By Soraya Nadia McDonald

FOR A SOLID DECADE, Whoopi Goldberg was the funniest woman in America. Along with her two best friends in Hollywood— Billy Crystal and Robin Williams—she ruled the 1990s and, in so doing, expanded notions of what a Black woman could be in Hollywood. Whenever the three appeared onstage together, it was appointment TV. They had chemistry as a trio of troublemakers: Crystal the wisecracker; Williams the frenetic, unpredictable master of impressions; and Goldberg the crackling, mischievous wit who had everyone’s number and wasn’t afraid to use it. The Clintons, Heidi Fleiss, Bob Dole—you name ’em, she had a joke about ’em.