Streisand, Barbra
Barbra Streisand
Singer, songwriter
The multitalented Barbra Streisand has made her mark as an actress, a singer, and a comedienne in a career spanning three decades. Streisand landed her first job as a nightclub singer in 1961 and just four years later was headlining on Broadway in the award-winning musical Funny Girl. Since then she has cut numerous albums, starred in motion pictures, and even directed and produced her own films. Harper’s Bazaar contributor J. Curtis Sanburn claims that Streisand has that special “star quality” that eludes all but the best entertainers. In her case, writes Sanburn, “star quality makes for a driven, creative dynamo; the biggest, most powerful performer in Hollywood. She’s big because she keeps building on her talent, and we respond with surprise and recognition each time she gives us something new, yet distinctly Barbra.”
Streisand has admitted that she never wanted to be a singer—she preferred serious roles in straight drama. It was as a singer that she first attracted attention, however, and she remains one of the best-selling recording artists on the Columbia label. Her untrained but spectacular voice is instantly recognizable in a wide variety of musical styles, from old Broadway standards to pop and disco, to plaintive ballads like “Evergreen.” According to Burt Korall in the Saturday Review, it is Streisand’s manner—not her vocal prowess—that has distinguished her from other female singers. Korall claims that Streisand is not “musically motivated” or “inspired by the melodic line,” but rather an artist who “shapes songs by heeding the guidelines established in the lyrics. She works as an actress would.” Korall continues: “If anything, Miss Streisand brings to material an overabundance of emotion, a tendency to overstatement…. Fortunately, however, Miss Streisand often allows songs and experiences to speak to her. In turn she responds naturally to the emotions and thoughts elicited. Moving inward, alone with her feelings, she unfolds them in a touching, well-shaded, progressive way, as if savoring close contact with them. The show business flashiness recedes and the sensitive, warm person emerges.”
Barbara Joan Streisand was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942. By any standards, her childhood was unhappy—her father, a high-school literature teacher, died of an epileptic seizure when she was less than two, leaving the family without any income. Streisand grew up in her grandparents’ home, a lonely, resentful child, whose only doll was a hot-water bottle with a sweater wrapped around it. At fourteen she determined that she wanted to be an actress, and she began to cultivate a bohemian appearance and eccentric mannerisms to enhance her individuality. Streisand’s mother begged her to take typing classes, “just in case” acting would not support her, but the youngster refused to consider
For the Record…
Given name, Barbara Joan Streisand; born April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, N. Y. ; daughter of Emanuel (a literature teacher) and Diana (Rosen) Streisand; married Elliott Gould (an actor), March, 1963 (divorced); children: Jason. Education: Graduated from Erasmus Hall High School (with honors), 1959; attended Yeshiva of Brooklyn.
Worked as nightclub singer at the Bon Soir, New York, N.Y., 1960–61; had professional theatrical debut in An Evening with Henry Stoones, off-Broadway, 1961; made Broadway debut in musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale, 1962; recording artist with Columbia Records, 1962—; star of numerous television specials, including “My Name Is Barbra,” 1964. Film actress, producer, and director, 1968—, movies include Funny Girl, 1968, Hello, Dolly, 1969, The Owl and the Pussycat, 1970, What’s Up, Doc? 1972, Up the Sandbox, 1972, The Way We Were, 1973, For Pete’s Sake, 1974, Funny Lady, 1975, A Star Is Born (also producer), 1976, The Main Event, 1979, All Night Long, 1981, Y enti (also director and producer), 1983, Nuts, 1987.
Awards: Academy Award for best actress, 1969, for Funny Girl, Academy Award for best song of the year (with Paul Williams), 1976, for “Evergreen” ; Grammy Awards for best female pop vocalist, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1977, and 1986; recipient of special Tony Award, 1970.
Addresses: 5775 Ramirez Canyon Rd., Malibu, CA 90265.
the possibility of failure in her chosen profession. After graduating with honors from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, Streisand moved to Manhattan, where she bunked with friends and literally sang for her supper in nightclubs and bistros. When someone suggested that her last name sounded “too Jewish,” she changed the spelling of her first name instead.
In 1961 Streisand won a talent contest at a Greenwich Village bar. That exposure led to her first regular engagement—at the Bon Soir, another Village club. There her innovative performances of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” and “Happy Days Are Here Again” gained the attention of discriminating New York audiences. Soon she was appearing on local television shows and within a year she had a substantial part in a Broadway musical, “I Can Get It for You Wholesale.” The show ran nine months with Streisand as an unattractive secretary named Miss Marmelstein, and when it closed, the twenty-one-year-old singer found herself in great demand. She signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, and her first release, The Barbra Streisand Album, became 1963’s top-selling album by a female performer. She followed that success with The Second Barbra Streisand Album and The Third Barbra Streisand Album, both of which sold very well.
The lead role in the musical comedy Funny Girl assured Streisand’s ascent to superstardom. The Broadway show, produced in 1964, profiled the life of vaudeville comedienne Fanny Brice. In many respects it was the perfect vehicle for Streisand, combining comedy, drama, and several melodic songs. Streisand also appeared in the film version of Funny Girl, earning her first Academy Award for her work. A Newsweek reviewer calls Streisand’s portrayal of Brice “the most accomplished, original and enjoyable musical comedy performance ever put on film.” Capitol Records released the Funny Girl album in 1964; it was one of the few Broadway albums to be recorded live rather than in a studio.
As the 1970s progressed, Streisand moved more and more into film work and recording. Eventually, the encroachments on her privacy and a growing stage fright caused her to quit performing live shows. She managed to retain her superstar status, however, because many of her films did well at the box office, and her records continued to make the charts. In 1971 she had her first pop hit, “Stoney End,” a rousing song that marked a departure from her classic Broadway and torch-song repertory. Two years later she had her first hit-movie-hit-song combination with “The Way We Were,” a wistful ballad about parted lovers. The dual success was repeated in 1976 when she earned an Academy Award for the song “Evergreen,” (which she co-wrote with lyricist Paul Williams) from the film A Star Is Born, in which she played the lead. Both “Evergreen” and “The Way We Were” revealed a softer and more winsome Streisand sound, with an appeal that crossed generational lines.
Streisand was one of the few mainstream stars to have a hit disco song, “The Main Event,” released in 1979. In that case, the song fared better than the film of the same title, starring Streisand and Ryan O’Neal. By the late 1970s, when “The Main Event” made the charts, Streisand was a near-recluse, protected by attack dogs and bodyguards from the many prying fans who annoyed her. She was beginning her research for Yentl, a film project that consumed her for a number of years. Before she began work on Yentl in earnest, she recorded an album with artist Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees. That record, Guilty, was one of her biggest sellers, and the title song reached number one on the Top 40 charts.
Yentl (1983) tells the story of a young Jewish girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to study the Talmud in a school. Not only did Streisand play the lead in the musical film, she also produced and directed the work. After spending so much time on the project—and after being rewarded with a good box-office draw—Streisand was greatly disappointed to be passed over for Academy Award nominations. In People magazine, Jeff Jarvis contends that a reputation for temperamental behavior on Streisand’s part has alienated the Hollywood establishment, while her accomplishments spark jealousy. Streisand answered her critics in a Ladies’ Home Journal profile. “I used to apologize for being a perfectionist,” she said. “Now I don’t. I do care about every detail. That’s the way I operate…. People who like working for me want to be pushed, want to be stretched. And people who don’t like working for me, I guess, don’t.”
As Streisand continues her dual acting and singing careers, she still refuses to perform live. She hardly needs to—Nuts, her 1987 film with Richard Dreyfuss, was a critical and commercial success, and her 1986 Columbia release, The Broadway Album, brought a poignant West Side Story song to the charts. Now in her forties, Streisand is reported to be one of the highest-paid women performers in history, with lifetime earnings in excess of $100 million. The entertainer prides herself on her artistic integrity, her perfectionism, and her constant quest for innovation. “As you get older, you realize your mortality,” she told Ladies’ Home Journal. “So I’d like to do everything I can to avoid being an old person who says, Why didn’t I do that? Why didn’t I take that chance?”
Selected discography
The Barbra Streisand Album, Columbia, 1963.
The Second Barbra Streisand Album, Columbia, 1963.
The Third Barbra Streisand Album, Columbia, 1964.
Funny Girl, Capitol, 1964.
People, Columbia, 1965.
My Name Is Barbra, Columbia, 1965.
Je m’appelle Barbra, Columbia, 1966.
Color Me Barbra, Columbia, 1966.
Simply Streisand, Columbia, 1967.
Stoney End, Columbia, 1971.
Barbra Joan Streisand, Columbia, 1972.
Live Concert at the Forum, Columbia, 1972.
The Way We Were, Columbia, 1974.
A Star Is Born, Columbia, 1976.
Streisand Superman, Columbia, 1977.
Wet, Columbia, 1979.
(With Barry Gibb) Guilty, Columbia, 1980.
Yentl, Columbia, 1983.
Emotion, Columbia, 1984.
The Broadway Album, Columbia, 1986.
Also recorded Butterfly, A Christmas Album, Classical Barbra, Happening in Central Park, Lazy Afternoon, Memories, Songbird, and What about Today?
Sources
Books
Stambler, Irwin, Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul, St. Martin’s, 1974.
Periodicals
Esquire, October, 1982; April, 1985.
Harper’s Bazaar, November, 1983.
Ladies’ Home Journal, August, 1979; January, 1988; June, 1988.
Newsweek, January 5, 1970.
People, January 3, 1983; December 12, 1983; March 12, 1984; March 10, 1986.
Saturday Review, January 11, 1969.
Working Woman, March, 1986.
—Anne Janette Johnson
Streisand, Barbra
Barbra Streisand
Singer, songwriter
Yentl Producer, Director, and Star
The multitalented Barbra Streisand has made her mark as an actress, a singer, and a comedienne in a career spanning four decades. Streisand landed her first job as a nightclub singer in 1961 and just four years later was headlining on Broadway in the award-winning musical Funny Girl. Since then she has cut numerous albums, starred in motion pictures, and even directed and produced her own films, including Yentl’m 1983 and The Mirror Has Two Faces in 1996. Harper’s Bazaar contributor J. Curtis Sanburn claims that Streisand has that special “star quality” that eludes all but the best entertainers. In her case, writes Sanburn, “star quality makes for a driven, creative dynamo; the biggest, most powerful performer in Hollywood. She’s big because she keeps building on her talent, and we respond with surprise and recognition each time she gives us something new, yet distinctly Barbra.”
Barbara Joan Streisand was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 24, 1942. By any standards, her childhood was unhappy—her father, a high-school literature teacher, died of an epileptic seizure when she was less than two, leaving the family without any income. Streisand grew up in her grandparents’ home, a lonely, resentful child, whose only doll was a hot-water bottle with a sweater wrapped around it. At 14 she determined that she wanted to be an actress, and she began to cultivate a bohemian appearance and eccentric mannerisms to enhance her individuality. Streisand’s mother begged her to take typing classes, “just in case” acting would not support her, but the youngster refused to consider the possibility of failure in her chosen profession. After graduating with honors from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, Streisand moved to Manhattan, where she bunked with friends and literally sang for her supper in nightclubs and bistros. When someone suggested that her last name sounded “too Jewish,” she changed the spelling of her first name instead.
Debuted on Broadway
In 1961 Streisand won a talent contest at a Greenwich Village bar. That exposure led to her first regular engagement—at the Bon Soir, another Village club. There her innovative performances of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” and “Happy Days Are Here Again” gained the attention of discriminating New York audiences. Soon she was appearing on local television shows and within a year she had a substantial part in a Broadway musical, I Can Get It for You Wholesale. The show ran nine months with Streisand as an unattractive secretary named Miss Marmelstein, and when it closed, the 21-year-old singer found herself in great demand. She signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, and her first release, The Barbra Streisand Album, became 1963’s top-selling album by a female performer. She followed that success with The Second Barbra Streisand Album and The Third Barbra
For the Record …
Born Barbara Joan Streisand on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, NY; daughter of Emanuel (a literature teacher) and Diana (Rosen) Streisand; married Elliott Gould (an actor), March 1963; divorced; married James Brolin (an actor), 1998; children: (with Gould) Jason Emmanuel. Education: Graduated from Erasmus Hall High School (with honors), 1959; attended Yeshiva of Brooklyn.
Worked as nightclub singer at the Bon Soir, New York, NY, 1960-61; had professional theatrical debut in An Evening with Henry Stoones, off-Broadway, 1961; made Broadway debut in musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale, 1962; recording artist with Columbia Records, 1962-. Star of numerous television specials, including “My Name Is Barbra,” 1964. Film actress, producer, and director, 1968-, movies include: Funny Girl, 1968; Hello, Dolly, 1969; The Owl and the Pussycat, 1970; What’s Up, Doc? 1972; Up the Sandbox, 1972; The Way We Were, 1973; For Pete’s Sake, 1974; Funny Lady, 1975; A Star Is Born (also producer), 1976; The Main Event, 1979; All Night Long, 1981; Yentl (also director and producer), 1983; Nuts, 1987; Prince of Tides (also director and producer), 1991; The Mirror Has Two Faces (also director and producer), 1996; live performance at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas billed as farewell concert, 2000.
Awards: New York Film Critics Award, Best Actress for Funny Girl, 1968; Academy Award, Best Actress for Funny Girl, 1969; recipient of special Tony Award, 1970; Academy Award, Best Song of the Year (with Paul Williams) for “Evergreen,” 1977; Grammy Awards, Best Female Pop Vocalist, 1963-65, 1967, 1977, and 1986; Emmy Award, Outstanding Music Special and Outstanding Individual Performance in a Music Program, both for Barbra Streisand: The Concert, 1995; Emmy Award, Outstanding Individual Performance in a Music Program for Timeless: Live in Concert, 2000.
Addresses: Agent—Martin Erlichman Associates Inc., 5670 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2400, Los Angeles, CA 90036. Website— Barbra Streisand Official Website: http://www.barbrastreisand.com.
Streisand Album, both of which sold very well. Also in 1963 Streisand married actor Elliott Gould; they divorced during a period of deep withdrawal. She has one child by Gould, a son: Jason Emanuel.
