Oprah Winfrey was crowned America’s most influential celebrity for a second straight year, despite having dropped off daily television in 2011.
Forbes magazine ranked Winfrey, 59, ahead of Hollywood titans Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood and towering over other TV figures such as journalist Barbara Walters and financial guru Suze Orman.
Forbes said that 48 per cent of people surveyed rated Winfrey as influential, down just one point from last year. The list was drawn from polls of Americans conducted by E-Poll Market Research, which ranks more than 7500 celebrities based on 46 different personality attributes.
Winfrey ended her daily “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in May 2011 after 25 years to launch the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), which features lifestyle programming aimed at women.
After struggling in the ratings since its launch, OWN has seen audiences rise recently, thanks to Winfrey’s January world exclusive with cyclist Lance Armstrong admitting to years of doping, and her wide-ranging interview with R&B singer Beyonce.
Forbes noted that Winfrey’s magic had rubbed off as well, with one of her prot
