Former WJZ newsman Richard Sher's lifetime achievement honor at the area Emmy Awards dinner in Washington Saturday night brought a surprise visitor: Oprah Winfrey.
Winfrey, who once worked at WJZ-TV in Baltimore as co-host with Sher of a local talk show, arrived at Washington's Ritz-Carlton Hotel Saturday night to help present the award to Sher.
Here's how Sher described the moment in an e-mail Monday: "David, since it's a lifetime achievement award and working with and being good friends with Oprah is certainly one of my lifetime achievements, I asked Oprah if she'd like to fly to DC to surprise the crowd and present the Emmy to me."
Sher's e-mail continues: "She said she'd love to ... postponed a trip to Africa so she could do this for me ... only a few had to know in advance... Another close friend, Jennifer Gilbert, from Fox 45, one of the hosts, read something about the Ted Yates Award, then talked about me for a few minutes, then introduced a DVD about me. At the end of it, which included stuff about Oprah and me, Oprah came out of a side curtain ... and the place erupted."
Photo of Oprah Winfrey and Richard Sher on the set of "People Are Talking" in the 1970s from Sun Files; Photo of Winfrey and Sher on Saturday by Joel Eagle