The lead role in the musical comedy Funny Girl assured Streisand’s ascent to superstardom. The Broadway show, produced in 1964, profiled the life of vaudeville comedienne Fanny Brice. In many respects it was the perfect vehicle for Streisand, combining comedy, drama, and several melodic songs. Streisand also appeared in the film version of Funny Girl, earning her first Academy Award for her work. A Newsweek reviewer calls Streisand’s portrayal of Brice “the most accomplished, original and enjoyable musical comedy performance ever put on film.” Capitol Records released the Funny Girl album in 1964; it was one of the few Broadway albums to be recorded live rather than in a studio.
As the 1970s progressed, Streisand moved more and more into film work and recording. Eventually, the encroachments on her privacy and a growing stage fright caused her to quit performing live shows. She managed to retain her superstar status, however, because many of her films did well at the box office, and her records continued to make the charts. In 1971 she had her first pop hit, “Stoney End,” a rousing song that marked a departure from her classic Broadway and torch-song repertory. Two years later she had her first hit-movie-hit-song combination with “The Way We Were,” a wistful ballad about parted lovers. The dual success was repeated in 1976 when she earned an Academy Award for the song “Evergreen,” (which she co-wrote with lyricist Paul Williams) from the film A Star Is Born, in which she played the lead. Both “Evergreen” and “The Way We Were” revealed a softer and more winsome Streisand sound, with an appeal that crossed generational lines.
Yentl Producer, Director, and Star
Streisand was one of the few mainstream stars to have a hit disco song. Hers was “The Main Event,” released in 1979. The song fared better than the film of the same title, starring Streisand and Ryan O’Neal. By the late 1970s, when “The Main Event” made the charts, Streisand was a near-recluse, protected by attack dogs and bodyguards from the many prying fans who annoyed her. She was beginning her research for Yentl, a film project that consumed her for a number of years. Before she began work on Yentl in earnest, she recorded an album with artist Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees. That record, Guilty, was one of her biggest sellers, and the title song reached number one on the top 40 charts.
Yentl, released in 1983, tells the story of a young Jewish girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to study the Talmud in a school. Not only did Streisand play the lead in the musical film, she also produced and directed the work. After spending so much time on the project—and after being rewarded with a good box-office draw—Streisand was greatly disappointed to be passed over for Academy Award nominations. In People, Jeff Jarvis contends that a reputation for temperamental behavior on Streisand’s part has alienated the Hollywood establishment, while her accomplishments spark jealousy. Streisand answered her critics in a Ladies’ Home Journal profile: “I used to apologize for being a perfectionist,” she said. “Now I don’t. I do care about every detail. That’s the way I operate…. People who like working for me want to be pushed, want to be stretched. And people who don’t like working for me, I guess, don’t.”
As Streisand continued her dual acting and singing careers, she persisted in her refusal to perform live and hardly needed to. As she entered her forties she was reportedly one of the highest-paid women performers in history, with lifetime earnings in excess of $100 million. Nuts, her 1987 film with Richard Dreyfuss, was a critical and commercial success, and her 1986 Columbia release, The Broadway Album, brought a poignant West Side Story song to the charts. Her second directorial effort, Prince of Tides, was released in 1988, and The Mirror Has Two Faces, also directed by Streisand, appeared in 1996.
Millennium Farewell Concert
Streisand meanwhile returned to live performance in 1994 with a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. A subsequent release of the live concert recording became a million selling album, charting in the top ten. At the turn of the millennium, she appeared to a sold-out crowd of 12, 477 spectators at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. With tickets priced over $1,000, it was the highest single concert box-office take ever, grossing $14,694,750. A follow-up concert video, Timeless: Live in Concert, was televised in 2001. This event, billed officially as a farewell concert, earned an Emmy Award for the singer, although she made subsequent appearances and sang in an unscheduled performance at the Emmy Awards in November of 2001. Streisand married actor James Brolin on July 1, 1998.
Streisand has admitted that she never wanted to be a singer—she preferred serious roles in straight drama. It was as a singer that she first attracted attention, however, and she remains one of the best-selling recording artists on the Columbia label. Her untrained but spectacular voice is instantly recognizable in a wide variety of musical styles, from old Broadway standards to pop and disco, to plaintive ballads like “Evergreen.” According to Burt Korall in the Saturday Review, it is Streisand’s manner—not her vocal prowess—that has distinguished her from other female singers. Korall claims that Streisand is not “musically motivated” or “inspired by the melodic line,” but rather an artist who “shapes songs by heeding the guidelines established in the lyrics. She works as an actress would.” Korall continues: “She responds naturally to the emotions and thoughts elicited. Moving inward, alone with her feelings, she unfolds them in a touching, well-shaded, progressive way, as if savoring close contact with them. The show business flashiness recedes and the sensitive, warm person emerges.”
Selected discography
The Barbra Streisand Album, Columbia, 1963.
The Second Barbra Streisand Album, Columbia, 1963.
The Third Barbra Streisand Album, Columbia, 1964.
Funny Girl, Capitol, 1964.
People, Columbia, 1965.
My Name Is Barbra, Columbia, 1965.
Je m’appelle Barbra, Columbia, 1966.
Color Me Barbra, Columbia, 1966.
Simply Streisand, Columbia, 1967.
A Christmas Album, Columbia, 1967.
Happening in Central Park, Columbia, 1968.
What about Today?, Columbia, 1969.
Stoney End, Columbia, 1971.
Barbra Joan Streisand, Columbia, 1972.
Live Concert at the Forum, Columbia, 1972.
The Way We Were, Columbia, 1974.
Butterfly, Columbia, 1974.
Lazy Afternoon, Columbia, 1975.
A Star Is Born, Columbia, 1976.
Classical Barbra, Columbia, 1976.
Streisand Superman, Columbia, 1977.
Songbird, Columbia, 1978.
Wet, Columbia, 1979.
(With Barry Gibb) Guilty (includes “Guilty”), Columbia, 1980.
Memories, Columbia, 1981.
Yentl, Columbia, 1983.
Emotion, Columbia, 1984.
The Broadway Album, Columbia, 1986.
One Voice (live), Columbia, 1987.
Till I Loved You, Columbia, 1988.
Prince of Tides, Columbia, 1988.
Back to Broadway, Columbia, 1993.
Streisand Sings Harold Arlen, Sony, 1993.
Barbra: The Concert (live), Columbia, 1994.
Broadway Collection, Columbia, 1995.
The Mirror Has Two Faces, Columbia, 1996.
Higher Ground, Columbia, 1997.
A Love Like Ours, Columbia, 1999.
Timeless: Live in Concert, Columbia, 2001.
Christmas Memories, Sony, 2001.
Sources
Books
Stambler, Irwin, Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul, St. Martin’s, 1974.
Periodicals
Esquire, October 1982; April 1985.
Harper’s Bazaar, November 1983.
Ladies’ Home Journal, August 1979; January 1988; June 1988.
Newsweek, January 5, 1970.
People, January 3, 1983; December 12, 1983; March 12, 1984; March 10, 1986.
PR Newswire, January 10, 2000.
Saturday Review, January 11, 1969.
Working Woman, March 1986.
Online
Barbra Streisand Official Website, http://www.barbrastreisand.com (January 1, 2002).
—Anne Janette Johnson
Streisand, Barbra 1942–
Streisand, Barbra 1942–
(Ms. Streisand)
PERSONAL
Original name, Barbara Joan Streisand; changed name to Barbra Streisand, c. 1960; born April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, NY; daughter of Emanuel Streisand (an English teacher) and Diana Kind (a school clerk; maiden name, Rosen; some sources state that original first name was Ida); half sister of Roslyn Kind (a singer and actress); married Elliott Gould (an actor and director), March 21, 1963 (divorced July 9, 1971); married James Brolin (an actor and director), July 1, 1998; children: (first marriage) Jason Emanuel Gould (an actor); stepchildren: Josh (an actor), Jesse, Molly Elizabeth. Education: Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn, New York, NY, diploma (with honors), 1959; attended Yeshiva of Brooklyn; studied acting. Politics: Democrat. Avocational Interests: Design.
Addresses: Office—Barwood Films, 321 West 78th St., Suite 1A, New York, NY 10024. Agent—International Creative Management, 8942 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211-1934. Manager—Martin Erlichman Associates, Inc., 5670 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2400, Los Angeles, CA 90036. Publicist—Dick Guttman, Guttman Associates Public Relations, 118 South Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.
Career: Actress, singer, director, producer, composer, and writer. First Artists Productions, cofounder, 1969; Barwood Films, New York City, founder and principal, 1972–. Singer in nightclubs throughout the United States, including the Lion, Bon Soir, Blue Angel, and Basin Street East, all New York City; hungry I, San Francisco, CA; Coconut Grove, Los Angeles, CA; and Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, NV, beginning in the 1960s; performer in concerts, including appearances with Sammy Davis Jr., the Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, CA, 1963; in Central Park, New York City, 1968; and in Las Vegas, NV, 1993 and 1994. Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York City, worked as an usher. Some sources cite work as a switchboard operator and in a restaurant. Streisand Foundation, founder; spokesperson and fundraiser for social causes.
Member: Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Directors Guild of America, Actors' Equity Association, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
Awards, Honors: New York Drama Critics Circle Award, Variety, 1962, Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best supporting or featured actress in a musical, 1962, and Entertainer of the Year Award, Cue, 1963, all for I Can Get It for You Wholesale; Grammy awards, female vocalist of the year and best album, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, both 1963, for The Barbra Streisand Album; Grammy Award nomination, record of the year, 1963, for "Happy Days Are Here Again"; Grammy Award, best female pop vocalist, 1964, for "People"; Grammy Award nominations, album of the year and record of the year, both for People; Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best actress in a musical comedy, 1964, for Funny Girl; Emmy Award nomination, outstanding performance in a variety or musical program or series, 1964, for The Judy Garland Show; George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Award, Henry W. Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Georgia, and Emmy Award, outstanding individual achievement in entertainment, both 1965, for My Name Is Barbra; Grammy Award, best female vocal performance, and Grammy Award nomination, album of the year, both for My Name Is Barbra; London Critics' Musical Award, 1966; Grammy Award nominations, best female vocal performance and album of the year, both 1966, for Color Me Barbra; ShoWest Award, star of the year, National Association of Theatre Owners, 1968; Golden Apple, female star of the year, Hollywood Women's Press Club, 1968; Grammy Award nomination, best contemporary pop vocal performance, 1968, for Funny Girl; Academy Award, best actress in a leading role, Golden Globe Award, best motion picture actress—musical/comedy, and David di Donatello Award, best foreign actress, all 1969, Film Award nomination, best actress, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and Golden Laurel Award, outstanding female comedy performance, both 1970, all for Funny Girl; Antoinette Perry Award, star of the decade, 1970; Georgie Award, entertainer of the year, American Guild of Variety Artists, 1970; Golden Globe Award nomination, best motion picture actress—musical/comedy, and Film Award nomination, best actress, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, both 1970, for Hello, Dolly!; nominations for Golden Laurel awards, outstanding female star, 1970 and 1971; Golden Globe awards, world film favorite—female, 1970, 1971, 1975, and 1978; Golden Globe Award nomination, best motion picture actress—musical/comedy, and nomination for Golden Laurel Award, outstanding female comedy performance, both 1971, for The Owl and the Pussycat; Grammy Award nomination, best pop female vocal performance, 1972, for "Sweet Inspiration"/"Where You LeadVDidn't We"; Georgie Award, singing star of the year, 1972, 1977, and 1980; American Music Award, favorite single, 1974, for "The Way We Were"; American Music Award, favorite female artist—pop/rock, 1974; David di Donatello Award, best foreign actress, Academy Award nomination, best actress in a leading role, and Golden Globe Award nomination, best motion picture actress—drama, all 1974, and Film Award nomination, best actress, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1975, all for The Way We Were; People's Choice awards, favorite motion picture actress, 1975, 1977, and 1978; Grammy Award nomination, best classical vocal soloist performance, 1976, for Classical Barbra; Golden Globe Award nomination, best motion picture actress—musical/comedy, 1977, for Funny Lady; Golden Globe Award, best motion picture actress—musical/comedy, 1977, for A Star Is Born; Grammy Award, best pop female vocal performance, 1977, Academy Award, best music, original song, Golden Globe Award, best original song—motion picture, Grammy Award, song of the year, and Grammy Award nomination, record of the year, all 1977, and Film and Television Music Award, most performed feature film standard, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, 1988, all with Paul Williams, all for "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" from A Star Is Born; Grammy Award nomination, best album of original score written for a motion picture or television special, 1977, and nomination for Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1978, both with others, for A Star Is Born; Grammy Award nomination, best pop female vocal performance, 1978, for "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (solo version); Grammy Award nominations, record of the year and best pop vocal performance—duo, group, or chorus, both with Neil Diamond, 1979, for "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (duet version); Grammy Award (with Barry Gibb), best pop vocal performance, duo or group, 1980, for "Guilty"; Grammy Award nomination (with Barry Gibb), album of the year, 1980, for Guilty; Grammy Award nomination, best pop female vocal performance and record of the year, both 1980, for "Woman in Love"; American Music awards, favorite female artist—pop/rock, 1980, and favorite pop/rock female artist, 1981; Golden Globe Award, best director of a motion picture, Golden Globe Award nomination, best performance by an actress in a motion picture—comedy/musical, and Special Silver Ribbon, best new director of a foreign film, Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, all 1984, for Yentl; Crystal Award, Women in Film, 1984; Grammy Award, best pop female vocal performance, and Grammy Award nomination, album of the year, both 1986, for The Broadway Album; Grammy Award nominations, best pop female vocal performance and album of the year, both 1987, for One Voice; CableACE Award nomination, outstanding performance in a music special, National Cable Television Association, 1987, for Putting It Together: The Making of "The Broadway Album"; Golden Globe Award nomination, best performance by an actress in a motion picture—drama, 1988, for Nuts; named ShoWest star of the decade, 1988; Grammy Award nomination, best traditional pop vocal performance, 1991, for "Warm All Over"; Legend Award, Grammy awards, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 1992; Dorothy Arzner Special Recognition, Crystal awards, Women in Film, 1992; Commitment to Life awards, AIDS Project Los Angeles, 1992; Academy Award nomination (with Andrew S. Karsch), best picture, Golden Globe Award nomination, best director of a motion picture, and Directors Guild of America Award nomination, outstanding directorial achievement in motion pictures, all 1992, for The Prince of Tides; Grammy Award nomination, best traditional pop vocal performance, 1993, for Back to Broadway; Grammy Award nomination (with Michael Crawford), best pop vocal performance, duo or group, for "The Music of the Night"; Lifetime Achievement Award, Grammy awards, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 1994; Grammy Award nomination, best traditional pop vocal performance, for The Concert; Grammy Award nomination, best pop female performance, 1994, for "Ordinary Miracles"; George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Award, Emmy awards, outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program, and (with others) outstanding variety, music, or comedy special, and Emmy Award nomination (with Dwight Hemion), outstanding individual achievement in directing for a variety or music program, all 1995, for Barbra: The Concert; Emmy Award nomination (with others), outstanding made-for-television movie, 1995, for Serving in Silence: The Mar-garethe Cammermeyer Story; named one of the Hollywood's most powerful women, E! Entertainment Television, 1995; honorary doctorate, Brandeis University, 1995; Grammy Award nominations, best pop collaboration with vocals, both 1997, for "I Finally Found Someone" (with Bryan Adams) and for "Tell Him" (with Celine Dion); Golden Globe Award nomination, best performance by an actress in a motion picture—comedy/musical, 1997, for The Mirror Has Two Faces; Academy Award nomination, best music, original song, 1997, Golden Globe Award nomination, best original song for a motion picture, 1997, and Film and Television Music Award, most performed songs from motion pictures, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, 1998, all with others, all for "I've Finally Found Someone" from The Mirror Has Two Faces; named one of the 100 greatest women of rock and roll, VH1, 1999; Cecil B. DeMille Award, Golden Globe awards, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2000; National Medal of Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, 2000; Grammy Award nomination, best traditional pop vocal album, c. 2001, for Timeless: Live in Concert; Lifetime Achievement Award, American Film Institute, 2001; Liberty and Justice Award, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, 2001; Emmy Award, outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program, 2001, and Directors Guild of America Award nomination (with Don Mischer), outstanding directorial achievement in musical/variety, 2002, both for Timeless: Live in Concert; Grammy Award nomination, best traditional pop vocal album, 2002, for Christmas Memories; Grammy Award nomination, best traditional pop vocal album, c. 2003, for Barbra Streisand: The Movie Album; Humanitarian Award, Human Rights Campaign, 2004; received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; dozens of gold and platinum certifications for albums and videos, Recording Industry Association of America; one of the best-selling recording artists of the twentieth century; decorated commander, French Order of Arts and Letters; Bill of Rights Award, American Civil Liberties Union.
