A singer, actress, director, producer, and songwriter who has become one of the biggest female box-office draws of the last two decades. Her big nose, heavy Brooklyn accent, and alleged "difficult" temperament have not stood in the way of her talent. Barbra Streisand's soaring singing voice has been her claim to fame, but she has also proved to be a powerful dramatic actress as well as a gifted comedienne.
Her talents have been appreciated almost from the very start of her professional career and in almost every medium. She was nominated for a Tony for her very first Broadway play, I Can Get It for You Wholesale in 1962, won a Grammy for her first album, won an Emmy for her first TV special, and won an Oscar for her first film, Funny Girl (1968), which she shared with the legendary KATHARINE HEPBURN due to a tie vote.
Born Barbara Joan Streisand in Brooklyn, New York, she later dropped the second a from her first name to set herself apart. When she was 10 years old, she decided to try for a record contract and traveled across the East River to sing for a recording company - and was turned down. According to Jonathan Black in Streisand, after this "rejection," she concentrated more on an acting career. Barbra Streisand did not seriously consider singing as an option because it simply came too easy to her.
After high school, she took acting lessons but made little progress until she began to sing for extra money at a gay bar in Greenwich Village. It was her singing career that continued to thrive and opened doors for her, getting her a supporting role in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, which had originally been written for a woman more than twice her age. It was during the run of that play that she met and married the show's star, Elliott Gould.
Her success as a recording and nightclub artist led to her being cast as Fanny Brice in the Broadway musical Funny Girl in 1964; she was a critical and commercial sensation. Barbra Streisand went on to reprise her role in her hit film debut and became an overnight movie star. She has since starred in a dozen other films.
During the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, she starred in nearly a film every year on average, beginning with two disappointing musical bombs, Hello, Dolly! (1969) and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), but she recouped smartly in the nonsinging romantic-comedy lead in The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) and scored more raves and big box office with PETER BOGDANOVICH's ode to the screwball comedy, What's Up Doc? (1972). Up the Sandbox (1972) was a more strident comedy and therefore received mixed reviews and did mediocre business. But Barbra Streisand did what many considered the impossible, starring in a credible romantic love story with ROBERT REDFORD in The Way We Were (1973). The film was adored by both the critics and movie fans, becoming a major hit (as was the theme song, recorded by Barbra Streisand).
Her films during the rest of the 1970s were, at best, mediocre. The comedies For Pete's Sake (1974) and The Main Event (1979) didn't generate a great deal of enthusiasm. Her musicals, the sequel to Funny Girl, Funny Lady (1975), and a remake of A Star Is Born (1976) were commercial successes despite generally poor to mixed reviews.
Barbra Streisand was increasingly depicted during the 1970s as a temperamental perfectionist, a performer impossible to please who made life on the set unbearable. She rebutted that no one cared about the quality of her films more than she did and that everyone else was looking for the easy way out. As a result, she became more and more involved in her own productions. For instance, she composed "Evergreen" with Paul Williams for A Star Is Born and won an Oscar for Best Song. She went on to become co-executive producer of The Main Event, and after a four-year absence from the big screen she cowrote, produced, directed, and starred in the musical, Yentl (1983).
Although the reviews were mixed, audiences had no reservations; the film was a major hit, and many expected it to be a big contender at the Academy Awards. To the astonishment of Barbra Streisand fans and many independent observers, she was overlooked as both an actress and a director. Snubbed by Hollywood, she again disappeared from the big screen until she returned in the intense drama Nuts (1987) and was again denied an Oscar nomination to the dismay of her legion of fans.
In 1991, Barbra Streisand starred opposite Nick Nolte in The Prince of Tides, which she also directed. The film concerns the relationship between psychiatrist Barbra Streisand and her patient Tom Wingo, played by Nolte. The film, adapted from Pat Conroy's novel, won a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor for Nolte, though Barbra Streisand's acting and directing efforts were ignored. It would be five more years before Barbra Streisand would again star in and direct a film.
The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) cast her opposite Jeff Bridges and in conflict with her mother, played by LAUREN BACALL. Though Bacall attracted most of the critical attention and won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, Barbra Streisand also won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.
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