re: The Color Purple

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But she's been in some great movies (some large roles, some smaller).

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Hollywood was pretty high on her during that period they were focusing on making comics into movie stars - Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, etc, so she was the lead in The Color Purple and then Penny Marshall's Jumpin' Jack Flash and Hugh Wilson's Burglar, which were both good, and then (director) Tom Holland's Fatal Beauty, which was both a poor fit (she was replacing mid-80s Cher) and not a very good film.

She did have quite the interesting career - from comic to leading a Steven Spielberg film, she starred in Penny Marshall's directorial debut as well as with Neil Patrick Harris in his debut role (Robert Mulligan's Clara's Heart, in which Whoopi had the lead) and with Anne Ramsey (Homer and Eddie, Whoopi opposite Jim Belushi) in Ramsey's final film role.

Obviously, she had a long running role in Star Trek: TNG.

Her bigger mark is with the dramas, both The Color Purple and Ghost (although she was in comic relief in the latter), at least from a critical aspect.

Her early stand-up was really good and that launched her career. She had the range to do a number of things, but lacking traditional Hollywood beauty, she was unsuitable to lead a lot of movies for the general audience, other than the comedies.