What if you found out your great-great-great grandmother was a queen? What is you were related to the Founding Fathers? What if Albert Einstein was your fourth cousin? It’s life changing, Oprah has to tell us. To trace back your family history. She has to say, when it happened to her, it was absolutely empowering to know the journey of her entire family.

Former Friends star, Lisa Kudrow follows celebrities as they dig up their family histories on her new reality TV show. Welcome Lisa. The crowd applaud. Usually when people say who do you think you are, it is sarcastic, says Oprah. Snarky, agrees Lisa. Lisa first discovered the show while working in Ireland. “It was riveting, and I just felt like, ‘Well, why don’t we get to have a show like this here?”. Here’s a peak, take a look.

Emmitt Smith, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Susan Sarandon, Lisa Kudrow and Brooke Shields learn about their roots and learn even more about themselves along the way in the new show, Who Do You Think You Are?. Sarah Jessica Parker says most of us see who we are in the mirror, and how do you fit that information into your world. She went into this feeling no link to the past, she was terribly wrong and has buckets of questions. She is told her relative has something to do with the Salem Witch Trials. She finds it terrifying, and incredible. Brooke Shields discovers that the most powerful king of all time, Louis XIV is her cousin. Matthew Broderick learns that his grandfather was in Gettysburg. He says it’s like discovering that you are different than you thought. Susan Sarandon could never figure out what happened to her grandmother- she was a showgirl. Spike Lee meets his cousins. Emmitt Smith’s great great great grandfather was a slave. On this extraordinary trip into their pasts, celebrities find out their history and learn more about themselves. “It’s changed everything about who I thought I was,” Sarah Jessica says. “Everything.”

Oprah asks Lisa about her family history. Lisa met someone that she thought was dead, he had survived the holocaust and joined the Polish navy and came to Brooklyn to tell her parents that all their family from the village had died. They begged him to stay but he didn’t. Lisa thought that she was going to find out how he died, but instead she found him alive. It was like a miracle. Her Dad’s parents were both Eastern European Jews. “Most American Jews from Eastern Europe, they have a Holocaust story,” she says. “I wanted to find out my family’s story.” One day, Lisa sat down with her father, Lee, to find out more. After World War II, Lee says a distant relative showed up at his Brooklyn home to relay tragic news. His name was Yuri Barudin. “Yuri told our family that he was playing in the woods, and he could see that the Nazis were shooting, and he was watching his family being cut down by the Nazis,” Lee says. “They killed all the Jews in town. My grandmother was one of them.” Lisa says the story of how her great-grandmother Meri Mordejovich died still haunts her father. “He was a child when this relative came over,” she says. “I want to find out exactly what happened to my great-grandmother’s family.” Lisa’s emotional journey continues in Eastern Europe, in the the town that that the massacre took place. She flew to Ilya, Belarus, the town where her great-grandmother lived and died, to piece together the past.

Local historians helped Lisa find records that documented her great-grandmother’s murder. Next to Meri Mordejovich’s name, the ledger stated that she was a Jewish housewife from Ilya who’d been killed and burned. ”I knew my great-grandmother was murdered,” Lisa says. “But to hear the words ‘killed and burned,’ that’s worse than I thought.” Then, Lisa visited the place where her great-grandmother and countless others were shot and buried. They were made to approach the edge of the pit in small groups of two or three, then they were shot and the next group came up. “How do you prepare for the last moment of your life, knowing what’s coming?” Lisa says. “You watch the people before you and know that’s your fate, while you’re naked and humiliated and waiting for your turn to get shot.” Those poor parents with their children. Lisa’s grandmother had her grandchildren around, that is so hard.

Oprah asks what it does for you to find out where you come from. Intellectually, Lisa says she knew, but it was at an emotional distance. In some way, she was a little proud of herself, what she went through.  “I’m delivering their story to people, and they’re not forgotten,” she says. “Now, there are witnesses.”

Oprah say that she came from a woman who had built a school at a time when black people weren’t supposed to read. The fact that you came from that gives you a sense of power and pride.  Lisa met a 94 year old woman who asked about her white teeth, and then said are you from America, are you rich? It was the first time that Lisa was able to say yes I am, without any shame.

More celebrities are discovering this for themselves in the new reality series Who Do You Think You Are? Here’s what Brooke Shields discovered. Her father died in 2003 and no one spoke much of his side of the family, they were aristocrats. A genealogist traced her family tree. In Rome, she discovered that her father’s family were among the most influential families in Rome. She reals at the family house, can you imagine living there? It’s a palace. A professor from the University of Rome shows her inside the summer residence. She sees the wedding certificate that tells her that there was a French relative. Brooke Shields says that part of her is so French, she studied French Literature at college. She goes to the French countryside to see where he started, a marked contrast from the opulence of his Italian residence. The top of the family tree shows an intriguing French figure, Marie, who was born in the Louvre. Her father was Henry IV. She goes to the chamber containing Henry IV”s heart, which she touches. She feels awestruck.

Oprah says that awestruck is the term. Lisa explains that there are other connections, around 950BC, the royals had records that far back so you can trace it.

Emmitt Smith, NFL great and Dancing With The Stars legend is in the studio. Welcome back says Oprah. A few weeks ago, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He says that it was a special moment that he couldn’t prepare himself mentally for the opportunity, but he couldn’t wait. It was a unique experience. His father told him something crazy- just before they called his name, his father said that he never went to college because his mom got sick, so Emmett is living his father’s dream. All Emmett could think was he is living his own dream, his fathers dream and fulfilling God’s purpose for his life. That’s amazing says Oprah.

Emmett followed his roots to Burnt Corn, Alabama, the town where his great-grandmother was born. “I feel like a detective on a hunt trying to find clues,” he says. In Burnt Corn, Emmitt wandered into a convenience store and asked a clerk if he knew two of his relatives, Bill and Victoria Watson. Coincidentally, Joe, the clerk, turned out to be Emmitt’s second cousin. Emmitt also learned that his great-great-grandmother, Victoria, had an unusual maiden name—Puryear. Genealogist Marjorie Sholes told Emmitt that “Puryear” was probably the name of a slave owner. “African-Americans, at the end of the Civil War, sometimes picked the names of their last slave owner,” she says. Emmitt went in search of Victoria’s parents’ names. In an old ledger, Marjorie found a man named Prince Puryear who was described with the letter “m,” which meant mulatto. “Specifically, black/ white race,” she says. They also discovered that Prince’s mom was a woman named Mariah. “Now, I know that Prince was mixed race and born into slavery,” Emmitt says. “If Mariah was his mother, could she be the link between the black and the white side of my family?” This is a story that’s getting good, says Emmitt.

Records show Prince and his mother Mariah were owned by a notorious slave trader called Alexander Puryear. They went to a cemetery where the black people were buried out back in a wooded area. His great, great, great grandaddy is somewhere in the woods, it is sad that he can’t go visit the gravesite which has been worn away over the years. Alexander Puryear trafficked slaves from Virginia to Alabama. In Mecklenburg, Virginia, Emmitt comes across Puryear’s Tires and Puryear’s Florist. Virginia historian John Caknipe said Samuel Puryear, Alexander’s father, might be the link to Mariah. To find out for sure, John selected a book of old deeds from a shelf. The number on the book was 22—the same number Emmitt wore on the football field for 15 years.

