Oprah's buddy singled out by matchmaker.(Brief article)

A world-renowned professional matchmaker is suing one of Oprah Winfrey's gal pals for breach of contract after she failed to deliver on her promise of securing her a spot on Oprah's talk show before it went off the air.

The promise was an "oral contract" that Orly Hadida, a.k.a. "Orly the Matchmaker," allegedly entered into with Gayle King as payment for Ms. Hadida providing introductions to "at least fiveattractive, fit and wealthy men" over a two-year period.

Ms. Hadida, whose matchmaking service caters to an exclusively wealthy clientele, normally charges $500,000 or more for her services, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 20 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In fact, the suit asserts that the work Ms. Hadida performed for Ms. King actually exceeded one of her packages labeled Orly's Celebrity of Fortune 500 Search, in which clients receive a two-year membership to introductions to the "most sought-after bachelors in the world," as well as access to two other programs: Orly's Multi-Millionaire U.S.A. Search and Orly's High-Profile Billionaire Worldwide Search.

Altogether, Ms. Hadida said she spent "hundreds of hours" finding men to introduce to Ms. King, organizing dates, providing advice and counsel by telephone and following up with conversations after each introduction with Ms. King and the men she met. For one of the introductions, Ms. Hadida said she flew from Los Angeles to New York to interview a man she eventually introduced to Ms. King.

Ms. Hadida claims Ms. King owes her $500,000 because she did not arrange for her to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" before it ended in May.

But perhaps Ms. King is reneging on her quid pro quo for another reason. Ms. King apparently is still single despite this extensive--and expensive--search process.

Contributing: Matt Dunning, Judy Greenwald, Mike Tsikoudakis, Joanne Wojcik

Copyright 2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Oprah's buddy singled out by matchmaker.(Brief article)

A world-renowned professional matchmaker is suing one of Oprah Winfrey's gal pals for breach of contract after she failed to deliver on her promise of securing her a spot on Oprah's talk show before it went off the air.

The promise was an "oral contract" that Orly Hadida, a.k.a. "Orly the Matchmaker," allegedly entered into with Gayle King as payment for Ms. Hadida providing introductions to "at least fiveattractive, fit and wealthy men" over a two-year period.

Ms. Hadida, whose matchmaking service caters to an exclusively wealthy clientele, normally charges $500,000 or more for her services, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 20 in Los Angeles Superior …