# Why didn't Whoopi Goldberg kill herself? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022 "2008-11-30T04:20:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/21 "2008-11-30T15:53:21Z")
Anyone else think Whoopi’s best role was as Guinan? I think that role showed her talents to very good effect. [And yes I know about the **Color Purple** …] ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/22 "2008-11-30T16:12:25Z")
Avoiding bankruptcy is a remarkably motivating thing. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/23 "2008-11-30T16:18:17Z")
There is the fact that sometimes things that sound really stupid (“see, your a private detective and will solve a murder involving a rabbit and his drop-dead gorgeous,but human, wife; so Bob Hoskins, do you do it or jump off a bridge”) turn out to be fine. Sometimes you can only prove something was a horrible idea by going out and doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/24 "2008-11-30T16:59:38Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Kim Basinger’s career never recovered from her breaking the contract for ‘Boxing Helena’. Yeah, that Oscar she won for _L.A. Confidential_ wasn’t… oh, never mind… ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/25 "2008-11-30T17:02:07Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Avoiding bankruptcy is a remarkably motivating thing. This. What is the classic line from Michael Caine? “I have never seen Jaws 4, I hear it is awful. But I have seen the house it paid for, and it is lovely.” ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/26 "2008-11-30T17:13:35Z")
Jaws 4 got a bad rap because the absurdity of a shark somehow knowing where you were going on vacation, and following you thousands of miles there. If you can suspend your disbelief for that, it’s honestly not a bad movie. Better than Jaws 2 or 3 (though not in the same league as 1.) And Point Break is my favorite action movie (not saying much since I don’t really like action movies, but still . . . :D) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/27 "2008-11-30T19:27:20Z")
One is never really sure in Hollywood just how good or how bad a movie ends up being. Sometimes you need to take the money and hope for the best. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/28 "2008-11-30T19:32:35Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > One is never really sure in Hollywood just how good or how bad a movie ends up being. Sometimes you need to take the money and hope for the best. There’s been a couple of cases where actors have claimed that the movie they signed on to make was _not_ the movie which came out, and that the script was changed against their objections. Samuel L. Jackson tends to be rather blunt in his discussions about the Hollywood “suits.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/29 "2008-11-30T21:26:47Z")
To me, making a bad movie is pretty far down on the list of horrible sins one should die before committing. Actually, now that I double check, it’s not even on the list. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/30 "2008-11-30T21:30:34Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > There is the fact that sometimes things that sound really stupid (“see, your a private detective and will solve a murder involving a rabbit and his drop-dead gorgeous,but human, wife; so Bob Hoskins, do you do it or jump off a bridge”) turn out to be fine. > > Sometimes you can only prove something was a horrible idea by going out and doing it. But then again, there’s the flip side of the coin: “See, you’re a plumber from Brookyln who gets transported into an alternate universe where humans evolved from dinosaurs; so Bob Hoskins, do you do it or jump off a bridge?” (Hoskins himself has said working on _Super Mario Bros._ was “a fuckin’ nightmare.”) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/31 "2008-11-30T22:52:23Z")
Even making bad movies has to be more fun than working a regular job. If I could pay my bills by starring in craptacular films, I’d jump at the chance. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/32 "2008-11-30T23:13:35Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Even making bad movies has to be more fun than working a regular job. If I could pay my bills by starring in craptacular films, I’d jump at the chance. You’re right, I’d do the same. Which is why I don’t wonder why Carrot Top didn’t kill himself rather than do _Chairman of the Board_:while that movie is even worse than _Theodore Rex_, it was surely the highpoint of his career. Whoopi started at the top and has been sliding–plummeting–ever since. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/33 "2008-11-30T23:15:39Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > Re. the OP – what, and never taste Entenmann’s again? :dubious: > > I won’t [ever] be seeing _T. Rex_, but surely the thespish career limbo bar was set very low by Richard Pryor in _The Toy_… and by John Travolta in _Battlefield Earth_… To be fair, while Battlefield Earth was a (not the) bomb, it was made because Travolta was in a powerful enough position to launch what was essentially a vanity project. HIS rock bottom was probably _Look Who’s Talking 8_, or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/34 "2008-11-30T23:24:33Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Hey, there’s an alternate side to every coin. If she _had_ killed herself, we never would have been blessed with the genius that is _Sister Act 2_. Hey, according to [IMDB](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000155/bio), Whoopi made a cool seven MILLION for SA2! > [@](#): > > Salary > Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993) $7,000,000 That’s the only one I could find. Theodore Rex’s budget was an estimated $33,000,000, so we can assume that Whoopi got a few million of that for a couple/few weeks’ work. Geez, suicide, or lots of money…suicide, or lots of money. Tough decision, there. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/35 "2008-11-30T23:32:38Z")
Here’s another tough decision: reactionary literal-mindedness, or easily recognized hyperbole. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/36 "2008-12-01T00:54:44Z")
It’s easy for us to be all moral on this issue. Nobody ever offered me a million dollars to star in a really stupid movie so I can’t claim I turned them down. What I don’t understand is why anyone would be willing to watch a movie like _Theodore Rex_. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/37 "2008-12-01T01:16:55Z")
Lots of famous actors have been in crappy movies, or done movies they didn’t want to because of contract obligations. Occasionally this involves playing a cyborg cop partnered with a dinosaur cop. Does the OP have an actual point to make? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/38 "2008-12-01T01:25:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s easy for us to be all moral on this issue. Nobody ever offered me a million dollars to star in a really stupid movie so I can’t claim I turned them down. > > What I don’t understand is why anyone would be willing to watch a movie like _Theodore Rex_. It’s called taking one for the team. I watched it so you don’t have to. You’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/39 "2008-12-01T01:41:01Z")
Whoopi Goldberg’s philosophy has always been that she’ll take any role she’s offered with a reasonable paycheck. With one exception, she’s never been a bankable movie star who can demand huge salaries for each role. She’s mostly a character actor who only occasionally gets a lead role. The one exception was her demand for _Sister Act 2_. _Sister Act_ made a huge amount of money and she wasn’t well paid for it. She told the producers that she would only do the sequel if she was paid the largest salary of any actress up to that time for the role. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022/40 "2008-12-01T01:47:27Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > It’s called taking one for the team. I watched it so you don’t have to. You’re welcome. Well, there’s your answer then. Whoopi Goldberg starred in _Theodore Rex_ so that nobody else would have to. Otherwise it could have been you, or a loved one. Think about THAT scenario. Where’s your damned gratitude? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-whoopi-goldberg-kill-herself/475022.md?page=3)