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About
Comedic actress who gained recognition for her role in The Color Purple and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Ghost.
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Before Fame
From 1979 to 1981, she worked in several theater productions in Communist East Germany, where she smuggled contraband for her artist friends.
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Trivia Fact
She is one of very few actors to have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony Award, and her name comes from the whoopee cushion toy.
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Family Life:
She married Alvin Martin in 1973, and the couple had one daughter before divorcing in 1979.
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Associated With
She starred in the film adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple.
