*Rosie O’Donnell previously revealed how late comedian and “What’s Happening” star, Shirley Hemphill, had an impact on her early career.
As reported by I Love Old School Music, Rosie was a broke and struggling comedian when she first met Shirley. Per the report, via Playbill:
Her [Rosie O’Donnell’s] first big break came when she was a teenager. She would do stand-up in comedy clubs and get in using her neighbor’s fake ID. She actually was introduced as her neighbor for her first three times since that was the only ID she had! One night Shirley Hemphill saw Rosie do her set and told the shocked owner she wanted Rosie to be her opening act.
Rosie was still incredibly green but Shirley wanted to support a new comic, especially a female, and told the owner not only would he have to use Rosie as her opener [each week], he would have to pay her! Rosie wound up making $25 for each gig which, for her, was an incredible amount of money.
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The report goes on to say…
That weekly $25 comedy gig, being the opening act for Shirley’s (who drew large crowds at the comedy club) stand-up shows, increased Rosie’s popularity and led to her being scouted by the national TV show, Talent Search, which which won for seven weeks straight. Rosie was eliminated in the semi-finals, but had garnered enough hype around her name to land her first TV gig on the ’80s sitcom, Gimme A Break, starring Nell Carter. After her appearance on Gimme A Break, Star Search called her back to the show. So that’s why Rosie is forever grateful to Shirley Hemphill, because she was first celebrity to take a chance on her out of the kindness of her heart. And Shirley’s kindness led to a domino effect of success for Rosie O’Donnell.
After Shirley passed away, Rosie paid tribute to her on her talk show, “The Rosie O’Donnell Show”. Rosie told her viewers, via NYPost: “You know, when I started my career, the first famous person I met was Shirley Hemphill.”
Rosie reportedly went on to explain how Hemphill paved the way for O’Donnell to land her first paying gig.
“I loved her very much and she was a great lady,” she said.
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