On Christmas Day, the world will be reintroduced to the story of “The Color Purple.”
Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker, the book was originally brought to the big screen in 1985. Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover and Margaret Avery, the Stephen Spielberg-directed seminal film told the heartbreaking, coming-of-age story of Celie Harris, a dark-skinned young Black girl subjected to years of abuse by the men in her life and forced away from her younger sister Nettie.
It isn’t until she meets her new friends — namely Sofia and Shug Avery — that Celie learns what it means to truly be free and to live life on her own terms, away from pain, struggle, and oppression.
In anticipation of the new movie musical adaptation of “The Color Purple,” let’s take a look back at the iconic 1985 cast and who takes on their roles in the new film.
