Tony Wheeler

April, 1986

"Joan is the reason I'm eating skinless chicken breasts and Wasa crackers," says Oprah Winfrey, fresh from her acclaimed performance as Sofia in The Color Purple and now crucially dieting for a guest shot on The Tonight Show with Joan Rivers. Winfrey, who got her first taste of national exposure from Tonight Show appearances with Rivers and followed those up in a big way with her work in Steven Spielberg's hit film, is already a Chicago institution. Her morning TV talk show, The Oprah...