“I’ve been wearing jersey number 22 since college,” he says. “Maybe it is my destiny, and I’ve always believed I was a child of destiny, but, whew, this is … it’s making me a little bit nervous.” Oprah believes that there is no such thing as coincidences. Emmett agrees, that was one of the weirdest moments for him, the book was like walking into his first Superbowl. He was anxious, but thrown by the fact that it was in deed book 22. Of course it was, says Oprah. She asks how it was to find out about his family history, how did it change his view of himself? He likes to think of himself as a humble person with a warrior’s spirit and heart. But to find that his people were treated as property was hard. Oprah keeps a document in her living room where slaves are listed with the other property of the household. She passes it everyday to remind herself where she came from. And where you want to go, says Emmitt. To see people looked upon as cattle, passed down with artifacts was heartbreaking.

Oprah says that he had a heartbreaking moment looking at marriage records., while sitting on the porch of an old slave quarters in Clayborn, Alabama. There was a trail from Virginia to Louisiana given by the Government to transport goods. “That house down in Clayborn is where I started to put things together,” he says. “And right then and there, I sensed that my ancestors were crying out to me because they were lost for so many years, and here, their great-great-grandson is going on the journey to find who they were.”

Wow, that’s powerful, says Oprah. While Emmitt sat on the porch, it started to rain. “It was coming to me all at one time, and it was incredible,” he says. “Often times, people want closure, and I felt like my folks did not have closure. At that time, when I found that information, I felt like they were crying out, ‘We got closure now.’” It was strong, Oprah knows what that feels like, they hold hands. He asks why he has to cry on her show?

Oprah says that he has a sensitive side, he says it’s his wife and kids. In the 22nd book of deeds, he discovered that Maria was raised and bred, like the racehorses. Slaves were bred like animals, but the animals were treated better. Maria was passed down at a very young age. Emmitt has 13 year old and 10 year old daughters and can’t imagine having them passed down through slavery that way.

The historian would put money on the fact that Samuel was the father of Maria. He thinks that Alexander was trafficking slaves and Samuel recognized that Maria was his sister, was family. It is likely her birth was a rape. Samuel was cold and heartless but related to Emmitt. Emmitt says he’s glad that his heart is not like Samuel’s. Wow, says Oprah. It’s amazing says Emmitt. Emmitt says he’s even more thankful for the power of progress. “I thank God for people who stood up for equality for all of us,” he says. For those who opened doors to allow usto do what we are now able to do.

Oprah was so struck by coming from a people who had nothing, from which they could make something. Which meant if they could do that, God only knows what she could do. The potentials are endless, Maria could never have imagined that Emmitt would be a Hall of Famer. He feels he’s standing on the shoulders of giants, people who sacrificed so much of their lives for our freedoms, he feels the same way about the US military. The luxuries of living in freedom. He says that everyone must go do this themselves. Unless you step back in that time warp, it is critical; this will help you appreciate the visions and struggles of the past and define your vision of going forward. He knows who he is and who he wants to be, and he knows what his role and responsibilities are to his family, country, state and city, and those folks right there [family photograph]. Oprah says what a beautiful family. Oprah thanks Emmitt and Lisa and encourages everyone to watch the show.

Oprah says that we have to talk to her good friend Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard professor, about genealogy. You may recall his confrontation with a police officer at his Cambridge, Massachusetts, home, Dr. Gates was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct. His arrest sparked a racially fueled national uproar, which led to the first-ever White House Beer Summit. President Barack Obama, Dr. Gates and the arresting officer, James Crowley, sat down over mugs of beer and talked out the conflict. Since then, Dr. Gates says he and Officer Crowley have developed a really good relationship. In fact, Dr. Gates says he and Officer Crowley are more than friends. After asking Officer Crowley to take a DNA test, Dr. Gates discovered they’re distant cousins. “He and I descend from the same Irish ancestor,” Dr. Gates says. “Eight percent of the men in Ireland have our identical DNA, and we all descend from King Niall of the Nine Hostages. It was good to be the king—the guy slept with everybody in the kingdom.” Regis Philbin also shares the same ancestor, a bloodline that dates back to 450 A.D. Dr. Gates says Officer Crowley recently gave him the handcuffs used in his arrest. “They have his name, Crowley, etched on them,” Dr. Gates says. The handcuffs will be donated to the new emerging Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is scheduled to be completed in 2015. Oprah thanks him, she’s on the board.

As Officer Crowley and Dr. Gates discovered, it’s a small world. Despite our different races, religions and cultures, family trees intertwine, and humans are, ultimately, connected. This fact is proven in Dr. Gates’ new PBS series, Faces of America.

When Oscar-winning actors, Olympic Games medalists and celebrated musicians allowed Dr. Gates to trace their roots, many were surprised by the results. These celebrated people think they know were they come from, but they are getting all new knowledge.

Actress Eva Longoria always thought of herself as a Mexican-American, but a DNA test showed that she’s actually 70 percent European, 27 percent Native American and 3 percent African. “To know that I have a majority Spanish blood is a little…you know, I’ve been so proud of being Mexican—Mexican from Mexico,” she says. “To know that that’s not really who I am.” ”It’s not only who you are,” Dr. Gates says.

Kristi Yamaguchi, Olympic Gold Medallist finds out that her grandfather fighting in the US Army was the only Japanese man fighting Japan in his unit. In the New York Times it said that he was promoted for being unquestionably the best soldier in the unit.

Cutting-edge DNA research also leads to some surprising family connections. Eva finds out she’s related to Grammy-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and actress Meryl Streep discovers she’s linked to director Mike Nichols, a man she’s worked with on four films. Meryl laughs and says it’s ridiculous. They are great friends, they are very close.

Dr Gates says that the test is not available commercially. Oprah says that she was one of the pioneers. Dr Gates says yes, with Quincy Jones. In fact, he got the idea in 2000 at Quincy’s house because Quincy was into doing family trees. Dr Gates says he has the greatest job in the world, bringing people back from the past. Letting people see them and meet them and encounter shadows from the past.

Dr Gates wanted a Jew and a Muslim on the show to discover where their genealogy may intersect. Dr Oz discovers that he shares the same common ancestry as Mike Nicholls, who is a Russian Jew. Dr Oz finds this information to be  life changing; Jews and Muslims must recognize how integrated that they really are. The only thing separating them is the way that we think about things.

Oprah says that we are all connected. 50,000 years ago all of our ancestors were walking around in East Africa. If there was a garden of Eden, it would be in Africa. It’s hard for some Southerners to face, says Oprah. Yes, it’s a scientific fact, says Dr Gates. We have common ancestors; in Dr Oz and Mike’s case, they had a shared grandfather around 9000 years ago.

In the year 1767, a man sat down and did his family tree and picked the generational names for the next 60 generations after his death. In Yo Yo Ma’s name, Yo is a generational name, his sister is called Yo too. They joke about Yo This, Yo That, Yobama. The family tree goes back to 1217 and is the property of one of Yo Yo Ma’s distant cousins. In the 60’s Mao ruled that all things old should be destroyed. The document was hidden in the wall, and forgotten about. 4 years ago the cousin renovated his kitchen and found the forgotten family tree. The guy almost threw it away. It is made of bamboo which can be boiled and restored. They had it replicated and showed it to Yo Yo Ma.