CREDITS
Film Appearances:
Herself, This Is Streisand (documentary), 1968.
Fanny Brice, Funny Girl (musical), Columbia, 1968.
Dolly Gallagher Levi, Hello, Dolly! (musical), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1969.
Herself, Barbra: Yesterday Today and Forever! (documentary), 1970.
Daisy Gamble, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (musical), Paramount, 1970.
Doris, The Owl and the Pussycat, Columbia, 1970.
Judy Maxwell, What's Up, Doc?, Warner Bros., 1972.
Margaret Reynolds, Up the Sandbox, National General, 1972.
Katie Morosky, The Way We Were, Columbia, 1973.
Henrietta, For Pete's Sake (also known as July Pork Bellies), Columbia, 1974.
Fanny Brice, Funny Lady (musical), Columbia, 1975.
Esther Hoffman, A Star Is Born, Warner Bros., 1976.
Hillary Kramer, The Main Event, Warner Bros., 1979.
Cheryl Gibbons, All Night Long, Universal, 1981.
Anshel/Yentl (title role), Yentl, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1983.
Herself, Directed by William Wyler, 1986.
Claudia Draper, Nuts, Warner Bros., 1987.
Herself, Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (also known as Listen Up), 1990.
Dr. Susan Lowenstein, The Prince of Tides, Columbia, 1991.
(Uncredited; in archive footage) Fame in the Twentieth Century, 1993.
(In archive footage) Herself, The Real Las Vegas, 1996.
Rose Morgan, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Columbia/TriStar, 1996.
Rozalin "Roz" Focker, Meet the Fockers (also known as Meet the Fokkers and Meet the Parents 2), Universal, 2004.
Film Work; Song Performer:
Performer of songs have been featured in films, television broadcasts, and videos.
Film Director:
Yentl, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1983.
The Prince of Tides, Columbia, 1991.
The Mirror Has Two Faces, Columbia/TriStar, 1996.
Film Executive Producer:
A Star Is Born, Warner Bros., 1976.
City at Peace (documentary), Seventh Art Releasing, 1998.
Film Producer:
(With Jon Peters) The Main Event, Warner Bros., 1979.
(With Rusty Lemorande) Yentl, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1983.
Nuts, Warner Bros., 1987.
(With Andrew Karsch) The Prince of Tides, Columbia, 1991.
(With Arnon Milchan) The Mirror Has Two Faces, Columbia/TriStar, 1996.
Film Work; Other:
Creator of musical concepts, A Star Is Born, Warner Bros., 1976.
(As Ms. Streisand) Stage of musical sequences, Yentl, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1983.
Television Appearances; Miniseries; in Archive Footage:
100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll (also known as The Greatest), VH1, 1999.
The 100 Greatest Musicals, Channel 4 (England), 2003.
Broadway: The American Musical, PBS, 2004.
The Greatest Canadian, CBC (Canada), 2004.
Rozalin "Roz" Focker, 100 Funniest Movies, Bravo, 2006.
Television Appearances; Movies:
Announcer, Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Women, Showtime, 1997.
Television Appearances; Specials:
The Bob Hope Show, NBC, 1963.
My Name Is Barbra, CBS, 1965.
Color Me Barbra, CBS, 1966.
The Belle of 14th Street, CBS, 1967.
Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park (also known as A Happening in Central Park), CBS, 1968.
A World of Love, CBS, 1970.
The Burt Bacharach Special (also known as Singer Presents Burt Bacharach), CBS, 1971.
Barbra Streisand … and Other Musical Instruments, CBS, 1973.
From Funny Girl to Funny Lady, ABC, 1974.
Barbra: With One More Look at You (also known as The Making of "A Star Is Born"), 1976.
The Barbara Walters Special, ABC, 1976, 1985.
The Stars Salute Israel at 30, ABC, 1978.
Getting in Shape for the Main Event, 1979.
The Bob Hope Special: Bob Hope's Women I Love—Beautiful but Funny, NBC, 1982.
I Love Liberty, ABC, 1982.
A Film Is Born: The Making of "Yentl" (also known as Barbra Streisand: A Film Is Born), 1983.
Barbra Streisand: One Voice (also known as One Voice), HBO, 1986.
Putting It Together: The Making of "The Broadway Album," HBO, 1986.
Funny, You Don't Look 200 (also known as Funny, You Don't Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville), ABC, 1987.
Sinatra 75: The Best Is Yet to Come, CBS, 1990.
Time Warner Presents the Earth Day Special (also known as The Earth Day Special), ABC, 1990.
Herself, Hollywood and Politics, Cable News Network, 1992.
HBO's 20th Anniversary—We Hardly Believe It Ourselves (also known as HBO's 20th Anniversary Special—We Don't Believe It Ourselves), HBO, 1992.
Host, Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros., TNT, 1993.
An American Reunion: The 52nd Presidential Inaugural Gala, CBS, 1993.
November 22, 1993: Where Were You? A Larry King Special Live from Washington, TNT, 1993.
Barbara Walters Presents "The 10 Most Fascinating People of 1994," ABC, 1994.
Barbra: The Concert (also known as Barbra Streisand: The Concert), HBO, 1994.
Herself, Hollywood's Most Powerful Women, E! Entertainment Television, 1995.
Sinatra: 80 Years My Way, ABC, 1995.
Barbra Streisand: My Life, Nine Network (Australia), 1998.
ABC 2000: The Millennium, ABC, 1999.
Celebrity Weddings: InStyle, ABC, 1999.
Grammy's Greatest Performances, CBS, 1999.
Host, Reel Models: The First Women of Film, American Movie Classics, 2000.
Timeless: Live in Concert (also known as Barbra Streisand—Timeless), Fox, 2001.
AFI's 100 Years … 100 Songs (also known as AFI's 100 Years … 100 Songs: America's Greatest Music in the Movies), CBS, 2004.
Fashion Week Diaries, 2005.
Several of these specials have been released on video and DVD.
Television Appearances; Specials; in Archive Footage:
Herself, Judy Garland: The Concert Years, 1985.
The Very Best of The Ed Sullivan Show, CBS, 1991.
Barbara Walters: 20 Years at ABC, ABC, 1996.
The Good, the Bad & the Beautiful, 1996.
The Music of Kander and Ebb: Razzle Dazzle, 1997.
Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary: No Guts, No Glory, TNT, 1998.
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2, American Movie Classics, 1999.
Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Primetime Special (also known as Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary), NBC, 1999.
Esther Hoffman, Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s, 2002.
Rated "R": Republicans in Hollywood, American Movie Classics, 2004.
Showbiz Hissy Fits, Channel 4, 2005.
Television Appearances; Awards Presentations:
Presenter, The 40th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1968.
The 41st Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1969.
Presenter, The 42nd Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1970.
The American Film Institute Presents a Salute to William Wyler (also known as The Fourth American Film Institute Life Achievement Award: A Salute to William Wyler), 1976.
The 49th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1977.
The 19th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1977.
The Entertainer of the Year Awards, CBS, 1978.
The 20th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1978.
The American Film Institute Salute to Alfred Hitchcock (also known as The AFI Salute to Alfred Hitchcock), CBS, 1979.
The 21st Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1979.
The 22nd Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1980.
The 23rd Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1981.
Presenter, The 58th Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 1986.
The 28th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1986.
Presenter, The 63rd Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 1991.
The 64th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1992.
The 34th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1992.
Presenter, The 65th Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 1993.
Honoree, The 37th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1995.
The 69th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1997.
The 57th Annual Golden Globe Awards, ABC, 2000.
The 27th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, ABC, 2000.
The 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, CBS, 2001.
A Tribute to Barbra Streisand (also known as 29th American Film Institute Life Achievement Award: A Salute to Barbra Streisand), Fox, 2001.
Presenter, The 74th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 2002.
Presenter, The 75th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 2003.
Presenter, The Museum of the Moving Image Salutes John Travolta, USA Network, 2004.
The 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards, NBC, 2004.
Presenter, The 77th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 2005.
Television Appearances; Episodic:
Mystery guest, What's My Line?, CBS, 1964, 1965.
Herself, "Badge of Dishonor," Miami Vice (also known as Miami Unworthiness), NBC, 1988.
(Uncredited) Herself, Saturday Night Live (also known as NBC's "Saturday Night," Saturday Night, Saturday Night Live '80, SNL, and SNL 25), NBC, 1992.
Herself, "The Films of Barbra Streisand," The Directors, Encore, 1999.
"Nick Nolte: Acting Up" (also known as "Nick Nolte"), Biography (also known as A&E Biography: Nick Nolte), Arts and Entertainment, 1999.
Television Guest Appearances; Episodic:
The Jack Paar Show (also known as The Jack Paar Tonight Show), NBC, multiple episodes in 1961.
The Joe Franklin Show, syndicated, 1961.
PM East (also known as P.M. East—P.M. West), WNEW (New York City) and syndicated, multiple episodes in 1961 and 1962.
The Garry Moore Show, CBS, 1962.
Today (also known as NBC News Today and The Today Show), NBC, 1962.
The Tonight Show, NBC, 1962.
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (also known as The Best of Carson), NBC, multiple episodes in 1962 and 1963.
The Ed Sullivan Show (also known as Toast of the Town), CBS, 1962, 1963, 1969, 1970.
The Dinah Shore Show, NBC, 1963.
The Judy Garland Show, CBS, 1963.
The Keefe Brasselle Show (also known as Keefe Brasselle's "Variety Garden"), CBS, 1963.
The Mike Douglas Show, syndicated, multiple episodes in 1963.
Late Night Lineup, multiple episodes in 1966, 1969.
Kraft Music Hall, NBC, 1968.
Good Night America, 1977.
The Mike Walsh Show, multiple episodes in 1979.
Auf los geht's los, 1984.
Breakfast Time, 1984.
Good Morning America (also known as GMA), ABC, multiple appearances in 1984, 2004, multiple appearances in 2005.
60 Minutes (also known as TV Land Legends: The 60 Minutes Interviews), CBS, 1991.
Larry King Live, Cable News Network, 1992, 1996, (in archive footage) 2004.
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC, 1993.
20/20 (also known as ABC News 20/20), ABC, 1993, 1997.
The Late Show with David Letterman (also known as The Late Show and Late Show Backstage), CBS, 1994.
Top of the Pops (also known as All New Top of the Pops and TOTP), BBC, 1994.
Primetime Live, ABC, 1994, 2005.
The Oprah Winfrey Show (also known as Oprah), syndicated, 1996, 2003.
Access Hollywood, syndicated, 1997.
Exclusiv, RTL (Germany), 1997.
GMTV, Independent Television (England), 1997.
Time & Again, MSNBC, 1997.
The Rosie O'Donnell Show, syndicated, 1997, 1999, 2000.
Extra (also known as Extra: The Entertainment Magazine), syndicated, 2003.
Good Day Live, Fox, 2003.
Entertainment Tonight (also known as Entertainment This Week, ET, ET Weekend, and This Week in Entertainment), syndicated, 2003, 2005.
Inside the Actors Studio, Bravo, 2004.
Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show (also known as Ellen and The Ellen DeGeneres Show), syndicated, 2005.
This Morning (also known as This Morning with Richard and Judy), Independent Television, 2005.
Television Appearances; Episodic; in Archive Footage:
"Lesley Ann Warren: A Cinderella Story," Biography (also known as A&E Biography: Lesley Ann Warren), Arts and Entertainment, 2000, also broadcast as Celebrity: Lesley Ann Warren.
"Brooke Shields," Celebrity Profile, E! Entertainment Television, 2001.
Celebrities Uncensored, E! Entertainment Television, 2003.
101 Biggest Celebrity Oops (also known as E's "101"), E! Entertainment Television, 2004.
101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment (also known as E's "101"), E! Entertainment Television, 2003.
"Judy Garland: By Myself," American Masters, PBS, 2004.
101 Most Unforgettable SNL Moments (also known as E's "101"), E! Entertainment Television, 2004.
On a tout essaye, 2004.
Television Executive Producer; Series:
The Living Century (series of specials; includes The Living Century: A Teacher and a Student for Life and The Living Century: Three Miracles), PBS, beginning c. 2000.
Television Executive Producer; Movies:
(With Glenn Close, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, and Cis Corman) Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (also known as Serving in Silence and Serving in Silence: The Colonel Grethe Cammermeyer Story), NBC, 1995.
Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Women, Showtime, 1997.
The Long Island Incident, NBC, 1998.
Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Couples, Showtime, 1998.
Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Families, Showtime, 1998.
Frankie & Hazel (also known as Frankie & Hazel—Zwei Maedchen starten durch), Showtime, 2000.
Varian's War (also known as Varian Fry, un heros oublie), Showtime, 2000.
What Makes a Family, Lifetime, 2001.
Television Work; Specials:
Executive producer, Barbra Streisand: One Voice (also known as One Voice), HBO, 1986.
Director, executive producer, and song arranger, Putting It Together: The Making of "The Broadway Album," HBO, 1986.
Creator, producer, director, stage director, and costume designer, Barbra: The Concert (also known as Barbra Streisand: The Concert), HBO, 1994.
Executive producer, Reel Models: The First Women of Film, American Movie Classics, 2000.
Stage Appearances:
Elsa, Desk Set, Malden Bridge Playhouse, New York City, 1957.
Hortense, The Boy Friend, Malden Bridge Playhouse, 1957.
Millie Owens, Picnic, Malden Bridge Playhouse, 1957.
Sakini, Teahouse of the August Moon, Malden Bridge Playhouse, 1957.
Understudy for Avril, Purple Dust, Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City, c. 1957–58.
Ellie May, Tobacco Road, Clinton Playhouse, Clinton, CT, 1958.
Lorna of the Dunes, Driftwood, Garret Theatre, New York City, 1959.
Separate Tables, Cecilwood Theatre, Fishkill, NY, 1959.
Apatura Clythia, second butterfly, first ant, and second moth, The Insect Comedy, Jan Hus Theatre, New York City, 1960.
Member of ensemble, Another Evening with Harry Stoones (revue), Gramercy Arts Theatre, New York City, 1961.
Miss Marmelstein, I Can Get It for You Wholesale (musical), Shubert Theatre and Broadway Theatre, both New York City, 1962.
Pins and Needles (musical revue), c. 1962.
Fanny Brice, Funny Girl (musical), Winter Garden Theatre, New York City, 1964–65, then Prince of Wales Theatre, London, 1966.
Stage Work:
Assistant stage manager, Purple Dust, Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City, c. 1957–58.
Radio Appearances; Specials:
The Christmas Seals Program, syndicated, 1964.
Meet Barbra Streisand, BBC Radio, 1966.
The Barbra Streisand Special, ABC, 1979.
The Legend of Barbra Streisand, Westwood One/Columbia, 1983.
Barbra Streisand: Portrait of an Artist, Westwood One, 1992.
Radio Appearances; Episodic:
Guest House, [Detroit, MI], 1961.
The Jack Harris Show, WJR (Detroit, MI), 1961.
Backstage with Lee Jordan, syndicated, 1962.
Let's Talk to Lucy, CBS, 1964.
Robbins Nest, WNEW (New York City), 1964.
Mies en Scene, [the Netherlands], 1966.
Open House, BBC Radio, 1975.
Delilah, syndicated, 2002, 2003.
Morning Edition, National Public Radio, 2003.
The Song Show, BBC Radio 2, 2003.
Appeared in other programs, including a show hosted by Larry King in Miami, FL. Appeared in programs broadcast by British networks, including shows hosted by Malcolm Davis, BBC Radio, 1965; Simon Bates, BBC Radio One, 1992; and Gloria Hunniford, BBC Radio Two, 1992.
RECORDINGS
Albums:
I Can Get It for You Wholesale (original cast recording), Columbia, 1962.
Pins and Needles, Columbia, 1962.
The Barbra Streisand Album, Columbia, 1963.
The Second Barbra Streisand Album, Columbia, 1963.
Barbra Streisand: The Third Album, Columbia, 1964.
Funny Girl (original cast recording), Capitol, 1964.
People, Columbia, 1964.
My Name Is Barbra, Columbia, 1965.
My Name Is Barbra Two, 1965.
Color Me Barbra, Columbia, 1966.
En francais (EP), CBS, 1966.
Harold Arlen and Barbra Streisand—Harold Sings Arlen (with Friend), Columbia, 1966.
Je m'appelle Barbra, Columbia, 1966.
A Christmas Album, Columbia, 1967.
Simply Streisand, Columbia, 1967.
Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park, Columbia, 1968.
What about Today?, Columbia, 1969.
Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits, Columbia, 1970.
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (original soundtrack), Columbia, 1970.
Stoney End, Columbia, 1971.
Barbara Joan Streisand, Columbia, 1972.
Barbra Streisand Live Concert at the Forum, Columbia, 1972.
Barbra Streisand … and Other Musical Instruments, Columbia, 1973.
Butterfly, Columbia, 1974.
The Way We Were, Columbia, 1974.
Lazy Afternoon, Columbia, 1975.
(With Kris Kristofferson) A Star Is Born (original soundtrack), Columbia, 1976.
Barbra Streisand—Superman (also known as Superman), Columbia, 1977.
Classical Barbra, Columbia, 1977.
Greatest Hits Volume 2, 1978.
The Stars Salute Israel at 30, Columbia, 1978.
The Main Event (soundtrack), Sony, 1979.
Wet, Columbia, 1979.
(With Barry Gibb) Guilty, Columbia, 1980.
Songbird, Columbia, 1980.
Memories, Columbia, 1981.
Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits, Volume 2, Columbia, 1983.
Yentl (original soundtrack), Columbia, 1983.
Emotion, Columbia, 1984.
One Voice (also known as Barbra Streisand—One Voice), Columbia, 1986.
The Broadway Album, Columbia, 1986.
Nuts (original soundtrack), Columbia, 1987.
Till I Loved You, Columbia, 1988.
A Collection—Greatest Hits, Columbia, 1989.
Just for the Record, four volumes, Columbia, 1991.
The Prince of Tides (soundtrack), Columbia, 1991.
Just for the Record Highlights, Columbia, 1992.
Back to Broadway, Columbia, 1993.
Concert at the Forum, 1993.
The Concert (also known as Barbra: The Concert and Barbra—The Concert Recorded Live at Madison Square Garden), Columbia, 1994.
Ordinary Miracles, Columbia, 1994.
Streisand Sings Harold Arlen, Sony, 1994.
Barbra—The Concert Highlights, Columbia, 1995.
The Broadway Collection, Columbia, 1995.
The Mirror Has Two Faces (soundtrack), Columbia, 1996.
Higher Ground, Columbia, 1997.
Sing-a-Long, three volumes, 1998.
A Love Like Ours, Columbia, 1999.
Christmas Memories, Sony, 2001.
Timeless: Live in Concert (also known as Barbra Streisand—Timeless), Columbia, 2001.
The Essential Barbra Streisand, Sony, 2002.
Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra Duets, Sony, 2002.
Barbra Streisand: The Movie Album (also known as The Movie Album), Sony, 2003.
(With Gibb) Guilty Pleasures (also known as Guilty Too), Sony, 2005.
Work appeared in other recordings and collected in box sets.
Singles:
"Happy Days Are Here Again"/"When the Sun Comes Out," 1962.
"My Coloring Book"/"Love, Come Back to Me," 1962.
"Absent Minded Me"/"Funny Girl," 1964.
"People"/"I Am Woman," 1964.
"Happy Days Are Here Again"/"My Coloring Back," 1965.
"He Touched Man"/"I Like Him," 1965.
"My Man"/"Where Is the Wonder," 1965.
"Second Hand Rose"/"The Kind of Man a Woman Needs," 1965.
"Why Did I Choose You?"/"My Love," 1965.
"Free Again"/"I've Been Here," 1966.
"Non c'est rien"/"Le mur," 1966.
"Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long"/"The Minute Waltz," 1966.
"Sleep in Heavenly Peace"/"Gounod's'Ave Maria,'" 1966.
"Where Am I Going?"/"You Wanna Bet," 1966.
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," 1967.
"Jingle Bells?"/"White Christmas," 1967.
"The Lord's Prayer"/"I Wonder as I Wander," 1967.
"Lover Man"/"My Funny Valentine," 1967.
"My Favorite Things"/"The Christmas Song," 1967.
"Stout-Hearted Men"/"Look," 1967.
"The Morning After"/"Where Is the Wonder," 1968.
"Our Corner of the Night"/"He Could Show Me," 1968.
"Funny Girl"/"I'd Rather Be Blue over You (Than Happy with Somebody Else)," 1968, 1969.
"My Man"/"Don't Rain on My Parade," 1968, 1969.
"Before the Parade Passes"/"Love Is Only Love," 1969.
"Frank Mills"/"Punky's Dilemma," 1969.
"Hello, Dolly!" (mono)/"Hello, Dolly!" (stereo), 1969.
"Little Tin Soldier"/"Honey Pie," 1969.
"What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"/"What about Today?," 1969.
"The Best Thing You've Ever Done"/"Summer Me, Winter Me," 1970.
"On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)" (mono)/"On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)" (stereo), 1970.
"Stoney End"/"I'll Be Home," 1970.
"Hands off the Man (Flim Flam Man)"/"Maybe," 1971.
"Mother"/"The Summer Knows," 1971.
"Space Captain"/"One Less Bell to Answer"/"A House Is Not a Home," 1971.
"Stoney End"/"Time and Love," 1971.
"Time and Love"/"No Easy Way Down," 1971.
"Where You Lead"/"Since I Fell for You," 1971.
"The Best Thing You've Ever Done"/"What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?," 1972.
"Didn't We"/"On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)," 1972.
"Sing"/"Make Your Own Kind of Music"/"Starting Here, Starting Now," 1972.
"Sweet Inspiration"/"Where You Lead"/"Didn't We," 1972.
"If I Close My Eyes"/"If I Close My Eyes" (instrumental), 1973.
"The Way We Were" (promotional recording), 1973.
"The Way We Were"/"What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?," 1973.
"All in Love Is Fair"/"My Buddy"/"How about Me?," 1974.
"Guava Jelly"/"Love in the Afternoon," 1974.
"The Way We Were"/"All in Love Is Fair," 1974, 1989.
"How Lucky Can You Get"/"More Than You Know," 1975.
"Jubilation"/"Let the Good Times Roll," 1975.
"My Father's Song"/"By the Way," 1975.
"Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" (short version)/"Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" (long version), 1975.
"Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)"/"Widescreen," 1975.
"Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)"/"I Believe in Love," 1976.
"My Heart Belongs to Me"/"Answer Me," 1977.
"Prisoner (Love Theme from Eyes of Laura Mars)"/"Laura and Neville" (instrumental), 1978.
"Songbird"/"Honey, Can I Put on Your Clothes?," 1978.
(With Neil Diamond) "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"/"You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (instrumental), 1978.
"You Don't Bring Me Flowers," c. 1978.
"Kiss Me in the Rain"/"I Ain't Gonna Cry Tonight," 1979.
"The Main Event (Fight)"/"The Main Event (Fight)," 1979.
(With Donna Summer) "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"/"Wet," 1979.
"Superman"/"A Man I Loved," 1979.
(With Barry Gibb) "Guilty"/"Life Story," 1980.
"Woman in Love"/"Run Wild," 1980.
"Comin' in and Out of Your Life"/(With Kris Kristofferson) "Lost inside of You," 1981.
"Promises"/"Make It Like a Memory," 1981.
(With Barry Gibb) "What Kind of Fool?"/"The Love Inside," 1981.
"Memory"/"Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)," 1982.
"Papa, Can You Hear Me?"/"Will Someone Ever Look at Me That Way?," 1983.
"The Way He Makes Me Feel" (studio version)/"The Way He Makes Me Feel" (film version), 1983.
"Left in the Dark"/"Here We Are at Last," 1984.
(With Kim Carnes) "Make No Mistake, He's Mine"/"Clear Sailing," 1984.
"Emotion"/"Emotion" (instrumental), 1985.
"Emotion"/"Here We Are at Last," 1985.
"Somewhere"/"Not While I'm Around," 1985.
"Send in the Clowns"/"Being Alive," 1986.
"The Main Event (Fight)"/"Promises," 1987.
"All I Ask of You"/"On My Way to You," 1988.
(With Don Johnson) "Till I Loved You"/"Two People," Columbia, 1988.
"We're Not Makin' Love Anymore"/"Here We Are at Last," 1989.
"What Were We Thinking of"/"'Why Let It Go?," 1989.
(With Neil Diamond) "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"/"Forever in Blue Jeans" (Neil Diamond), 1989.
"For All We Know," 1991.
"Happy Days Are Here Again," 1991.
"Places That Belong to You," 1991.
"Warm All Over," 1991.
(With Michael Crawford) "The Music of the Night"/"Children Will Listen"/"Move On," c. 1993.
"As If We Never Said Goodbye," 1994.
Recorded other singles, including singles in different languages.
CD Singles:
"Ordinary Miracles" (includes "Ordinary Miracles," "As If We Never Said Goodbye," "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)," and "Ordinary Miracles" [live version]), 1994.
"I Finally Found Someone" (includes "I Finally Found Someone" with Bryan Adams, a Spanish version of "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)," and "Let's Make It a Night to Remember" by Bryan Adams), 1996.
(With Celine Dion) "Tell Him" (includes "Tell Him" with Celine Dion, "Everything Must Change," and "Where Is the Love," by Celine Dion), 1997.
"If I Could" (includes "If I Could," "At the Same Time," "I Believe," and a French verison of "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)"), 1998.
"If You Ever Leave Me" (includes "If You Ever Leave Me" with Vince Gill, "Just Because," "Let's Start Now," and "At the Same Time"), 1999.
"I've Dreamed of You" (includes "I've Dreamed of You" and "At the Same Time"), 1999.
"Come Rain or Come Shine," 2000.
"God Bless America," 2001.
"I Won't Be the One to Let Go," 2003.
"Stranger," 2005.
Videos:
My Name Is Barbra, 1986.
(In archive footage) Oscar's Greatest Moments, 1992.
The Concert, Sony, 1994.
Happening in Central Park, Pioneer, 1996.
(In archive footage) Saturday Night Live: The Best of Mike Myers, 1998.
(In archive footage) Somewhere over the Rainbow: Harold Arlen, 1999.
The Way We Were: Looking Back, Columbia/TriStar Home Video, 1999.
Timeless: Live in Concert (also known as Barbra Streisand—Timeless), Columbia, 2001.
Barbra Streisand: The Movie Album (also known as The Movie Album), 2003.
The Concert: Live at the MGM Grand, Sony, 2004.
