'The View' co-host Whoopi Goldberg shares how Patrick Swayze roped her in to make 'Ghost' in Dave Karger's new book
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Whoopi Goldberg shared how she had to be persuaded to take up the role which earned her the Academy Award in 1991, in an interview with author Dave Karger for his new book '50 Oscar Nights'. The prize role was of a questionable psychic named Oda Mae Brown in the 1990 film, Ghost.
Karger's book which contains the interview is set to hit the stores on January 23, according to People.
How did Patrick Swayze convince Whoopi Goldberg to join film?
The 68-year-old star told Karger, "I get a phone call from my agent, Ron Meyer, who says, ‘Patrick Swayze has been hired for this movie. Patrick is not going to do this if you don’t do it. Can you make some time for him and the director to come up?’”
“So they flew in, I meet Patrick, and out of the blue, we’re old friends," recalled the EGOT-winning actress. Soon afterward, Swayze pitched the movie to Goldberg, in which the character of Oda Mae Brown helps Sam Wheat (played by Swayze) communicate with his girlfriend (played by Demi Moore) from the great beyond.
"About 40 minutes go by and Patrick says, 'Please do this with me.' I was like, 'Yeah, okay.' And that’s how it happened," shared Goldberg.
"I said yes, not really knowing what it was going to be. It wasn’t until we all saw the film that we realized what we had," she added.
'Ghost' scored big on multiple fronts
The movie became a massive hit and greatly boosted Goldberg's Hollywood career, but more importantly, stood out as an iconic moment in Oscar history, reported People.
Goldberg's win marked the second time a Black actress won Best Supporting Actress, over 50 years after Hattie McDaniel's historic win in 1940 for Gone with the Wind.
The first time that she saw the movie with Swayze, "He looked over to me and said, ‘Do you remember making this movie?’ I said, ‘I remember some of this, but I don’t remember all of this!’ It was kind of like, ‘Oh my God, this is great!’” she shared.
"He was sexy and sweet and just a terrific human being to me," remembered 'The View' co-host of Swayze, who died in 2009 at the age of 57 after battling pancreatic cancer.