How can people watching at home discover their ancestors and follow their family tree?  Dr. Gates says there are two ways to get started. You can log on to websites like Ancestry.com, which has a monthly subscription fee, and search a database for distant relatives. Dr. Gates says the second option is your local genealogical society. “I live in Cambridge, as you know, where it’s the New England Genealogical Society. You can walk in off the street. There’s one in New York,” he says. “They’re all over the country.”

He says that the Temple of Delphine in Ancient Greece’ s motto was Know Thyself. In the series, Dr Gates says, Know Thy Past, Know Thy Self.

The new series airs on PBS, check your local listings, or watch it in full online at PBS.org.

After California introduced the hands free cellphone law last year, in 6 months they have seen a 20% reduction in fatalities and collisions. That means there has been 700 fewer deaths and up to 100,000 fewer collisions in one state. Everyone stop texting and talking on the phone in the car. Take the pledge, Know Thyself. Thank you.

WHAT WE LEARNED TODAY:

Oprah believes that there is no such thing as coincidences.

Oprah says that we are all connected

Everyone comes from East Africa, despite what some Southerners may like to think.

Eva Longoria and Yo Yo Ma share a common ancestor.

Meryl Streep shares a common ancestor with director Mike Nichols, a man she’s worked with on four films.

A VERY QUICK SUMMARY:

Celebrities are just like us. Some of them are even related. They have famous, important relatives too.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Oprah.  Oprah walks onstage at the Kodak Theater .Nice to see you, she says, hooray for Hollywood. You can feel it in the air, right. Oscar history was made last night here in the Kodak Theater.

For 8 months she turned down the role of her life. Last night she won an Oscar for her role in that performance. Watch this. Sandra Bullock accepts the Oscar. Please welcome, this years Academy Award Winner for Best Actress, Sandra Bullock.  She says she never left the theater, she stayed here and drank then changed her clothes. Really she went and slept for 2 hours. Oprah asks if she was prepared to win this, even though she was favorite and has won other awards. No, says Sandra, up until that point, nothing in her career has led to this moment, all her films have been good personal choices but nothing like this. Oprah says she liked Sandra’s comment do I really deserve this or did I just wear you all down? Sandra says that you feel that you don’t know if you are worthy of it. Oprah asks about the kiss with Meryl Streep. Sandra says that they have a thing and why is it so hard to believe that Meryl may be attracted to her? In this business, they pit women against each other all the time, they don’t do that to the men, and Sandra wondered how do they diffuse this? She decided to kiss her- take the humor. Oprah says that’s so interesting and that speaking to Meryl last night, she said some of the same things, her love for the others and the camaraderie. Sandra says that they became a sorority this last few months. They are all so different, how do you pick one? So she is just the representative for all five of them. Look at Gaby and Kerry who just started out.  Oprah says she loved when Sandra pointed at her husband and said I have that. He has stood behind her through all this. Sandra says that he does manual labor all day and if he stops working then 80 people stop and a lot of things fall apart. So for him to come to award ceremonies is huge, to get him out of bed and dress him in a suit. Her words of wisdom about her mom, Oprah loved. Sandra says that the good mommas are the tough mommas. Her mom said to Sandra if she ever won an award not to cry, but as Sandra says she’s dead so she doesn’t know. They talk of her floating around up there, guiding you through it says Oprah. Oprah asks her what she’ll do with the rest of the day. It hasn’t yet sunk in. She has her Oscar with her in a bag. What do you carry an Oscar in? Sandra hopes that Louis Vuitton will make her something for Oscar. Sandra hasn’t decided yet what to do today. She’ll have lunch with the husband, the burger she’s been wanting for 3 months, a juicy burger with fries, a saucer of ice cream. The dress was special, just gorgeous with vintage beading. Congratulations says Oprah.

Nate Berkus was backstage last night. He asked Sarah Jessica Parker how the children are- they’re wonderful, they’re sleeping soundly. Sh will fly back after the ceremony, get a very early flight to be back in time to feed them. Nate says that’s so cute. Sarah says that they are worth flying home for.

Ante asks Steve Carell how he is. Steve asks how Nate is, They continue.

Thanks to the Academy for allowing them to be the only show ever to broadcast from the Oscar’s stage. The next guest swept all the awards for her soul-stirring performance in Precious, and it was no surprise last night when she became Oscar-ified.  Welcome the Academy Award Winner for Best Supporting Actress, Mo’Nique. They hug, Oprah nearly cries. Oprah loved when the audience stood up last night when she accepted the award, Mo’Nique loved it too. Oprah thought that Mo’Nique would stand up and thank God but she instead thanked the Academy for rewarding a performance, not politics. Oprah says that lots of people didn’t know what she was taking about. Oprah called her and she said that she’d be with her kids. She says it wasn’t so much that she wasn’t going to campaign- she was on Oprah. Its just that she is a talk show host, actress, comedian, wife and mother. When she got called on a Sunday morning, she was in bed with her man and her babies watching Curious George.

Oprah says Mo’Nique’s style last night was channeling Hattie McDaniel. Mo’Nique says that she carries her. Last night was really special because she could hear her whispering in her ear. As she was going through makeup, something strange happened, she got a letter and a gardenia flower from a family member of Hattie McDaniel. (The first african American to win an Academy Award in 1939) Sitting there waiting for the nominees to be called, she thought about what Hattie went through. Mo’Nique says. “Because of her, it’s why you sit where you sit. I sit where I sit. Sandra sits where she sits. She did so much for all of us. So I’m very proud.”

Oprah asks in that moment when her name was called- Spielberg once said to Oprah that there is a moment when you hear your name and say please- did she expect her name to be called? Mo’Nique says that is so vain and she won’t be part of it. Because if she’d had that attitude, the universe would have turned it around. Oprah says Mo’Nique was so inside herself when she went to the stage, she did not waver. Mo’Nique doesn’t want to take all of that credit. Her husband and her have the best conversations in the bathroom. When they read the script he said Momma, people get Oscar’s for this if they play it right, and then she played it right. They had that conversation again yesterday. She celebrated with barbeque chicken, Uncle Anrdre’s is the best in LA. She and her husband went home and giggled. Well deserved.

Nate asks Rachel McAdams, about her dress, She says that Jake Gyllenhaal is mad at her, Jake says he was nervous that she’d fall and he wouldn’t be able to catch her. Nate has to untangle her from the microphone.

The Awards last night went out to 200 countries, where they appreciated the best of the best. Jeff Bridges’ roll as a washed-up cowboy has been called career crowning. Welcome the Academy Award WInner for Best Actor, Jeff Bridges. They all hug. Oprah asks how the last 12 hours have felt. Jeff says its like a magic slate toy, everything is clear. He felt his folks in the air, Jeff says that they are still hanging out in the theater. He says all your preconceptions go out of the window, you can never prepare for these things. Oprah says that his performance felt effortless, like it flowed from him. He says that acting is like a magic trick; it’s an illusion. He let it rip and there it was. He had such fun playing with all his buddies. He thanked his daughters and said that he wouldn’t be here without them. He says that goes in part with his wife, his family. He heard from Francis Coppola that getting married is the best thing for an actor to do- all the films are about love, and supporting a family gives a reason to do it. It gets you involved in what life’s all about. Oprah says that you can feel the love, with all of them on the stage, that their spouses are their fuel. None of these 3 on stage have the perfunctory thanking of spouses of years past. Oprah asks how he celebrated- he says delicately, he had a flush cycle and then he blew it with champagne at the hotel. He’s had about 4 hours sleep. From here he will go to a play with the Cohen Brothers, and then they’ll fly to Santa Fe and start the movie. He is done celebrating, he has work to do.