Barbra Streisand: The Television Specials, Rhino/Wea, 2005.
Guilty, Columbia, 2005.
Music Videos:
"My Heart Belongs to Me," 1977.
"Woman in Love," 1980.
"Memory," 1982.
"Papa, Can You Hear Me?," 1983.
"The Way He Makes Me Feel," 1983.
"Left in the Dark," 1984.
"Emotion," 1985.
"Somewhere," 1985.
"Till I Loved You," 1988.
"We're Not Makin' Love Anymore," 1989.
"For All We Know," 1991.
"Happy Days Are Here Again," 1991.
"Places That Belong to You," 1991.
"As If We Never Said Goodbye," 1994.
"Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" (live), 1994.
(With Bryan Adams) "I Finally Found Someone, 1996.
(With Celine Dion) "Tell Him," 1997.
(With Vince Gill) "If You Ever Leave Me," 1999.
"Stranger," 2005.
Album Work:
Music producer, The Main Event (soundtrack album), Sony, 1979.
Music supervisor for songs.
Video Work:
Director and producer, Timeless: Live in Concert (also known as Barbra Streisand—Timeless), Columbia, 2001.
WRITINGS
Screenplays:
(With Jack Rosenthal) Yentl (based on "Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy," a short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1983.
Film Music:
Composer, Nuts, Warner Bros., 1987.
Film Music; Songs:
(With Paul Williams) "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" and composer and lyricist, "Lost inside of You," A Star Is Born, Warner Bros., 1976.
(With others) "I've Finally Found Someone" and "Love Theme," The Mirror Has Two Faces, Columbia/TriStar, 1996.
Wrote songs that have appeared in films, television broadcasts, videos, and soundtrack recordings; wrote songs that have been released as singles.
Teleplays; Specials:
Barbra Streisand: One Voice (also known as One Voice), HBO, 1986.
Writings for the Stage:
Author of introduction, The Normal Heart (staged reading), Roundabout Theatre, New York City, 1993.
Albums:
Nuts (original soundtrack), Columbia, 1987.
Singles:
(With Paul Williams) "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)," 1976, and other recordings, including ones in 1982, 1994, and 1996, a live version in 1994, and versions in other languages.
"Lost inside of You" (other side of "Comin' in and Out of Your Life"), 1981.
(With Bryan Adams) "I Finally Found Someone," 1996.
Video Scripts:
Timeless: Live in Concert (also known as Barbra Streisand—Timeless), Columbia, 2001.
Nonfiction:
Contributor to periodicals, including Action.
OTHER SOURCES
Books:
Considine, Shaun, Barbra Streisand: The Woman, the Myth, the Music, Delacorte, 1985.
Contemporary Musicians, Volume 35, Gale, 2002.
Cunningham, Ernest, The Ultimate Barbra, Renaissance Books, 1998.
Edwards, Anne, Streisand: A Biography, Little, Brown, 1997.
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 3: Actors and Actresses, fourth edition, St. James Press, 2000.
Karanikas, Diana, and Jackson Harvey, Streisand: The Pictorial Biography, Running Press, 1997.
Riese, Randall, Her Name Is Barbra, Birch Lane Press, 1993.
Spada, James, Barbra: The First Decade—The Films and Career of Barbra Streisand, Lyle Stuart, 1974.
Spada, James, Streisand: Her Story, Crown, 1995.
Spada, James, and Christopher Nickens, Streisand: The Woman and the Legend, revised and updated edition, Pocket Books, 1983.
Swenson, Karen, Barbra: The Second Decade—The Films and Career of Barbra Streisand, Lyle Stuart, 1985.
Swenson, Karen, and Christopher Nickens, The Films of Barbra Streisand, Citadel Press, 2000.
Waldman, Allison J., The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook, Kensington Publishers, 2001.
Winnert, Derek, Quote Unquote: Barbra Streisand, Crescent Books, 1996.
Zec, Donald, and Anthony Fowles, Barbra: A Biography of Barbra Streisand, St. Martin's Press, 1981.
Periodicals:
Biography, October, 1997, pp. 10-11.
Cosmopolitan, February, 1994, p. 202.
Movieline, November, 2002.
New York Times, November 13, 1996.
People Weekly, June 2, 1997, pp. 58-59; October 16, 2000, p. 68; December 12, 2005, p. 145.
Photoplay, August, 1979, pp. 54-57, 102.
Premiere, December, 1996, p. 57.
TV Guide, January 22, 2000, pp. 18-22, 60; October 11, 2003, pp. 42-43.
US Weekly, October 9, 2000, pp. 46-52.
Variety, April 24, 2000, p. 64; February 26, 2001, p. 64.
Electronic:
Barbra Streisand, http://www.barbrastreisand.com, March 13, 2006.
Streisand, Barbra
STREISAND, Barbra
Nationality: American. Born: Barbara Joan Streisand in Brooklyn, New York, 24 April 1942. Education: Attended Erasmus Hall High School. Family: Married the actor Elliott Gould, 1963 (divorced 1971), son: Jason Emanuel; the actor James Brolin, 1998. Career: Singer in New York nightclub; 1961—professional stage debut in Another Evening with Harry Stoones; 1963—Broadway debut in I Can Get It for You Wholesale; recording star; 1964—phenomenal success in stage play Funny Girl, and later in film version, 1968; 1969—co-founder, with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, First Artists Productions; 1983—producer and director, as well as actress, Yentl. Awards: Best Actress Academy Award, David Di Donatello award for Foreign Actress, and Golden Globe award for Best Actress, for Funny Girl, 1968; David Di Donatello award for Foreign Actress, The Way We Were, 1973; Best Song Academy Award, and Golden Globe award for Best Song, for "Evergreen," in A Star Is Born, 1976; Golden Globe award for Best Director, Silver Ribbon (Italy) as Best New Foreign Director, Yentl, 1983; Women in Film Crystal Awards, 1984, 1992; Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special, 1985; ASCAP Award for Most Performed Song from a Motion Picture, for "I Finally Found Someone," 1998; Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement, 2000. Address: 301 N. Carolwood Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90077, U.S.A.
Films as Actress:
- 1968
Funny Girl (Wyler) (as Fanny Brice)
- 1969
Hello Dolly! (Kelly) (as Dolly Levi)
- 1970
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (Minnelli) (as Daisy Gamble); The Owl and the Pussycat (Ross) (as Doris)
- 1972
What's Up, Doc? (Bogdanovich) (as Judy Maxwell); Up the Sandbox (Kershner) (as Margaret Reynolds)
- 1973
The Way We Were (Pollack) (as Katie Morosky)
- 1974
For Pete's Sake (Yates) (as Henrietta)
- 1975
Funny Lady (Ross) (as Fanny Brice)
- 1976
A Star Is Born (Pierson) (as Esther Hoffman) (+ exec pr, musical concepts)
- 1979
The Main Event (Zieff) (as Hillary Kramer) (+ pr)
- 1981
All Night Long (Tramont) (as Cheryl Gibbons)
- 1983
Yentl (title role) (+ d, co-pr, sc)
- 1987
Nuts (Ritt) (as Claudia Draper) (+ pr, mus)
- 1990
Listen Up!: The Lives of Quincy Jones (doc)
- 1991
The Prince of Tides (as Susan Lowenstein) (+ d, co-pr)
- 1995
Barbra Streisand: The Concert (as herself—for TV) (+ pr)
- 1996
The Mirror Has Two Faces (as Rose Morgan) (+ d, co-pr, mus)
Other Films:
- 1995
Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (Bleckner—for TV) (co-exec pr)
- 1997
Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Women (Bogdanovich) (pr)
- 1998
City of Peace (Koch) (exec pr); The Long Island Incident (Sargent—for TV) (exec pr)
- 1999
The King and I (song composer)
Publications
By STREISAND: articles—
"Symbiosis Continued," with William Wyler, in Action (Los Ange-les), March-April 1968.
"A Star Is Reborn," interview with Michael Shnayerson, in Vanity Fair, November 1994.
On STREISAND: books—
Castell, David, The Films of Barbra Streisand, London, 1974.
Spada, James, with Christopher Nickens, Streisand: The Woman and the Legend, New York, 1981.
Zec, Donald, and Anthony Fowles, Barbra: A Biography of Barbra Streisand, 1981.
Considine, Shaun, Barbra Streisand: The Woman, the Myth, the Music, London, 1986.
Swenson, Karen, Barbra: The Second Decade, Secaucus, New Jer-sey, 1986.
Gerber, Françoise, Barbra Streisand, Paris, 1988.
Kimbrell, James, Barbra: An Actress Who Sings, Boston, 1989.
Carrick, Peter, Barbra Streisand: A Biography, London, 1991.
Riese, Randall, Her Name Is Barbra: An Intimate Portrait of the Real Barbra Streisand, Secaucus, New Jersey, 1993.
Waldman, Allison J., The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook, Secaucus, New Jersey, 1994.
Gibbons, Leeza, Barbra Streisand, Broomall, 1995.
Spada, James, Streisand: Her Life, New York, 1995.
Okun, Milton, Barbra Streisand; The Concert, Port Chester, 1995.
Dennen, Barry, My Life with Barbra; A Love Story, Amherst, 1997.
Edwards, Anne, Streisand; It Only Happens Once, New York, 1997.
Harvey, Diana K., Streisand; the Pictoral Biography, Philadel-phia, 1997.
Edwards, Anne, Streisand: A Biography, New York, 1998.
Swenson, Karen, Films of Barbra Streisand, Carol Publishing Group, 1998.
Kimbrell, James, Barbra: An Actress Who Sings—An Unauthorized Biography, Collingdale, 1999.
Cunningham, Ernest W., The Ultimate Barbra, Los Angeles, 1999.
Vare, Ethlie Ann, Diva: Barbra Streisand & the Making of a Superstar, Collingdale, 1999.
On STREISAND: articles—
Carnell, R., "Barbra Streisand's Animal Crackers," in Lumiere (Melbourne), November 1973.
Stewart, G., "The Woman in the Moon," in Sight and Sound (London), Summer 1977.
Maslin, Janet, "Barbra Streisand" in The Movie Star, edited by Elisabeth Weis, New York, 1981.
Pally, Marcia, "Kaddish for the Fading Image of Jews in Film," in Film Comment (New York), February 1984.
Current Biography 1992, New York, 1992.
Zoglin, Richard, "The Way She Is," in Time, 16 May 1994.
Sandler, A., "Streisand Tunes Up for Her Directing Stints," in Variety (New York), 21/27 August, 1995.
Spada, J., "Becoming Barbara," in Vanity Fair, September 1995.
Radio Times (London), 18 November 1995.
"ShowEast Filmmaker of the Year Award," in Film Journal (New York), November 1996.
"The 1996 Honorees," in Boxoffice (Chicago), November 1996.
"Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful," in Premiere (Boulder), December 1996.
Radio Times (London), 25 October, 1997.
* * *
Barbra Streisand has become, by sheer force of talent and the strength of her personality, one of the icons of the American cinema and popular culture. Her career has been long, unusual, and incredibly successful, despite the fact that for such a major star, she has a relatively short list of film credits. During the late seventies and eighties when men overwhelmingly dominated the American box office, Streisand was, for the most part, the only woman consistently considered bankable, that is, a performer who could make a project happen. And having directed only three films, she has become one of the most powerful directors in Hollywood as well. In short, Streisand is an industry to herself: a director, a producer, a concert performer, a recording star, and an actress who could secure virtually any part she chooses. She is one of the few performers who has won all four major American entertainment awards: the Emmy for television work, the Grammy for music recording, the Tony for the Broadway stage, and the Academy award for film work. Incredibly, she has even won several awards for composing music. Despite her achievements, criticism of Streisand has always been centered on two fronts: first, charges of egotism and self-centeredness which her defenders reject as actually representing her perfectionism; and second, her choice of projects, many of which have been rather safe vehicles that have not especially stretched her abilities as performer.
Streisand's first screen appearance was in the role she originated on Broadway, Fanny Brice in the film Funny Girl. In Funny Girl Streisand established the persona which she was to express, with only slight variation, in a series of vehicles over the next several years: an unattractive woman, generally with Jewish vocal inflections, intelligence, ego, and humor, who disarms all about her and is able to transform herself into the successful and morally superior creature who is the romantic object of a Gentile man's affections. In Funny Girl, Streisand's energy was overwhelming, indeed threatening. Her slightly crossed eyes and long, crooked nose proved no impediment to her triumphant announcement, in her first film, that "I'm the greatest star. . . ." Along with Dustin Hoffman, Streisand was one of the new generation of Hollywood stars who refused to change their names, get plastic surgery, or conform to the conventional Hollywood stereo-types of attractiveness. That Streisand became a star at all, looking as she did, is itself a sign of her enormous talent: the strong singing voice, the comic timing, the photogenic face, the considerable onscreen charisma. To say that Streisand forced the Hollywood community and American moviegoers to reevaluate their concepts of beauty would not really be an overstatement. For her first film, Hollywood awarded Streisand an Academy Award, though in a tie with Katharine Hepburn—a symbol, as it were, of Streisand's uneasy alliance with Hollywood, a community that fears and respects her, but does not, apparently, love her with the kind of fervor they reserve for her more conventional male counterparts.
Funny Girl was followed by two musicals, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and the highly underrated Hello, Dolly! Her performance as Dolly Levi was controversial at the time for its tongue-in-cheek synthesis of Vivien Leigh and Mae West mannerisms. The film's climax is in a restaurant filled with patrons contemplating Streisand's beauty (rather than her talent), a concept that would have been unthinkable only several years earlier. A series of comedies harkening back to the screwball era followed, including What's Up, Doc?, in which Streisand wooed the blond WASP Ryan O'Neal, For Pete's Sake, in which Streisand starred opposite the pretty Michael Sarrazin, and The Owl and the Pussycat, in which Streisand plays opposite George Segal, and gives what many feel is her most energetic and inspired comic performance. At least two films in this period indicated untapped wells of dramatic abilities: the commercially unsuccessful feminist comedy Up the Sandbox, in which Streisand quietly and naturalistically plays a mother contemplating another pregnancy, and The Way We Were. The latter, which starred Streisand opposite blonde WASP superstar Robert Redford, was an incredibly successful and romantic film. The pairing evoked the kind of chemistry generally associated with the greatest stars of the past, such as Gable and Crawford. Streisand's persona was fundamentally the same: the awkward, ugly duckling who becomes the romantic object of a handsome man's affections. When Redford and Streisand divorce at the end of the film, it is Streisand who is morally righteous. In the three decades since the release of The Way We Were, the film looks increasingly like a great Hollywood classic, valorized and remembered, its images and sounds srongly reverberating in our national consciousness, a love story that one can put alongside Casablanca as an immortal icon of American identity.
