Even though Goldberg was a relative newcomer, Steven Spielberg cast her in her first starring role in the screen adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple in 1985. She received much critical acclaim, and an Oscar nomination for her role and became a major star as a result. She main maintained her status as a major entertainment personality despite starring in a series of moderately-successful movies and box-office busts, mainly through her work for Comic Relief, a major HBO fundraising comedy benefit show co-starring Billy Crystal and Robin Williams