Nate asks Cameron Diaz how she doesn’t look tired, and she says red lipstick is the key so that people don’t look anywhere else.

The next winner went toe to toe with Brad Pitt in Inglorious Basterds. Please welcome Christoph Waltz, Academy Award Winner for Best Supporting Actor. He toasted his big win with Quentin, who he loves. Quentin is a tough strict director. He is known for his crazy antics but there is another side to him sensitive and polite. Immensely polite says Oprah. She asks him how it is to become an overnight sensation at 53. It was still overnight, it just took longer. His phone is ringing off the hook, he wanted to get his 1 1/2 hours of sleep. Oprah asks if it felt different to get an Academy Award- yes, he was more nervous than ever before, for good reason, he blanked out completely and barely recognized his name. He was told afterwards that he was in shock and wouldn’t remember in the morning, like he was in a hospital, which he was grateful for because it is true.

Orphan hears that his 5 year old has been dressing his Awards- she makes installations with each one and he photographs them. He always thinks what’s next, but not in connection with this. Last night he thought he’d never be on this stage again in his life, and here he is with Oprah, so what does he know? Oprah asks if he’s thought about this in his life- a long time ago, when you start out you think of it. 3 weeks after you start you are faced with reality and forget about this. So if it does happen, it is a shock. He studied opera for a while and decided acting was the easy way out. Oprah asks for a note, he says that it has been 30 years so he gives her a note-A he says. Oprah asks if he has any words for those struggling wondering where the next job will come from. He says that general advice is misplaced, someone could take you seriously. He never would have believed that he would end up on this stage. He found being the mean guy infinitely more fun than being good.

Nate Berkhus is finally standing in the Architectural Digest Green Room where all the celebrities had been all night. Pretty nice, huh? It’s beautiful, he say. Barbara Streisand tells him that she looks for the time when the best director award is not about gender.

For the first time in 82 years, a woman won Best Director, says Oprah. Congratulations to Katherine Bigelow, and to The Hurt Locker team. There was another history-making moment that the LA Times called an upset. Oprah was so happy for Geoffrey Fletcher who was the first African American man to win Best Screenwriter for Precious. Clearly overwhelmed, take a look. When he accepted his award he said that he was drawing a blank but thanked everyone. Oprah says that she was willing him to speak because he had someone to thank, she calls him up to the stage for a Do-Over. He says that he was overcome and it was unexpected. He has some of his wits about him, so he thanks Saphire  for writing the brilliant book, Lee Daniels for the life-changing opportunity, Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry and the entire cast and crew. The cast showed him how much actors can elevate the spoken word. It is an honor for any screenwriter to have their pages populated by such fine actors.

Oprah thanks all the guests. Here is Matt Damon when Nate asks his favorite moment so far. Matt says when Geoffrey won. Matt says that they were in the same Freshman dorm at Harvard, and all of a sudden he’s won an Oscar, and that’s amazing.  Nate tells Zoe Saldana that she’ll be on the best dressed list because she looks amazing.  She thanks him and says her mom will be delighted and that she has a great stylist who got her this wonderful Givenchy dress. She was speechless when she saw it.

Stylemaker to the stars, Carsson Kressley, is here. Oprah asks him how he summed up last night? He says that last night was a great vigorous wow, with wow dresses. His top 5’s.

5. Anna Kendrick from Up in the Air. It was pretty and floaty and her character in the movie was so harsh that this was a nice change of pace for her.

4. Queen Latifah who has never looked better than in this blush pinky orchard color mermaid dress, one shoulder, flattering and perfect hair, perfect accessory and worked well for her shape.

3. Vera Farmiga in a love or hate dress; he loved it. This was a powerful standout dress. Vera said that she loved the dress and doesn’t care what anyone thought. Carsson agrees, he says that the Oscars are like your wedding and so you should wear what you love. He says that is his advice for everyone when dressing.

2. His wow dress, Jennifer Lopez was unbelievable, she looked amazing. Architectural shapes were a trend on the runway. It was pale pink, and she knows how to rock it; Jenny from the Block.

1. Sandra Bullock, and not just because she was here. It is a fitted liquid metallic with heavy vintage beading, and it looked like she was here to collect her Oscar. She was so modest saying that she didn’t know if she would win. Her stylist knew she’d win, says Carsson, and dressed her to match it. The cameras show her leaving, gesticulating call me to Oprah.

For more reviews by Carsson, check out Oprah.com. He had fun out there.

Oprah asks Nate if he had a good time, he did. She says he did a great job out  there and it’s a hard job. Special thanks to all of their friends at Sprint and to the Academy allowing them to come back year after year. She thanks the team. You can see more of Nate’s exclusive backstage action on Oprah.com. While you are there, take the pledge; all of tonight’s guests have. If they can do it, you should too.

WHAT WE LEARNED TODAY:

Sandra Bullock hopes that Louis Vuitton will make her a little something to carry her Oscar.

Mo’Nique and her husband and have their best conversations in the bathroom. He calls her Momma.

It is a little-known fact that Quentin Tarantino is immensely polite.

Cameron Diaz recommends red lipstick to take attention away from tired faces.

Carsson Kressley says that dressing fro the Oscars is like dressing for your wedding day; wear what you love.

A VERY QUICK SUMMARY:

At the Oscars, Sandra Bullock felt the presence of her deceased mother, Jeff Bridges felt his parents and Mo’Nique felt Hattie McDaniels.

So this is so cool because she quietly slipped behind the ABC newsdesk without any fanfare, which is just like her. “I think she’s the classiest woman on TV,” Oprah says of guest Diane Sawyer. Oprah says that Diane looks great. Diane says she once got a postcard saying that she dressed the best on TV, and that the second best dressed was Dolly Parton. They laugh.

It mainly is a joy to come into work every day with these incredibly smart people. The evening news is still such a powerful place in America for muscling up to get something done, and that’s what she loves. Where you wake up every morning and say, ‘Don’t tell us we can’t get answers.’ Yes, they will. They’re going to get answers. Oprah asks what time she got up for the morning show- 3:45 to 4:00am. Sometimes she talked herself out of it. In her sleep she had a whole series of dreams designed to talk her out of why she didn’t have to get up early and how this was going to be an easier day.”

Oprah recalls it was going to be for 3 months, and 11 years later…. Don’t invite me to your house, says Diane.

Charlie was leaving and she knew all the people at ABC. One of her biggest adjustments to evening news, Diane says, was getting used to how little time you have to deliver. “In the morning you have two hours and you can kind of say what you think, and suddenly you’re compressed to a much shorter amount of time and you want to make every sentence matter,” she says. To come in in the morning and to be able to say that this matters, like the Toyota story they broke.

Everyone keeps telling them that it is too complicated the fees on credit card bills- no it isn’t, they’ll explain it and that matters. Oprah says she’s rearranged her whole schedule in order to watch Diane at 5.30pm each day. She could not believe that one day Diane was in Afghanistan, and the next she was in Haiti, how did she do that? “We’re sitting in Afghanistan, we finished our reporting there over several days and we look up at the crawl and it says there’s a challenge in Haiti and everybody said, ‘Rebook, reschedule,’” she says. “We flew straight to Europe. Europe to New York. Threw bags off, got the other bags because one was cold and one was hot, went to Haiti. It took me three tries to get in that morning. We stayed up all night. We just kept pushing until we finally got in on this teeny helicopter that morning and we made it in time.”