Streisand followed The Way We Were with a series of films attacked by many for being lazy, self-indulgent, or redundant: another comedy called The Main Event; a sequel to Funny Girl, entitled Funny Lady, in which Streisand gets to reject Omar Sharif, reversing the pattern of the original; and an almost universally reviled but commercially successful remake of A Star Is Born. The latter, like Funny Girl and Funny Lady, chronicles the rise to fame of Streisand in a narrative that also chronicles the decline and moral inferiority of the handsome man with whom she becomes involved.
Yentl definitely ushered in a new era for Streisand and her career. The story of a young Jewish woman who masquerades as a man in order to study the Talmud, this quasi-musical (in an era when the film musical had been long considered as extinct as the dinosaur) was directed and produced by Streisand. Although most critics were prepared to accuse Streisand of total self-centeredness, Yentl's genuine and ostensible quality, for the most part, disarmed them. Certainly Streisand the director is by no means self-indulgent with Streisand the star: close-ups of Streisand do not automatically reveal the actress's "good" (left) side; occasionally, the star will even be photographed out of focus so the director can emphasize something else within the frame. The film's cinematography is extraordinary. In Yentl, director Streisand reveals a fetching sensitivity, an interest in androgyny (which would foreshadow her interest in gay and lesbian issues in the nineties), and a profoundly lyrical sensuality. Unlike A Star Is Born, Yentl seems organically unified, with all facets of production working in harmony toward one artistic end. For the first time, Streisand's love interest is as Jewish as she and not morally inferior. Much sympathy (as well as screen time) is extended to the secondary female lead in the film as well—another break with the patterns of Streisand's past films.
In 1991, Streisand both directed and acted in Prince of Tides, a deviously entertaining love story-cum-melodrama in the style of the classic women's films of the forties and fifties, updated with subtlety and intelligence to deal head-on with a variety of current issues, most notably childhood sexual abuse and the socially prescribed gender roles for men and women. To the surprise of many, including Streisand, the film turned into a huge event, winning the enthusiastic approbation of an emotionally moved public and significant critical raves. Streisand garnered sensitive performances from her son, Jason Gould, who played her on-screen son, and particularly from macho Nick Nolte, whose key scene required him to break down emotionally to childlike vulnerability as he admits to having been raped as a young boy. The negative backlash to the film was, unfortunately, muddled in sexism: criticism of Streisand's having photographed herself in a glamorous way (with no criticism of director Streisand having photographed Nolte similarly), accusations against the genre of melodrama as inherently unworthy (except to the extent that its focus is on male characters), and so forth. That the film received seven Academy award nominations, but again not one for Streisand, its director and star, became a matter for such public comment that Streisand became the de facto, acclaimed director of the year.
From 1992, Streisand worked on a variety of projects: particularly her long-awaited return to live performance—her first in over twenty-five years—via a triumphantly successful concert tour. Notably, the tour was itself marked by Streisand's expanded political consciousness: notably absent were many of the "lonely-woman-as-victim" songs that had made Streisand famous. Streisand also became increasingly involved in feminist issues, AIDS research and education, and children's rights. Although always politically active and socially conscious in the past (particularly through her philanthropic Streisand Foundation), Streisand transformed herself into Hollywood's leading liberal spokesperson, notably giving a very public and controversial speech against Colorado legislation designed to prevent civil rights protection to gays and lesbians, in the process cementing a tourism boycott against the entire state. Similarly, Streisand has been vocal in her support for the beleaguered President Clinton.
After co-producing, with Glenn Close, a successful Emmy award-winning TV movie on homophobia in the military, Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story, Streisand finally abandoned her long-cherished project of directing Larry Kramer's angry exposé of government inaction during the first wave of the AIDS epidemic, The Normal Heart. This abandonment, after having kept the optioned property away from other potential producers for so many years, angered Kramer and garnered negative publicity for Streisand, which perhaps contributed to the markedly tepid reaction to her "replacement" project (on a less overtly important subject), The Mirror Has Two Faces.
Perhaps surprisingly, although a Hollywood entertainment, The Mirror Has Two Faces is amazingly ambitious, synthesizing the genres of traditional romantic comedy with the mother/daughter melodrama. Streisand's hybrid, which works as a kind of ideological re-invention, miraculously avoiding all the sexist claptrap endemic to both genres, managed to attract a large, popular audience in an era in which "feminism" had been turned into a dirty word. Streisand's exploration of romantic vs. courtly love is a testament to the political resolve of its director's obsessive work with screenwriter Richard Lagravanese. Streisand also takes the role of Rose, and the cinematography glows with an appropriate pink burnish, its art direction witty and inspired. That The Mirror Has Two Faces was under-esteemed by both Hollywood and the critical community suggests that the film's very real intellectual achievements were, like the proverbial purloined letter, not particularly noticed, if nevertheless in plain sight. A witty, deft comedy filled with compassion (based, oddly enough, on a French film by André Cayatte), The Mirror Has Two Faces offers warm performances by Streisand and her co-star Jeff Bridges, as well as generous opportunities for a supporting cast headed by Lauren Bacall.
Including references to It Happened One Night, Brief Encounter, and particularly, Now Voyager (with its tortured mother/daughter relationship, theme of female transformation, and iconography of cigarette smoking as the epitome of romantic chic), The Mirror Has Two Faces at times is rather reflexive. The truth about lasting love, contends Bridges, is that unlike lovers in the movies, "we don't hear music when we kiss." Later, when the stars kiss for the first time, romantic soundtrack music is notably absent. Amazingly for a Hollywood film, Bridges falls in love with Streisand not because of her looks or sexual allure, but because of "your mind, your humor, your passion for ideas." Streisand's eventual physical transformation—which takes place after she and Bridges have already married—turns out to be laudably irrelevant: wittily, Bridges prefers her appearance pre-transformation. "I don't care if you are pretty," offers Bridges, "I love you anyway." The final fade-out kiss on the streets of New York suggests a feminist correction of the final scene of The Way We Were. Although this kiss is accompanied by Puccini (Streisand's metaphor for how it feels to be in love), Turandot is presented as source music from an apartment above, rather than as extra-diegetic comment.
Energized by her feminism and political activism, and now the most visible role model for Hollywood women interested in social change through art or grassroots political action, Streisand has effectively shut down her career as an actress-for-hire. Whereas once one might have looked forward to Streisand in a Bergman film (who once had wanted to cast her), or in a Scorsese film, or even in a Woody Allen film, it is clear that Streisand's future projects will continue to be carefully chosen and painstakingly produced in the service of her own artistic vision. Perhaps one emotional climax to her career is the Lifetime Achievement Award given her by the Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes), whose ceremony in 2000 was marked by a Streisand testament and climaxed by her unusually intelligent and inspiring speech, which strongly emphasized the integrity of the "work" itself as the supreme value for all artists, even those working in Hollywood.
—Charles Derry
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
For over 30 years, award-winning American performer Barbra Streisand (born 1942) has been performing and singing on the stage, television and in motion pictures, as well as recording popular music.
Barbara Joan Streisand was born on April 24, 1942 in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York to Emanuel and Diana (Rosen) Streisand. Her father, a high school English teacher, died when Streisand was only 15 months old leaving her mother to raise both her and her older brother, Sheldon. Her mother soon found work as a secretary in the New York public school system and re-married in the late 1940s. Streisand felt rebuffed by her mother and step-father, Lou Kind, a used-car salesman, and attributes many of her personality characteristics to those early experiences. She graduated at age 16 from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and moved to Manhattan where she shared an apartment with friends working various jobs hoping to perform on Broadway.
Broadway Debut
On October 21, 1961, Streisand, who had changed the spelling of her first name upon moving to Manhattan, made her off-Broadway debut in Another Evening with Harry Stoones, which opened and closed the same night. She then went on to other short-lived off-Broadway productions and became friends with Barry Dennen. Both shared an admiration for the Ziegfield Follies star Fannie Brice, and Streisand, with Dennen's help, crafted a nightclub show around many of Brice's musical numbers. She began performing her act in small nightclubs in Manhattan like the Bon Soir, shaping her act and her voice.
It was while she was performing at the Blue Angel, a showcase for young talent, that she was spotted by a Broadway producer who signed Streisand for the part of Miss Marmelstein in a production of I Can Get It For You Whole-sale. The production opened in March of 1962 and ran for nine months and produced a very well-received cast album. Streisand appeared on both I Can Get It For You Whole-sale-Original Broadway Cast Recording as well as Pins and Needles-25th Anniversary Edition of the Hit Musical Revue in 1962 and, with the popularity of her stage role, was an almost overnight success.
Buoyed by the popularity of her stage role, Streisand was signed by Columbia records and recorded The BarbraStreisand Album and The Barbra Streisand Second Album in 1963. Both albums were very successful, and The Barbra Streisand Album won Streisand a Grammy for both album of the year and best female vocal. She followed up with The Barbra Streisand Third Album and took the role of Fanny Brice in a production of Funny Girl in 1964, winning the role over more experienced stage actors like Anne Bancroft and Mary Martin. This production became one of the most successful stage productions in the history of Broadway and her performance in it would win her first of many Golden Globe Awards. The album Funny Girl-Original Broadway Cast Recording, was followed by People. People would become one of Streisand's highest-selling albums, and earn her a third Grammy Award.
Television Success
Not content to be successful in only two mediums, Streisand next took aim at television. My Name Is Barbra aired in 1965 and its follow-up Color Me Barbra followed in 1966. Her third of these one woman television shows, The Belle of 14th Street, aired in 1967 and was shown in Europe in addition to North America. In 1968, she performed live to an adoring audience. The performance, A Happening in Central Park, was shown on television and was as successful as the three specials that had gone before. She would win a Grammy Award for her performance in My Name Is Barbra and two Antoinette Perry Awards.
All of these specials would be re-released as albums and would establish her at the young age of 26 as the largest selling diva of popular standards since Judy Garland. Throughout this period she released Harold Sings Arlen and Je M'appelle Barbra in 1966. Simply Streisand and A Christmas Album were released in 1967 and in 1969, she released What About Today?
Streisand would appear in eight television specials between 1969 and 1986. Barbra Streisand … and Other Musical Instruments (1973), Funny Girl to Funny Lady (1975), Barbra Streisand: With One More Look At You (1977), Getting in Shape for The Main Event (1979), A Film Is Born: The Making of Yentl (1983), Putting It Together: The Making of The Broadway Album (1986), and One Voice (1986) were all very popular and endeared Streisand to fans around the world. Barbra: The Concert aired in 1994 and 1995 and earned her two more Emmy Awards for Best Individual Performance and Best Variety or Music Special.
Motion Picture Success
This seemingly overnight success continued throughout 1968 as she continued to release albums and perform her concerts. She reprised her role as Fanny Brice for the 1968 film version of Funny Girl and in 1969 appeared as Dolly Levi in the motion picture Hello, Dolly! These performances would earn her another Golden Globe Award and her performance in Funny Girl earned her an Academy Award as the best actress of 1968. On A Clear Day You Can See Forever and The Owl and the Pussycat were released in 1970 and she would win a Golden Globe Award for these performances as she was voted Best Female World Film Favorite.
Director and Producer
After the success of Funny Girl, Streisand began to concentrate more on motion pictures than on live performances. She would appear in What's Up, Doc? and Up the Sandbox in 1972 before garnering critical acclaim for her work in The Way We Were opposite Robert Redford in 1973. She won another Golden Globe Award for this role. Her portrayal could have been a case of art imitating life as she was divorced from her husband Elliot Gould in 1971 after eight years of marriage and one son, Jason. She starred in For Pete's Sake and Funny Lady before her 1976 movie A Star Is Born. The movie and her rendition of the theme song, "Evergreen, " earned her a second Academy Award, two Grammy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. The film was one of the highest grossing of that year despite being panned by critics who believed Streisand was executing too much control as she was listed in the credits as not only the star, executive producer and co-songwriter, but also as the wardrobe consultant and the designer of 'musical concepts.'
Streisand would take yet another leap in her creative life when she decided to direct, produce, and star in Yentl in 1983. After The Main Event (1979) and All Night Long (1981) Streisand was eager to make the story that she had read in 1968 into a movie. Filmed in Eastern Europe, Yentl was the story of a female masquerading as a male to overcome traditional orthodox Jewish privileges. The film earned more than $35 million but it would be four years before she appeared in another film.
Streisand's role in Nuts (1987), opposite Richard Dreyfuss, is the story of a high-class prostitute who must go through a competency hearing to determine if she is sane enough to stand trial for manslaughter. Most critics disliked the film which Streisand produced, but some called it her best work ever. The more dramatic role prepared her for the tension and emotion that she displayed in her next role. In The Prince of Tides (1991) Streisand, opposite Nick Nolte, not only starred, but directed and co-produced the film. The film was nominated for several Academy Awards including the award for best picture. The New York Times commented that "Nothing about Barbra Streisand's previous acting or directing is preparation for her expert handling of The Prince of Tides." Streisand was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for directing, but not for an Academy Award, which angered many. She was seemingly unaffected, as she went on to star in The Mirror Has Two Faces, opposite Jeff Bridges in 1996. She earned Golden Globe Award nominations for "Best Original Song" and "Best Actress-Comedy or Musical" for this film.
Top of the Charts
Despite performing in motion pictures and on television throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Streisand never ceased releasing albums. After Funny Girl-Original Broadway Cast Recording, there would be almost 40 Streisand albums released. In 1981, she won a Grammy Award for best pop duo for "Guilty, " a duet with Barry Gibb, that became her sixth all-time highest selling single. Over the years she has recorded other duets with performers as diverse as Bryan Adams, Don Johnson, Neil Diamond, Kim Carnes, Johnny Mathis and Michael Crawford.
After receiving a death threat in 1967, Streisand developed stage fright and stopped doing public concerts. She commented to Susan Price of Ladies Home Journal, "You don't get over stage fright-you just don't perform." However, new friendships seemed to have a positive impact. In the early 1990s, she began to grow closer to her mother and became friends with Bill and Hillary Clinton. According to Kim Hubbard of People, "She forged a warm friendship with Virginia Kelley, President Clinton's mother, and conquered performance fear by taking the stage in Vegas on New Year's Eve '93." Hubbard added that "Kelley's death from breast cancer just days after attending the show forced Streisand to take stock." Streisand did a world tour in 1994, starting in London and ending in New York City. Her shows were some of the highest-grossing concerts of the year.
