Whoopi Goldberg on How Patrick Swayze Convinced Her to Make Ghost: ‘He Was Sexy and Sweet’

She almost missed out on the Oscar-winning role of Whoopi Goldberg.

Five years after her first Oscar nomination for Purplestar, 68, won an Oscar in 1991 at the 63rd ceremony for her role as questionable psychic Oda Mae Brown in The ghost. However, Goldberg needed some convincing from her co-star before signing on to the project.

“My agent, Ron Meyer, called me and said, ‘Patrick Swayze has been hired for this movie. Patrick won’t do it if you don’t. Can you spare some time for him and the director to come over?” the award-winning actress told author Dave Karger in his new book. 50 nights of the Oscars (on sale January 23).

The EGOT-winning actress said the director, Jerry Zucker and Swayze flew in to meet her and she was immediately at ease. “So they flew in, I met Patrick and suddenly we’re old friends,” Goldberg recalls.

Soon after, Swayze made his offer to The ghost, in which Oda Mae Brown, ultimately played by Goldberg, helps Swayze’s Sam Wheat communicate with his girlfriend (Demi Moore) from the outside world.

“About 40 minutes go by and Patrick says, ‘Please do it with me,'” Goldberg remembers. “I said, ‘Yeah, fine.’ And so it happened.”

Whoopi Goldberg and Patrick Swayze in the movie “Ghost”.

CBS via Getty

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The supernatural romance ended up becoming a sensation that no one expected. “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,” Goldberg told Karger.

Not only was Goldberg’s 1991 win pivotal to her career, it also represented a historic moment in Oscar history. Her win marked the second time a black actress won Best Supporting Actress, more than 50 years after Hattie McDaniel’s historic win in 1940. Gone with the wind.

The View the co-host added that when she and Swayze saw the movie together for the first time. “He looked at 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 like, ‘Oh my God, this is great!'”

Swayze died in 2009 at the age of 57 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Today, Goldberg is toasting the star’s kind nature. “He was sexy and sweet and just a great human being to me,” she says.

Whoopi Goldberg as Oda Mae Brown in “Ghost”.

CBS via Getty

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Goldberg previously shared with Naomi Campbell about her No filter with Naomi YouTube shows that Swayze also convinced the producers that she was right for the role.

Before Goldberg was hired for the role, she asked her agent why she didn’t audition for the part. “They don’t want you,” he told her at the time, adding that “they think your persona, that Whoopi, is too big and will throw people out of the movie.”

Patrick Swayze as Sam Wheat in “Ghost”.

CBS via Getty

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But Swayze wanted to work with her. “I never met him, but he was a fan,” Goldberg told Campbell, adding that they hit it off immediately during their first meeting. “As soon as Patrick and I looked at each other, we started laughing,” said the Sister Act star.

Recently, Goldberg made a surprise appearance in a new Purple. She originally starred opposite Oprah Winfrey in Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film adaptation of the 1982 novel by Alice Walker, as Celia Johnson.

She makes a cameo appearance in the new film, in which Fantasia Barrino plays Celie.

Whoopi Goldberg at the 63rd Academy Awards on March 25, 1991.

Ron Galella, Ltd./Collection of Ron Galella via Getty

Goldberg’s cameo, said director Blitz Bazawule, “was symbolic not only of what Whoopi represents in the canon Color Purplebut what Whoopi represents, period — the powerful force that she is and the door she kicked open.”

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Source: HIS Education