Oprah said how are you literally standing up? With no disrespect to the devastation, how was she doing this with time zone and jet lag and so on? Diane has said that she needs to be in rehab for her curiosity. At times, like in the security line at the airport, she thinks that she just cannot do it. But it is just a burst of energy from what people need to know about the sheer moment by moment courage of these people in the middle of this impossible devastation. Oprah reiterates that it just shouldn’t take 4 days to get water to people. Diane says that 69% of funds hadn’t been spent, there still aren’t tents and latrines in places, and she still doesn’t understand a world that lets doctors use vodka for anesthesia and cleaning wounds, and they have been trying to sterilize shoe laces and tie up wounds.

Diane takes the cameras with her for a day in her life… Take a look. She gets up at 7, after a decade of 3.45, to wake up and be normal. She eats at 11am, she has a cucumber soup and zucchini for lunch. She goes to the office. She has to be ready to go live at a moments notice, so the first stop is the makeup chair. She is usually in the newsroom, she goes to a meeting with a congressman and puts on grown-up clothes. Her trainer came by with a yoga mat and weights in the hope that she’ll start working out again. She says that the weights are too heavy, that’s not going to work out. Lunchtime, she eats soup from home in a plastic cup. Upstairs for a newsbrief. She meets with the team behind closed doors to finalise the show. An hour to go, crunch time. She says that she is so lucky because everywhere that she has worked has been a different way of doing things. If they can make the world see things a little differently, it’s been a good day.

Diane started out in 1967 as a weather girl at WLKY in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. The Oprah show called them up to get some old photos. Look at you. “I was terrible,” she says. “I didn’t wear contact lenses then and I couldn’t actually see the West Coast. I was giving my impression of the West Coast most of the time.”

Diane’s done thousands of interviews, Oprah asks who was her favorite interview. She says the ones she likes most have been with young children with big dreams. “My favorites are when I get to go to Appalachia and talk to the kids up there. The remarkable kids who in the midst of horizons about this big are dreaming of a future as wide as everybody else,” she says. Diane’s also struck by the interviews that leave her wondering what just happened, she says. “Like Saddam Hussein,” she says. “I was asking him if he had killed people and I was asking why he had those big portraits of himself up there. Wasn’t it kind of embarrassing at the very least?” She was momentarily afraid of getting out with the tapes.

Diane’s reported from plenty of danger zones but says she is rarely afraid. “Something just blocks out everything but why you’re there and the purpose of why you’re there,” she says. “I remember being afraid once, and it was in a Civil War in Africa and some kids with AK-47s took us out into the countryside in a concrete space and I thought, ‘I’ve done this to my crew.’” Sometimes her curiosities take her too far.

Oprah asks which was her worst interview, Diane says getting celebrities to open up can be hard. “They’re so shy,” she says. “I don’t know why we think they should be able to come on talk shows. Because the definition of what that is, is to be interior and to have everything be all folded in and so that to be sitting there with somebody who just can’t talk…. it’s a struggle.” Joaquin Phoenix was a struggle, and he got in her lap because there was nothing else for them to do. Oprah had to pull him out of the Green Room. John Travolta is holding him up on strange. Barbara Walters said Warren Beatty was her worst. Oprah doesn’t have a worst interview. Oprah says when shy people come on a talk show and don’t want to talk, its very irritating.

Oprah asks what Diane and her husband of 21 years, legendary director Mike Nichols do that they haven’t been able to do for the last 11 years. He said to me the other day, ‘You know, there’s just more of you now.’ And I know what he means,” She used to have a universal expression of high eyebrows and wide open eyes which meant either I am fascinated by you or I’m asleep. She now listens to him. They have time in the evening. They cook. It’s like kids, they can’t believe they get to stay up so late and they’ll cook really late. They stay up until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning because they’re talking. Even though she was home in the afternoon a lot of the time before, you don’t talk the same way. It’s that day is done and let’s really learn about each other all over again every day.

Oprah says wow they have a special relationship. Oprah says that the funniest email was when Oprah asked her how to keep basil fresh in the refrigerator. Diane was trying to research for Oprah, and called Oprah to tell her to use a shower cap for the basil. Oprah says that doesn’t work. Then Oprah asks if Diane got the thing she sent for Christmas, a set of basil keepers. Diane says yes and they go to break.

Live in Chicago with Diane Sawyer of the ABC Evening News. The lack of hoopla was deliberate- they wanted to make sure that there was no time without a person there after Charlie left. Diane says the news is ultimately about the stories being told, not the person telling it. It’s about the work, the purpose you have, what you actually accomplish, whether you change people’s lives. That’s ultimately the signature of the broadcast.

Oprah says that the first time she saw the evening broadcast, she thought Diane has finally come home. She is finally in the space that she really belongs. Not that she didn’t do a great job on the morning show, but Oprah would see her sometimes bouncing on a trampoline and think what is she doing? Diane says it feels right, she likes that it feels concentrated, she is thinking more and more. Leonard Cohen says as you get older what do you do today to feel a hero. Today she feels every day has something great to do and great to bring. She is energized and the world is a big place. Oprah says that she is the best looking 64 year old, everyone cheers. This is what 64 is, oh my goodness.

Oprah wants to talk about the horror story of this week, 17 year old honor student Chelsea King who went missing after a jog in San Diego and her body was found and now a registered sex offender has been arrested in connection with her murder. Diane says that Chelsea’s family have been incredible through t’his. As a country we are back with the question, what do we do with them. 75% do not reoffend, but the 25% who do reoffend are the cause of this great problem in American justice. The calculation as to whether they will or not, and Oprah’s amazing conversation with offenders which showed that they are not all made alike- to make that decision or to make the decision that theres a certain person  they have what is called an indeterminate sentence, and that’s it.

Oprah says that it is wonderful to see Diane and to know that she’s in a space where she can really, fully be all that she is meant to be, makes Oprah very happy. They hold hands. Oprah says that 30 year old John Albert Gardener, a registered sex offender has been charged with the rape and murder of Chelsea King. He is in solitary confinement without bail. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. He has plead not guilty to all the charges, Oprah has to let us know.

Oprah asks Diane if she’ll do the no-phone zone pledge. Yes. She will be flying back to host the news at 630pm eastern and will be wearing the same shirt unless she spills tomato juice on it.

12 Grammy awards and 30 million albums sold, all before age 30, Alicia Keyes is teaming up with fellow superstar Beyonce Knowles, can you imagine the two of them together? Come on out Alicia. Show off, show off says Oprah. What you doing girl, that is too cute, says Oprah. Alicia says that she wanted to brighten it up with a little sparkles. Oprah asks what she’s doing? Alicia likes to call it her lifestyle, focusing on eating well and having a good workout regimen. Oprah says she heard it was after watching the documentary Food, Inc. Alicia says yes, to the point where she was asking everyone if they had seen it. March 11th Oprah says they will be airing it again, it’s a good program.  “I’ve always been conscious about how I’ve eaten, and so that just made me eat even better,” she says. “So I just feel really good. I’m really happy. I’m in a great space. I feel really positive.”

