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Talk:Whoopi Goldberg

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Babysitting clarificationEdit

Just for the record, since the quote here (and earlier versions of this page and elsewhere) sometimes can be interpreted or make it sound as if Whoopi Goldberg was hired by CTW as a babysitter, that's not what Kevin Clash meant. In his book, he explains that she was a babysitter for a woman whose kids often appeared on Sesame and thus would bring them to and from the set. I don't know if it's worth going into in the article, but wanted to park it here for the record. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 23:22, November 15, 2009 (UTC)

The Year of her birthEdit

I know this isn't that important, almost frivolous actually, but I couldn't help noticing that she is listed here as having been born in 1955. Well, the only other source I know of that says that is when she was born is IMDb which according to you guys is not a very reliable source. All others have said she was born in 1949. So I'm just wondering what source we used here to indicate when she was born. Just thought I'd bring it up. Garrettk41 16:11, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

What others? —Scott (talk) 20:09, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

A quick Google shows it's not a case of "all the others" (and IMDb dates are generally more reliable than user submitted data on who played a random Anything Muppet or so on), but there is some conflict; about 50,000 hits for 1955, 40,000 for 1949. Most of the 1949 sites are trivia and "This Day in History" type without sources. Encyclopedia Brittanica, the Gale Research Group, and other reliable sources side with 1955. At the same time, Magill (an equally trusted source when it comes to film) goes with 1949. Still others go with 1950; an earlier source, from 1987, goes with "about 1949," so it's definitely possible she shaved a few years later on. It's very common for actors to fudge their birthdates for professional reasons, so in cases like that, we simply take it out (since it's not important enough to Muppet Wiki for us to try to find a birth certificate or anything like that.) -- Andrew Leal (talk) 20:17, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, it's probably best that we eliminate the birth year altogether. By all other sources, I meant all others that I had seen, such as the World Almanac and the "Academy Awards" book I have. I hadn't actually tried any other online site. Again, the only reason I brought it up in the first place was because the birth date came from IMDb. Garrettk41 18:05, 20 April 2009 (UTC)