Streisand became engaged to actor James Brolin in early 1997. They divide their time between homes in Malibu and Beverly Hills, California. She has given concerts to help benefit political candidates and charities that benefit social causes such as AIDS research. Her "Streisand Foundation, " was established in 1992 to help advocate women's rights, civil liberties and environmental protection.
She released Higher Ground in November of 1997 and it immediately became number one on the Billboard chart. It set a record for the greatest span of time between a performer's first and most recent number one albums at 33 years. The first single released from the album, "Tell Him, " a duet with Celine Dion, was immediately a Top 40 hit and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Streisand has recorded 54 albums and has collected an overwhelming collection of 39 gold LP's, 25 platinum LP's and 12 multi-platinum LP's. She was the first person to win an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and an Antoinette Perry Award. She is also the only person to have won an Academy Award for both acting and songwriting.
Further Reading
American Film, January-February 1992.
Chicago Tribune, December 5, 1982.
Ladies Home Journal, February 1992; July 1994.
McCall's, September 1997.
National Review, March 20, 1995.
New Yorker, January 27, 1992.
New York Times, December 22, 1991; December 25, 1991.
People, November 17, 1997; November 24, 1997; December 8, 1997; March 9, 1998.
Washington Post, December 22, 1991.
"Barbra Streisand, " Internet Movie Databank,http://us.imdb.com (May 11, 1998).
Streisand, Barbra
Barbra Streisand
Born: April 24, 1942
Brooklyn, New York
American actress, singer, songwriter, director, and producer
Barbra Streisand is an award-winning performer on stage, television, and in motion pictures, as well as a recording artist of popular music.
Younger years
Barbara Joan Streisand was born on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, to Emanuel and Diana (Rosen) Streisand. Her father was a high school English teacher who died when Streisand was only fifteen months old. Her mother raised Barbara and her older brother, Sheldon, by working as a secretary in the New York City public school system. Her mother remarried in the late 1940s.
Streisand has described her childhood as painful. She was shy as a child, and often felt rejected by other children because her looks were unusual. She accentuated her uniqueness by wearing odd outfits and by avoiding school activities. She also felt rejected by her mother and her stepfather, who was a used-car salesman.
Streisand graduated from high school when she was sixteen years old and moved to Manhattan in New York City, where she shared an apartment with friends. At this time Streisand changed the spelling of her first name to "Barbra." She worked in several small plays during this time and also sang in nightclubs.
Broadway debut
Streisand was spotted by a Broadway producer and was hired to appear in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale. The production opened in March of 1962, ran for nine months, and produced a very well-received cast album. With the popularity of her stage role, she was an almost overnight success.
Streisand was signed by Columbia Records and recorded The Barbra Streisand Album and The Barbra Streisand Second Album in 1963. Both albums were very successful. The Barbra Streisand Album won Streisand a Grammy for both album of the year and best female vocal. She followed up with The Barbra Streisand Third Album.
Streisand then took the role of the comedian and singer Fanny Brice in the Broadway production of Funny Girl in 1964. It was one of the most successful stage productions in the history of Broadway, and her performance in it would win her first of many Golden Globe Awards.
Streisand's next album, People, was one of her highest-selling albums and earned her a third Grammy Award.
Television success
Streisand next took aim at television. My Name Is Barbra aired in 1965 and its follow-up Color Me Barbra followed in 1966. She appeared in a total of ten more television specials between 1967 and 1986.
In 1968, at the young age of twenty-six, Streisand was the largest selling female singer of popular standards since Judy Garland (1922–1969).
Motion picture success
Barbra's success continued throughout 1968, as she continued to release albums and perform concerts. She repeated her role as Fanny Brice for the 1968 film version of Funny Girl. She won an Academy Award for best actress for this role. In 1969 Streisand appeared as Dolly Levi in the motion picture Hello, Dolly! At this time she received a Golden Globe award as Best Female World Film Favorite.
After the success of Funny Girl, Streisand began to concentrate more on motion pictures than on live performances. She appeared in What's Up, Doc? and Up the Sand-box in 1972. In 1973 she won critical acclaim for her work in The Way We Were, in which she starred opposite Robert Redford (1937–). She won another Golden Globe Award for this role.
Director and producer
Streisand starred in For Pete's Sake and Funny Lady before her 1976 movie A Star Is Born. The movie and her rendition of the theme song, "Evergreen," earned her a second Academy Award, two Grammy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. The film was one of the highest moneymakers that year. Some critics, however, believed Streisand was executing too much control, as she was listed in the credits as not only the star, executive producer, and cosongwriter, but also as the wardrobe consultant and the designer of "musical concepts."
Streisand would take yet another leap in her creative life when she decided to direct, produce, and star in Yentl in 1983. Filmed in Eastern Europe, Yentl was the story of a woman masquerading as a man to get orthodox Jewish religious education. The film earned more than $35 million, but it would be four years before she appeared in another film.
Streisand's role in Nuts (1987), opposite Richard Dreyfuss (1947–), is the story of a woman who must go through a competency (able to function mentally in a normal way) hearing to determine if she is sane enough to stand trial for manslaughter. Most critics disliked the film, which Streisand produced, but some called it her best work ever. The dramatic role prepared her for the tension and emotion that she displayed in her next movie.
In The Prince of Tides (1991) Streisand, opposite Nick Nolte (1940–), not only starred, but directed and coproduced the film. The film was nominated for several Academy Awards, including the award for best picture. Streisand won a Golden Globe Award for directing.
Top of the charts
In addition to performing in motion pictures and on television throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Streisand continued to release albums. After Funny Girl—Original Broadway Cast Recording there would be over fifty Streisand albums released. Over the years she has recorded duets with performers Barry Gibb (1946–), Bryan Adams, Don Johnson, Neil Diamond (1941–), Kim Carnes, Johnny Mathis, and Michael Crawford.
After receiving a death threat in 1967, Streisand developed stage fright and stopped performing in public concerts. She commented to Susan Price of Ladies Home Journal, "You don't get over stage fright—you just don't perform." However, new friendships seemed to have a positive impact. In the early 1990s she began to grow closer to her mother and became friends with then-President Bill Clinton (1946–) and his wife Hillary (1947–).
Streisand did a world tour in 1994, starting in London, England, and ending in New York City. Her shows were some of the biggest moneymaking concerts of the year.
Streisand released Higher Ground in November of 1997 and it immediately became number one on the Billboard chart. It set a record for the greatest span of time between a performer's first and most recent number one albums—thirty-three years. The first single released from the album, "Tell Him," a duet with Celine Dion (1968–), was immediately a Top 40 hit and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
A lifetime of achievement
Streisand has recorded fifty-four albums and has collected an overwhelming thirtynine gold albums, twenty-five platinum albums, and twelve multi-platinum albums. She was the first person to win an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and an Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award. She is also the only person to have won an Academy Award for both acting and songwriting.
Streisand married actor James Brolin in July 1998. The couple divides their time between homes in Malibu and Beverly Hills, California. She has given concerts to help benefit political candidates and charities that benefit social causes such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS; a disease that affects the body's immune system) research. The Streisand Foundation was established in 1992 to help advocate women's rights, civil liberties, and environmental protection.
President Clinton presented Streisand a National Medal of Arts in 2000. She gave what she said were her final live performances in Madison Square Garden in New York City that year.
Streisand won an Emmy in 2001 for her Fox TV special Barbra Streisand: Timeless. At the ceremony she sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" in tribute to the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
For More Information
Bly, Nellie. Barbra Streisand: The Untold Story. New York: Windsor, 1994.
Cunningham, Ernest W. The Ultimate Barbra. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 1998.
Pappas, Rita. Barbra Streisand. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2001
Waldman, Allison J. The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishers, 1995, revised edition 2001.
Streisand, Barbra
STREISAND, Barbra
(b. 24 April 1942 in New York City), singer and actress noted for her Broadway performances, top-selling albums, and comedy films.
Barbara Joan Streisand (she later changed the spelling of her first name) was one of two children born to Emanuel Streisand, a high-school English literature teacher, and Diana (Rosen) Streisand. Hers was an unhappy childhood, an influence Streisand often has cited as the source of her determination to succeed as well as the perfectionism that marks her work. Her father died of an epileptic seizure when she was just fifteen months old, leaving Streisand's mother to raise two children by herself. The family was so poor that Streisand had only one "doll," a hot-water bottle wrapped in a sweater.
Eventually, her mother found employment as a secretary in the New York City public school system and married a used-car salesman named Lou Kind. Streisand felt rejected by her mother and her new stepfather, and she began increasingly to rely on her intelligence and talent to create a better life for herself. In 1959, when she was only sixteen years old, she graduated with honors from Erasmus High School in Brooklyn. The only additional formal education she received consisted of a few classes at Brooklyn's Yeshiva University in preparation for the making of her 1983 filmYentl. By the end of the 1950s, Streisand had moved to Manhattan, where she shared an apartment with friends and tried to find work as a musician. When someone said that her last name sounded "too Jewish," she responded by changing the spelling of her first. This defiance exemplified an attitude that would have a profound effect on American culture once Streisand became a star: rather than cover up her Jewish identity, she embraced it, and by emphasizing that which differentiated her from the mainstream, she forced a change in American concepts of what was acceptable and even beautiful.
Streisand performed in obscure nightclubs and bistros during the lean days of 1960, often literally singing for her supper. Things began to change, however, in 1961. First, she won a talent contest at a bar in Greenwich Village, an achievement that secured her the first regular engagement of her career, at the Village's Bon Soir club. Then, on 21 October, she made her off-Broadway debut in Another Evening with Harry Stoones, a show that closed the same night it opened. Throughout late 1961 and early 1962, she performed in a variety of off-Broadway productions, while continuing to sing at the Bon Soir. There she developed a reputation for placing her unique stamp on songs ranging from "Happy Days Are Here Again" to "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
Her choice of material was also a signature aspect of Streisand's work during that time. Though she was younger than the folk singer Bob Dylan and the Beatle John Lennon, she never belonged to their musical era, and her music from the 1960s contains barely a hint of the troubles afoot in the nation at the time. In the grand tradition of the chanteuse, the diva, and the crooner, she sang songs written by others, and most often the songs themselves dated to the time before she was born. Only in the 1970s did she begin to release pop hits. Typical of her fascination with the pre–World War II era was Streisand's interest in Fanny Brice, a Ziegfield Follies star of the 1910s and 1920s. The actor Barry Dennen, whom she met in 1961 (they were involved romantically for a time), shared that interest and helped her create a nightclub show built around songs that Brice had made famous.
By then Streisand had begun working at the Blue Angel, a well-known incubator of young talent, and there a Broadway producer discovered her in early 1962. He signed her to the part of Miss Marmelstein, a frumpy secretary in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, which opened in March 1962. The show ran for nine months, and by the time it ended, Streisand found herself greatly in demand. She had always wanted to be an actress, not a singer, but the biggest opportunities at first were chiefly musical. Signed by Columbia Records in late 1962, she released The Barbra Streisand Album and The Second Barbra Streisand Album in February and October 1963, respectively. Both sold well, and the first of them won Streisand her first Grammy awards, for album of the year and best female vocal. Also in 1963, on 21 March, Streisand married the actor Elliott Gould, with whom she later had her only child, Jason.
The year 1964 brought still more successes, beginning with Barbra Streisand/The Third Album, released in February. Then, thanks in large part to her experience portraying Fanny Brice, Streisand bested such experienced performers as Anne Bancroft and Mary Martin to secure the lead in Funny Girl, a Broadway show based on Brice's career. The production, which called on her to act, sing, and combine comedy with drama, ideally suited Streisand's gifts and won her the first of many Golden Globe Awards. A successful album, based on the musical, appeared late in the year. September 1964 saw the release of People, her biggest-selling album yet, which won her another Grammy Award.
In 1965 Streisand appeared in a one-woman television special, My Name Is Barbra, which was followed by an album of the same name. The album won her another Grammy, and the television special garnered her two Antoinette Perry (Tony) awards. My Name Is Barbra, the album cover of which features a picture of Streisand as a little girl, is not to be confused—even though the titles mean the same thing—with Je M'appelle Barbra, a 1966 album. Also in 1966 Streisand made another television special, Color Me Barbra, which was accompanied by an album as well. A third TV special, The Belle of 14th Street (1967), aired in Europe as well as in North America. Although this show did not spawn an album, two more recordings, The Christmas Album and Simply Streisand, were released that year .
Streisand continued to release albums throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, including A Happening in Central Park (1968), a recording of a show also broadcast on television; What About Today? (1969); On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970); Greatest Hits (1970); Barbra Joan Streisand (1971); and Stoney End (1971). The title song of the latter gave Streisand her first pop hit, but by the early 1970s, an attack of stage fright, combined with concerns for her safety—she had received a death threat in 1967—brought an end to touring. (More than twenty years later, in the early 1990s, Streisand came out of seclusion and again performed live.)
Even as Streisand the singer retreated from the stage—though she continued to turn out dozens of studio albums in the years that followed—the late 1960s offered more opportunities to Streisand the actor. In 1968, the same year she read the book that would later become Yentl, Streisand made her film debut—fittingly enough—in Funny Girl. Her Fanny Brice established a prototype for the character she would develop in many other motion pictures: an unattractive but intelligent Jewish woman who, through sheer determination and inherent moral superiority, triumphs over circumstances and wins the love of a handsome gentile man. Funny Girl won Streisand the first of several Academy Awards.
After Funny Girl, Streisand made two more musicals, Hello Dolly! (1969) and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970). Then she ventured into new territory with The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), in which she played a foul-mouthed prostitute, as well as the zany What's Up, Doc? and the feminist comedy Up the Sandbox (both 1972). Other notable Streisand pictures include The Way We Were (1973), often cited as a career high point; Funny Lady (1975), in which she reprised the role of Brice; A Star Is Born (1976); Nuts (1987); and The Prince of Tides (1991), which Streisand directed.
Divorced from Gould in 1971, Streisand married the actor James Brolin on 1 July 1998. Her successes in the 1960s and thereafter present a stunning record of achievement, with lifetime earnings that exceed $100 million. She has received countless awards and sold a staggering number of recordings, as reflected by several facts about her career. Not only has she won more Golden Globe Awards than any other entertainer, but she also was the first performer ever to win Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards. She is also the only person to win Academy Awards for both acting and songwriting, and her Higher Ground (1997) set the record for the longest time between a performer's first and most recent number-one albums: thirty-three years.