She’s on tour right now, she was in Chicago on Wednesday night, Chicago was amazing they love Chicago. Oprah says that if it was warmer, the whole world would be in Chicago. Oprah says that people are much friendlier if she comes back in July, right now they are just trying to get inside out of the cold.

Oprah asks about the duet with Beyonce. Alicia says she and Beyonce have wanted to work together for years. They’ve been friends for a little while now, and were able to grow up together in the business. “They were both on Columbia Records at the same time, and so have been able to watch each other flourish.

She knew that recording her album was the right time to do a duet, so they recorded “Put It in a Love Song” Wow, says Oprah. “We had so much fun,” she says. “It was insane, and the people were just unbelievable.” They recorded the video in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the crowd applaud.

Oprah says that there are some really hot photos, did the press go insane? Everyone came out to see them, wherever they were… Oprah say that she’d have come and seen them.

Oprah says it is amazing, that Alicia is celebrating 10 years in the music business, and Oprah remembers that the first time Alicia was here at barely 20 years old she did her national TV debut on the Oprah show. Look at her braids and her tuxedo thing. Now she has sold millions of albums, and won 12 Grammy awards. Oprah says that Alicia, of all people has been able to hold on to that space inside herself and she does that so beautifully in this crazy world. Alicia says first of all thank you very much for that compliment, that means alot to her. Her family and having people who truly love her and know who she is on the inside around her, very close are a big part of that. And being conscious about others keeps her grounded. Oprah has been a huge supporter of her and her work with Keep A Child Alive and that allows her to be part of the world, which means the world to her. Oprah knows Alicia is going back to Africa- yes she’s taking five Americans with her and if you text “alive” to 9099 you could be part of that trip to see what changed her life. The clinics and orphanages that she is part of, and the beautiful people there. That is important to keep her grounded in the bigger picture. “I think really being conscious about others is a very big part of what keeps me grounded,” she says. “I’m able to really see what happens in the world. I understand people’s experiences.” Oprah says that the way to stay grounded is to take what you have to give and share it with the world. Alicia feels you learn so much about yourself, “It makes you feel good, and I feel like you learn so much about yourself. You learn that there’s more than just what meets the eye, in our four walls,” she says. “It makes you feel like kind of super fly.” Super fly says Oprah.

Oprah asks how her new world tour is going. “It’s amazing,” she says. “This time, I have to say, I feel more powerful and more strong than ever before. I feel more motivated, more dedicated, more focused.” They’re going to Detroit, Canada, New York, the West Coast. She’s calling the world tour The Freedom Tour. Alicia has a huge hit out now with Jay-Z “Empire State of Mind”. Since she was a teenager, Alicia says she’s dreamed of working with Jay Z. “When I was 16 years old and trekking into Columbia Records with my Timberlands on and my headphones on, I was riding on a train listening to him” she says. “Fast forward all these years later, and we’re both from New York. We have this really powerful song that resonates with the world, because it’s about achieving your dreams.” It’s become a New York anthem. It’s amazing, they both say.

Oprah asks who she’d like to work with. She likes to work with interesting people like Jack White, that was good. She’d love to work with Kings of Leon. “I love an artist named M.I.A. who’s like really kind of quirky and has her own style. I love that.” She’d love to work with Prince. With Prince, says Oprah, that would be interesting. Prince if you’re watching, says Oprah.

This is the new CD the Element of Freedom, where Oprah says that Alicia looks beautiful on the cover. She sings the new song, “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart”. Oprah says “you go into a zone at the piano girl, I love it”

So much fun, says Oprah, that was their flash mob with the Black Eyed Peas. Ocoee Florida Middle School used The Oprah Show flashmob as inspiration to get fellow teenagers to read. Take a look at this, it’s about something she loves.

Students hold up books and perform to people singing about reading books. That’s so cool, says Oprah,  Joining via satellite; the principal, reading coach and student body of the school. The Principal was dancing in the front of the video, it was an amazing day and she wanted to inspire the school. It was the reading coach’s idea, she saw the Oprah Show and wanted to get the whole school out on the lawn to do that. Oprah asks if its difficult to get teens to read when they have so many distractions. With their other interests, especially those who struggle, not being able to read well can affect your whole life. Being seen with a book is not always cool, and they wanted to change that. Oprah notices that everyone in the video had a book in their hand, did they go the library? They were asked to bring out their favorite book, and if they didn’t bring one, the teachers helped them out. Oprah asks to speak to Danny and asks him what it was like to be in the flashmob.  Danny says it was just amazing, oh my gosh, getting all these kids dancing and making a music video and getting on her show, it’s so awesome, oh my goodness. Oprah says that talking about reading is a good way to get on her show. Another student Alex says that it was so much fun and even those who didn’t know each other got out together and that now people are reading so much more and passing their tests and their scores are through the roof. That’s fabulous says Oprah.

Oprah has heard that the school library is outdated- it was built for 1100 students and now they have 1700 students so it needs an upgrade. Target are giving them 2000 books and a wall to wall facelift of the library so they have comfy seating so they can keep reading and reading. Thanks to Target who do great things for education across the country, revamping K-12 libraries. Yay Target. Oprah tells the school that they have to go back to class now. Watch the Oscar show and don’t text and drive.

WHAT WE LEARNED TODAY:

Diane Sawyer says she should be in rehab for her curiosity

Diane Sawyer doesn’t understand a world that lets doctors use vodka for anesthesia and cleaning wounds

At lunchtime, Diane Sawyer eats soup from home in a plastic cup.

Oprah says when shy people come on a talk show and don’t want to talk, its very irritating.

Oprah says that Alicia Keyes, of all people, has been able to hold on to that space inside herself and she does that so beautifully in this crazy world

A VERY QUICK SUMMARY:

The way to stay grounded is to take what you have to give and share it with the world.

This Sunday night is Hollywood’s main event, the 82nd Academy Awards, and on Monday they’ll have the after party event. When it comes to movies, one name stands out as a critic, Roger Ebert. He has given the thumbs up or down to over 10,000 movies. As you may have heard, Roger has been battling cancer for the last 8 years and he is here today with some big news.

He is TV’s most famous film critic, for over 40 years people have checked out his opinion before going to the movies. He started out with the Chicago Sun-Times in 1966, and one year later he was their film critic.. In 1975 he received a Pulitzer Prize for his work and debuted his TV show with Jean Siskel. Their signature move was such a hit they even trademarked their catchphrase, two thumbs up. For the next 24 years, they became household names, on top of the film world. But in 1998, Siskel was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died less than a year later. Ebert was devastated, but the show went on because that is what Siskel would have wanted. Another blow came in 2002 when Roger was diagnosed with thyroid cancer which spread to his salivary glands and jaw. He endured surgery after surgery. In 2006 the cancer had taken his voice, forcing Roger to leave his show after 30 years.

Even though cancer has changed the face that we know and love, and taken his voice says Oprah, Roger has not slowed down one bit. His reviews are still read worldwide. Earlier this week, Roger and his wife Chaz, invited the show into their home. They go see a movie in the morning, which is their usual routine. They see 2-4 movies a day. She needs to be nearby in case Roger needs anything. They have a variety of signals meaning I love you, tell them what you know or read the note, he needs the mens room. They watch the new Polanski movie, Ghost Writer. He then meets with TV execs to discuss the possibility of a new show. They head home. They eat lunch in separate rooms- his wife feels it is unfair for her to eat in front of him when he can no longer eat what he wishes. SInce he lost his jaw he lost the lower floor of his mouth, so if he ate there’s nothing to support it. He has his lunch private, it is in a gravity drip bag, suspended from a pole which goes into a port in his stomach. After the lunch they watch Alice in Wonderland in 3D. Then it’s home for dinner, writing and a little exercise. Then it’s back out for film number 3.

