Do you think I would have passed on `The Russia House` to do `Burglar`?'' She laughs. ''It`s a funny thing when you talk to white people about black roles,'' she says solemnly. The notion turns Goldberg`s in-your-face tone to defensiveness.
She appeared in several ''Comic Relief'' specials, worked opposite Jean Stapleton in the now-dead CBS series ''Bagdad Cafe,'' and landed a recurring role on the syndicated series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation.''Īnd though she received rave reviews for her recent turn in ''The Long Walk Home,'' she got them for playing a maid, a stereotyped role in the mold of the ones played by Hattie McDaniel or Butterfly McQueen in the `30s and Three bad movies and you`re gone.''īut despite the label of box-office poison, Goldberg has stayed afloat. Back then, you were allowed a career that went up and down, up and down. ''Not all of Katharine Hepburn`s movies were good, or Jimmy Stewart`s. But I have learned that this is not the case. Whenever someone says something good about me, I always try and attribute it to my overall body of work. ''The reviewers were the ones who decided I was nowhere, that this movie was my comeback. ''I didn`t even know my career was in the toilet until I read the reviews for that movie,'' she says. Sadly, for Goldberg and for other black actresses who might have profited from her commercial success, all the films bombed. She went after parts written for white women or men (''Jumpin` Jack Flash,'' ''Burglar,'' ''The Telephone''-which wasn`t even released nationally) and through sheer force of personality won the roles. Goldberg tried to carve out a niche after the success of ''The Color Purple,'' her debut film. Her problem, as she is more than happy to tell you, is that in Hollywood-an industry run by white men, with products mainly geared toward white young single males-she is an albatross of a talent faced with a double whammy: She`s a woman, and she`s black.
Funny yet sweet, strong yet vulnerable, she is a whirlwind of talents and convictions, a true original with the face of a pixie and a voice that sounds like golf cleats on glass.
Still, ever since 1984 and her one-woman Broadway show directed by Mike Nichols, Goldberg has been an undeniable presence.
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