All of these superlatives, however, still fall short of identifying the contribution to the national culture that Streisand made in the 1960s. At a time when Americans equated success and acceptability with a waspish background, and people of noticeable ethnicity—especially Jews—went to such lengths as changing their names or even their appearances, Streisand took exactly the opposite approach. In becoming a star, she did so on her own terms, and it was a hallmark of changing attitudes in the 1960s that by the end of the decade, Hello Dolly depicted Streisand, once the ugly duckling, as a woman of beauty.
Among the countless biographies covering Streisand's entire career, one that particularly addresses her life in the early 1960s is Barry Dennen, My Life with Barbara (1997). Notable early biographies include James Spada, Barbara, the First Decade (1974), and René Jordan, The Greatest Star (1975). Later biographies of note are Randall Riese, Her Name Is Barbra (1993); Spada, Streisand: Her Life (1995); and Anne Edwards, Streisand: A Biography (1997).
Judson Knight
Streisand, Barbra
BARBRA STREISAND
Born: Brooklyn, New York, 24 April 1942
Genre: Vocal
Best-selling album since 1990: Higher Ground (1997)
Hit songs since 1990: "I Finally Found Someone," "Tell Him"
The quintessential American popular vocalist, Barbra Streisand has led a long and varied career that began during the early 1960s, when her youthful, dynamic presence on the Broadway stage propelled her to international stardom. Influenced by great twentieth-century pop singers such as Lee Wiley and Judy Garland, Streisand brought a no-holds-barred energy to her early performances, matching technique with an irrepressible desire to entertain. Her stamina and zest were channeled through a distinctive voice, widely regarded as one of the finest in popular music. Brassy and powerful, yet capable of softness at its edges, it was equally effective on tender ballads and brazen up-tempo tunes. As Streisand matured, her performances became more controlled and mannered, with some critics charging that her impeccable technical skills were obstructing genuine emotion. In the 1970s she increasingly turned her attention to Hollywood films, acting in—and later directing—a series of box office hits. Despite her broadening career focus, Streisand managed to release a series of intelligent, representative albums in the 1980s and 1990s.
Brooklyn Beginnings and Early Stardom
Raised in Brooklyn, New York, where as a child she attended the Beis-Yakov Hebrew school, Streisand set her sights on performing from an early age, singing regularly for her neighbors. Her father died when she was fifteen months old, creating in her what she would later describe as a lifelong feeling of abandonment. Graduating from high school in 1959, she moved to Manhattan and won a singing contest at the Lion, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. In 1961, having developed her reputation with steady nightclub work, she earned critical acclaim for her performance in the Broadway musical, I Can Get It for You Wholesale. Hailed by the press as a rising young star, she signed with Columbia Records and released The Barbra Streisand Album in early 1963, before reaching her twenty-first birthday. Streisand's fans often appraise the album as her finest work—one that she has, in many respects, failed to top. Capturing subtleties of mood with passion and humor, Streisand sings with a freedom absent from much of her later work. Her belting treatment of "Happy Days Are Here Again" is the album's masterpiece, with Streisand expressing both optimism and—reading against the grain of the lyrics—frantic desperation. In 1964 she starred in the hit Broadway musical Funny Girl, portraying famed comedienne Fanny Brice, a role that earned her an Academy Award when she reprised it for the 1968 film version.
Mixed Critical Success in the 1970s and 1980s
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Streisand pursued a dual recording and acting career, with many of her hits, including "The Way We Were" (1974) and "Evergreen" (1977), coming from movies in which she starred. Within the entertainment industry, she had become known as a willful perfectionist who exerted control over all aspects of her films. This change in her persona was also noticeable in her recorded performances, which became steelier and more serious beginning in the 1970s. Never embracing rock music fully, she nonetheless flirted with rock-inflected pop on "My Heart Belongs to Me" (1977) and disco on "The Main Event" (1979). In a pattern shared by the followers of R&B legend Aretha Franklin, longtime fans continued to buy Streisand's albums while bemoaning her loss of spontaneity. In his 1990 book, Jazz Singing, noted critic Will Friedwald cited her as an example of "vocalists who have so much technique that they can use it as a way of shielding what they really feel from their audiences." Criticisms such as these aside, Streisand continued to issue powerful recordings such as The Broadway Album (1985), a stirring collection of songs by some of musical theater's top composers, including Stephen Sondheim. At the same time, she expanded possibilities for women in entertainment, becoming, with Yentl (1983), the first woman since the silent film era to direct, produce, write, and star in a Hollywood movie.
Ongoing Success in the 1990s and Beyond
While she spent much of the 1990s directing and starring in hit films such as The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), Streisand found time to record strong albums such as Higher Ground (1997). Exploring on the album her interest in spirituality and its manifestation within popular song, Streisand creates an often muted, reflective mood, which is rare within her recorded work. Although critics expressed disappointment in the watery strings provided by famed arrangers Marvin Hamlisch and David Foster, they also noted that Streisand sounds warmer and more relaxed than on her 1980s albums. Pairing two of the most frequently recorded "inspirational" songs in pop music, Streisand displays her classic vocal control on a medley of "I Believe" and "You'll Never Walk Alone," shifting meaning through subtle changes in dynamics. Backed with a gospel-infused organ and choir, Streisand sails vocally over a swelling, orchestrated modulation—perhaps the only singer in pop music with the skill and bravura to pull off such a calculatedly dramatic move. With its lyrics of self-empowerment, "A Lesson to Be Learned" reflects Streisand's personal philosophy: "The greatest lesson is loving yourself through it all." Acknowledging her influence on pop divas of the 1990s, Streisand duets with Celine Dion on the hit "Tell Him."
Reflecting her new sense of personal security and happiness, Streisand celebrated her 1998 marriage to actor James Brolin by releasing A Love Like Ours (1999), an album of romantic-themed songs. Her voice remaining strong at age fifty-seven, Streisand creates a lush, inviting atmosphere on tracks such as "I've Dreamed of You" and "Isn't It a Pity." Never fond of giving live performances, Streisand announced her farewell concerts in 1999, documenting one of them in the album, Timeless: Live in Concert (2000). Interspersing spoken reflections on her life with powerful versions of songs that have defined her career—"People," "Evergreen," "Happy Days Are Here Again"—she gives a vital, if somewhat measured, performance.
In 2002 Streisand released Duets, an album composed of previously recorded performances with pop singers such as Neil Diamond, Barry Gibb, and Celine Dion. Although the album also features several new songs, critics for the most part looked upon it unfavorably, citing Streisand's penchant for self-indulgence. In the Internet publication All Music Guide, writer William Ruhlmann observed dryly, "[Streisand's] unsuitability to the duet format is repeatedly evidenced, as she seems virtually incapable of shutting up when her partner is trying to take a solo." Fans have long proven a willingness to tolerate Streisand's excesses, however, and Duets succeeded in ranking on the Top 40 album charts. During this period, Streisand continued her long commitment to liberal activism, fundraising for the Democratic Party in 2000 and, the next year, speaking out against the nomination of conservative senator John Ashcroft for attorney general.
Regarded by critics and a loyal cadre of fans as one of the most remarkable voices in popular music, Streisand has enjoyed a wide-ranging career encompassing recording, acting, writing, and filmmaking. While many charge that her recorded output after the 1960s does not reflect her full artistic capabilities, Streisand in the 1990s continued to create music that, despite its flaws, honors her standing as a legendary performer.
SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:
The Barbra Streisand Album (Columbia, 1963); People (Columbia, 1964); Stoney End (Columbia, 1971); The Way We Were (Columbia, 1974); Guilty (Columbia, 1980); The Broadway Album (Columbia, 1985); Back to Broadway (Columbia, 1993); The Concert (Columbia, 1994); Higher Ground (Columbia, 1997); A Love Like Ours (Columbia, 1999); Duets (Sony, 2002).
SELECTIVE FILMOGRAPHY:
Funny Girl (1968); Hello, Dolly! (1969); The Owl and the Pussycat (1970); The Way We Were (1973); A Star Is Born (1976); Yentl (1983); Nuts (1987); The Prince of Tides (1991); The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996).
WEBSITE:
david freeland
Streisand, Barbra
STREISAND, BARBRA
STREISAND, BARBRA (1942– ), U.S. singer and actress. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Streisand worked as a switchboard operator and theater usher until she won a singing contest at a Greenwich Village bar. After some appearances on television, she made her first Broadway success in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1962). Streisand made a great hit in the Broadway show Funny Girl in 1964, playing the part of Fanny Brice, and won an Academy Award for her role in the film version in 1968. Her television show, My Name Is Barbra, received a Peabody Award and five Emmy Awards in 1965.
Her subsequent film roles include Hello, Dolly! (1969); On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970); The Owl and the Pussycat (1970); Up the Sandbox (1972); What's Up, Doc? (1972); The Way We Were (Oscar nomination for Best Actress, 1973); For Pete's Sake (1974); Funny Lady (a sequel to Funny Girl, 1975); A Star Is Born (produced, 1976. Oscar for Best Song, "Evergreen," making her the first female composer to win an Academy Award); The Main Event (produced, 1979); All Night Long (1981); Yentl (wrote, produced, and directed, 1983), based on a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer in which she played a yeshivah student in pre-War Poland; Nuts (produced, 1987); The Prince of Tides (produced and directed; Oscar nomination for Best Picture, 1991); The Mirror Has Two Faces (produced and directed; Oscar nomination for Best Song, "I Finally Found Someone," 1996); and Meet the Fockers (2004). She was the first woman to produce, direct, write, and star in a major motion picture (Yentl).
In 1979 Streisand established her own film production company, called Barwood Productions. In addition to serving as the vehicle for the films in which she starred, Barwood produced other films as well, such as the 1995 tv movie Serving in Silence, a film about the attitude toward homosexuality in the military; Rescuers: Stories of Courage, (1997–98), a series of six two-part dramas about non-Jews who heroically saved Jews in the Holocaust; and The Long Island Incident (1998) on the issue of gun control.
As a singer, Streisand's record albums achieved wide popularity. She went on to achieve legendary status in the American entertainment world, commanding huge sums for her rare live performances and earning several Grammy Awards. Through 2005 she recorded 60 albums, of which 49 were gold and 30 platinum; 18 of her albums achieved multi-platinum status in record sales, surpassing any other female singer. Streisand rates an all-time second in topping the charts, exceeded only by Elvis Presley. For her single recordings, she had nine gold and five platinum records.
Among her many awards and accolades, Streisand won two Academy Awards, ten Grammys, six Emmys, a Tony, two Peabody Awards, eleven Golden Globes, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.
Beyond the realm of arts and entertainment, Streisand established the Streisand Foundation in 1986. Contributing to a wide variety of causes and charitable organizations, the foundation's scope includes gaining women's equality; the protection of human rights and civil rights and liberties; the needs of children at risk in society; and the preservation of the environment.
Streisand was married to actor Elliot Gould from 1963 to 1971. She was married to actor James Brolin from 1998.
bibliography:
Time Magazine (April 10, 1964); Newsweek (Jan. 5, 1970). add. bibliography: R. Riese, Her Name Is Barbra (1994); N. Bly, Barbra Streisand: The Untold Story (1994); J. Spada. Streisand: Her Life (1995); B. Dennen, My Life with Barbra (1997); A. Edwards, Streisand: A Biography (1998); C. Nickens and K. Swenson, The Films of Barbra Streisand (2001).
[Lee Healey /
Jonathan Licht /
Rohan Saxena and
Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
Streisand, Barbra
Streisand, Barbra
Streisand, Barbra, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., April 24, 1942. Had she only been an actress or filmmaker, Streisand still would have been one of the most successful entertainers of the past four decades. But it is her singing, her voice, that is most unique and influential. She has recorded everything from classical to show tunes and torch songs to rock and disco, and is the top-selling female recording artist in the world. After graduating early from high school, she won a singing contest at a Manhattan club and soon developed her own nightclub act. Her Broadway career began with 1962’s I Can Get It for You Wholesale; a year later, she landed a recording contract with Columbia. She eschewed frequent touring in favor of more work on Broadway (including 1964’s Funny Girl, the 1967 movie adaptation of which earned her an Oscar) and television specials (which in turn spawned albums). Continuing to act in musicals, comedies, and dramas throughout the 1960s and 1970s, her film work eventually included producing (starting with 1977’s A Star Is Born) and directing (1983’s Yentl marked her debut). Some 35 years after catching the world’s attention with The Voice, and despite frequent accounts of prima donna behavior, Streisand continues to mine success in concert, on record, and on film.
Discography
I Can Get It for You Wholesale (Broadway cast recording; 1962); Pins and Needles (1962); The Second Barbra Streisand Album (1963); The Barbra Streisand Album (1963); The Third Album (1964); People (1964); Funny Girl (Broadway cast recording; 1964); My Name Is Barbra (1965); My Name Is Barbra, Two (1965); Color Me Barbra (1966); Je M’Appelle Barbra (1966); Simply Streisand (1967); A Christmas Album (1967); A Happening in Central Park (1968); Funny Girl (soundtrack; 1968); What about Today? (1969); Hello, Dolly! (soundtrack; 1969); Barbra Streisand’s Greatest Hits (1969); On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (soundtrack; 1970); Barbra Joan Streisand (1971); Stoney End (1971); Live Concert at the Forum (1972); Barbra Streisand...and Other Musical Instruments (1973); The Way We Were (1974); The Way We Were (soundtrack; 1974); Butterfly (1974); Funny Lady (soundtrack; 1975); Lazy Afternoon (1975); Classical Barbra (1976); A Star Is Born (soundtrack; 1976); Streisand Superman (1977); Songbird (1978); The Main Event—Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1979); Barbra Streisand’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (1978); Wet (1979); Guilty (1980); Memories (1981); Yentl (soundtrack; 1983); Emotion (1984); The Broadway Album (1985); One Voice (1987); Till I Loved You (1988); A Collection: Greatest Hits...and More (1989); Just for the Record (1991); The Prince of Tides (soundtrack; 1991); Highlights from Just for the Record (1992); Back to Broadway (1993); The Concert (1994); The Concert—Highlights (1995); The Mirror Has Two Faces—Music from the Motion Picture (1996); Higher Ground (1997); A Love Like Ours (1999); Timeless: Live in Concert (2000).