Oprah welcomes Roger to the studio. They hold hands, he does the sign for I love you. Roger is able to communicate by typing his words into a computer. He is feeling terrific. They have loaded in some answers. He doesn’t remember the last the words that he spoke aloud as he didn’t know they’d be his last words. They were probably to Chas as they wheeled him in and he hopes that they were I love you. On the other hand they may have been Good morning Doctor. Oprah says that the amazing article in Esquire Magazine said that he can talk in his dreams- yes he talks in them all the time, just like he did in real life. He remembers childhood memories, in his mind he would taste the root beer he had with his father. After he lost his sense of taste, he replays the taste of that root beer over and over. Oprah says wow, that’s beautiful. Oprah asks him to tell us what her brother in law says about this- he sais that he told his brother-in-law the story and that he was fixated on root beer. Johnny asked if he had thought of that memory in 60 years, and Roger hadn’t. Johnny said that it might be that when the Lord took away Roger’s drinking, he gave him back that memory. Oprah loves that story, the audience applaud.

In a new Oscar poll from Yahoo, 36% pick Jeff Bridges for best actor, 74% say Sandra Bullock will take home gold and 41% say the winner will be Avatar. Robert’s wife of 18 years Chaz is in the studio. 4 years ago he lost his voice and the ability to eat or drink due to complications from thyroid cancer. But today he is cancer free, the crowd applaud. Roger is using computer technology to speak to us with a generic voice, but a company in Scotland is using cutting-edge technology to use his actual voice. They take hours of Roger’s past movie commentaries and create a new, computerized voice from those clips. Chaz hasnt heard Roger’s real voice since July 2006. Chaz is excited to hear it. Though it won’t be perfect, Roger says he’s looking forward to sounding like his old self again. The voice says “It’s what they call a beta. It still needs improvement, but at least it sounds like me,” he says. “When I type anything, this voice will speak whatever I type. When I read something, it will read in my voice. I have got to say, in first grade they said I talked too much. And now I still can.”

Chaz is moved to tears. She thinks that it’s incredible that that’s his voice. She asks him what does he think? “Uncanny,” his voice answers. “A good feeling.”  Oprah says to Chaz as one woman to another, Chaz is incredible and makes her proud to spell her name Woman. She refused to let Roger die. Chaz called Oprah and said she refused to let him die, and she stood by him and has been with him and taken care of him and shown what true love is. Chaz says that it  has been intense. When she married Roger, she knew what an amazing man he was. He is smart. He’s funny. He’s very respectful of women. “He’s appreciative of other cultures,” she says. “It’s hard to find someone like him. And I didn’t want to lose him. I just refused to give up on him. If there was anything in my power to help him live, that’s what I was going to do.”

Chaz reads an extract from Roger’s journal; “I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this, and I am happy that I lived long enough to find it out.” Oprah says that’s beautiful and the crowd applaud.

Roger says that he is done with surgery, he is never going to eat or drink or talk again. Surgery would be just to patch his face back together, and he will not go through with that. This is the way he looks and his life is happy and productive, so why have more surgery? People ask if he minds that Esquire Magazine ran the photograph. He doesn’t mind at all, no one looks perfect, we have to make peace with the way we look and get on with life.

Oprah loves that, thank you. The crowd applaud. Oprah wants to ask this, does Roger  miss food? Roger nods and gesticulates. Oprah says that she read that in Esquire that he misses the socialising around food. Chaz says that he misses the camaraderie. Every now and then he’ll ask her to eat something that he used to enjoy and he’ll try and enjoy it vicariously. This Sunday is Oscar night, here is what we haven’t heard for years, Roger’s predictions in his voice.

“I can’t remember a year when it seemed easier to predict the Oscars,” he says. “Of course, those may be famous last words.”

Best Supporting Actress: “Mo’Nique will win for her powerful performance as the cruel and damaged mother in Precious.”

Best Supporting Actor: “Relative unknown Christoph Waltz won the Best Actor award at Cannes for Inglourious Basterds and has never looked back.”

Best Actress: “Few people saw this one coming, but Sandra Bullock made a dazzling comeback in the Blind Side. I think she’ll win.”

Best Actor: “I pick Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart. His great performance swept the Critics’ Awards, and I think he has the momentum.”

Best Movie: “The only dicey category is Best Picture. Up in The Air was the early front-runner, and Avatar could win after its record-breaking profits. But I think it’s a win for Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker.”

Best Director: “I also pick Kathryn Bigelow for best director. If you vote against her, you’ll be going against years of precedent that say the winner of the Directors Guild Award will win the Oscar. ”

Oprah says that she really wants to meet Kathryn Bigelow. Both Cbaz and Roger will be at the Academy Awards, Oprah says that they will see them there. She thanks them.

They show a clip of Morgan Freeman in Invictus. Oprah says wow, that was the best actor nominee, Morgan Freeman. This is Morgan’s fifth Oscar nomination. He received his first Oscar statuette in 2005 for his supporting role in Million Dollar Baby, as you may recall. He joins us by satellite from Malibu, California. They say hi. She asks what it means to be asked to play the great Nelson Mandela. ”I was anointed by him, so to speak, back in the mid-90s when he was asked, ‘If his book became a movie,who would he want to play him?’” Morgan says. “He said me. So I knew somewhere down the line that I would be playing Nelson Mandela, in something”. Morgan told him long ago that if he was going to play Nelson Mandela, then he would have to have access to him. Morgan said ‘Listen, if I’m going to play you, I need to have access to you,” he says. “So over the years, we became friends, and I watched him very carefully and learned how to be him a little bit.” They show a photo of the two of them together, Oprah says she loves that shot. Oprah remembers the first time she went to Nelson’s house; she was a nervous wreck. She asks if even he, the great Morgan Freeman was a little intimidated?  What do you say when you meet somebody like that, someone that great, someone world renowned and so high in your estimation of human beings? He says, all you can think of to say is, ‘I’m honored to meet you, sir.’ And then shut up. Oprah says that she learned that too, it’s better to sit and listen when you meet him.
Morgan has been nominated for five Oscars, 1987  Street Smart, 1989 Driving Miss Daisy, 1994 one of Oprah’s favorite movies of all time, Shawshank Redemption (the crowd cheer), 2004 Million Dollar Baby, which he won, and now Invictus.  Oprah hears that Morgan sat with Nelson while he watched the movie- was he scared? No, says Morgan, he was concerned. “If he didn’t like it, I didn’t think he would say anything, but if he did like it, he wouldn’t be able to hide it,” Morgan says. “And he wasn’t able to hide it.” Mandela didn’t say anything to Morgan at all about the film. Wow, says Oprah. There’s that sphinx thing about him, says Morgan. “But when I came onscreen, he leaned over and said, ‘I know that fellow.’ So I took that to mean he recognized himself in me, and that was a big plus.” Oprah asks if he got a hug or a well-done? Nothing, says Morgan. Morgan has the pledge with him, he will not text while driving and will use a handfree  headset if necessary. Oprah asks him to repeat the pledge after her in his Morgan Freeman voice. They thank each other.

We’re getting in the mood for the Oscars on Sunday night. Critics are calling Colin Firth’s performance in A Single Man a career-defining performance. Firth plays a gay college professor grieving the sudden death of his partner . Directed by fashion designer Tom Ford, A Single Man is a work of art. The film is set over the course of a single day in 1962 Los Angeles—the day Colin’s character, George, decides to kill himself. Facing his own suicide, George sees the world in a more wondrous light. Colin Firth’s performance is captivating and earned him his first Oscar nomination.

Welcome Colin Firth. The crowd go wild, he and Oprah hug. Oprah says that he should be so proud of himself, Yes says Colin, he’s proud of Tom. This was a lonely experience for an actor in a way, especially in Colin’s department because a lot of the film was spent alone. The days he had the help of the other actors were a wonderful ride. But of course then you become very intimate with your director because this is a very, very personal story. It’s very personal to Tom. Oprah says that the scene where he gets the phone call is brilliant, is what acting is all about. She doesn’t know where he went but she could watch it over and over and cry. The crowd applaud. Colin says that the movie was shot in just 21 days. Tom set up the shot and then got out the room. The cameras rolled and there was no editorializing, no words on a page, no shouting cut. He put the phone down and the cameras rolled over 11 minutes. Tom preferred letting Colin’s imagination take over, although Tom sculpted the scene in the cutting room.

Oprah say that she heard he was going to send an email. Yes says Colin, and then the fridge guy came. He wrote the email, he still has it in his outbox, he’ll show it to Tom one day. He says that he was fascinated by Tom. This is not a man you easily bet against. Everything he’s touched has turned to gold, really. And he just thought he didn’t want to disappoint Tom. This was clearly a very personal project put squarely on Colin’s shoulders. “There was all sorts of reasons in my life when I thought—you know, I was fatigued, I’d been working a lot—I wouldn’t go there. Then I suddenly thought: ‘What an incredible leap into the unknown this will be. There’s so many improbable things here. It’s not a conventional story.” The film deals with so many human issues. Oprah clarifies that this was just the script without the deliciousness. Colin says he was ready to send the email stepping down from the project when a repairman rang his doorbell to fix his refrigerator. “That was enough time for me to reconsider,” he says. “It was just that pause before pressing send which can prove critical.” Though A Single Man is a film about grieving, Colin says it is also about falling in love with life again. “It sounds like an almost absurd comparison, but one of the films it most makes me think of in terms of its subject matter is It’s a Wonderful Life,” he says. Yes, me too says Oprah. It couldn’t be more different, all the people were angels. Playing George given Colin a real sense of what he has to be grateful for in his own life. The present moment, for a start, which is really all we have, is something to be absolutely cherished. Even though George is so sad, the world he is presented with is so incredibly beautiful. It remains for Colin like a fragrance. A Tom Ford fragrance says Oprah.

Oprah says that the film is a sensual delicious delight that you want to spoon. It was directed, produced and paid  for by Tom Ford. He’s credited with reinventing Gucci during his 10-year reign as creative director with provocative collections and ad campaigns. Five years ago, he launched his own label, and today there are 21 Tom Ford stores around the globe, making him fashion’s billion-dollar man. Last year he made the leap from fashion to film and it is no surprise that critics say that there is no more visually arresting film to see this year. Come on out Tom Ford. The crowd applaud. He and Oprah hug, he shakes hands with Colin Firth. Oprah says that the film is delicious and yummy Tom says thank you. “Fashion is a reflection of where we are in contemporary culture, but it moves, moves, moves. It doesn’t last,” he says. “In film, you create a world that’s forever sealed. It lasts forever. You can put in an old movie from the ’30s and you’re emoting and living and breathing with these people. And if you’re someone who likes to design things, build things, create things, that’s as close as you get to, you know, being God in our world, and it’s permanent”. Oprah asks him how he knew he could do it? He says that if you want to do it, do it. Of course he was afraid of a lot of things but he never let that stop him. He had a vision. “I think that’s the most important thing is that you have to have something to say,” he says. “You have to feel that you have something you want to communicate, and then in both fashion and film you have to work with a team of people to help you do that.” He wrote the script and ended up with a role that was very hard to cast. Oprah says that she’d heard the film was autobiographical, but that Tom is here and is not depressed. “This was my midlife crisis on screen; I put it on the screen and was done with it” he says. “When I first read the book, I was 20 years old and I didn’t quite get the sort of—well, Christopher Isherwood who wrote the book was a student of Vedanta. He spent an enormous amount of time learning to be present, and I didn’t pick up on that at all, and I’d come to a point in my life where I left Gucci where maybe I had let the material side of the world pull me a bit away from my spiritual side, which has always been there. And this book is about living in the moment. It’s about appreciating the connections we have with other people and reminding ourselves that that’s what’s important in life. I needed to be reminded of that at this moment.”

Oprah says that watching the movie she was reminded of her friend who wrote The Power of Now; this is a wonderful way of teaching people. Tom says that he gave everyone on the set a copy of the book as it was so important to the film. Christopher Isherwood’s first line in the book, and in the film, is waking up begins with saying am and now. That was what the book was about in 1964.

Oprah has read that Tom’s a perfectionist and that he looks at people- she says that she really needs her eyebrows done. Tom says she’s fine. Colin says that happens whenever Tom walks into a room, people feel that they need to fix something about themselves.Oprah heard that Tom cut Colin’s hair because the stylist said that Colin didn’t want his hair cut so could Tom do it. Oprah asks what Tom looks like when he’s slumming it. Colin points at Tom in his immaculate suit. Tom says kind of the same but in a dirty t-shirt and jeans. Colin says that directors on a film set are almost morally obliged to fall apart. They are in their interior worlds, doing night shifts, getting up at 5am and getting grubby. They should be letting their beards grow out. Colin says that he was falling apart in front of the camera and Tom was behind the camera pristine. Oprah asks if fashion feels aah, now, Tom says that he loves both of them and hopes he’ll have a parallel career. “I’m working on my next film project, and I’m also about to start possibly designing women’s clothes and come back to that, and it’s wonderful to be able to bounce back and forth,” he says. Oprah asks how it feels now that the film is done.  ”I am the most proud of this of anything I’ve ever created in my life,” Tom says. “Other than personal relationships with people. That’s what I’m the most proud of.” Oprah  says that the movie will last forever and she wants to see it again and again. Thanks to Colin and Tom.

Tomorrow night tune in for the primetime oscar special, with Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz, Micahael Douglas, and Glenn Close, Big thank you to our friends at Sprint for making the Oscars possible. Sprint wants everyone to go home with a swag bag, the crowd stand up and are completely hysterical. They get 60 days of free Sprint service. Remember do not talk on your phone and drive, if you must, make sure that is hands free. Thanks everyone.

WHAT WE LEARNED TODAY:

Roger Ebert is never going to eat or drink or talk again.

He will not have any more surgeries- his life is happy and productive,

No one looks perfect, we have to make peace with the way we look and get on with life.

Nelson Mandela said that Morgan Freeman would play him in a film, and now he has.

Tom Ford always looks pristine, according to Colin Firth.

A VERY QUICK SUMMARY:

If ever you should find yourself in Nelson Mandela’s house, it is best to sit quietly and listen.