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Barbara Joan Streisand (born April 24, 1942 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American singer, theatre and film actress, composer, film producer and director. She has won Oscars for Best Actress and Best Original Song as well as multiple Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, Golden Globe awards and the Tony.
Early years Streisand was born Barbara Joan Streisand to a Jewish family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Emanuel Streisand, a grammar teacher, died when she was 15 months old; and she had a turbulent relationship with her stepfather, Louis Kind. Her mother, Diana Ida Rosen, did not encourage her daughter to pursue a show business career, opining that Barbara was not attractive enough. She was educated at Erasmus Hall High School, where she graduated fourth in her class in 1959, and she sang in the school choir with Neil Diamond. She was also friendly there with future World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer. She never attended college. Streisand has said, "I hated it (Brooklyn) when I grew up, but now I realize that I draw strength from my roots." (October 17, 2006; concert in Toronto). Early singing, theater, and television career Following a music competition, Streisand became a nightclub singer while in her teens. She originally wanted to be an actress and appeared in a number of Off-Off-Broadway productions, including one with then-aspiring actress Joan Rivers, but when her boyfriend Barry Dennen helped her create a club act — first performed in a gay bar in Manhattan's Greenwich Village in 1960 — she achieved success as a singer. It was at this time that she shortened her first name to Barbra to make it more distinctive. In 1962 Streisand first appeared on Broadway, in a small but star-making role in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1962). She also signed her first recording contract that year with Columbia Records. Her first album, The Barbra Streisand Album, won two Grammy Awards in 1963. Her recording success continued, and at one time, Streisand's first three albums appeared simultaneously on Billboard's pop albums Top Ten - an unusual feat considering it was at a time when rock and roll and The Beatles dominated the charts. Jule Styne's and Bob Merrill's Funny Girl (1964), based upon the life of Fanny Brice, was fashioned for Streisand after Styne saw Streisand's I Can Get It For You Wholesale performance. Styne saw Streisand's work in the show at the invitation of producer Ray Stark's wife, who was Fannie Brice's daughter. Ironically, she was strongly opposed to the casting of Streisand, preferring Carol Burnett. After several notable television appearances, including a legendary guest appearance on The Judy Garland Show (CBS, 1963), Streisand appeared on a number of her own television specials for CBS. The first special, My Name Is Barbra (1965), was praised by critics and fans, as were most of the subsequent specials. Streisand is classified as one of the most "Amazing Female Vocalists" in the 2006 edition of Women in Song. Singing career
Film career Her first film was a reprise of her Broadway hit, Funny Girl (1968), an artistic and commercial success, for which she won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress, sharing it with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter), the first time there was a tie in this Oscar category. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! (1969) and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), while her fourth film was based on the Broadway play The Owl and the Pussycat (1970). She also starred in the original screwball comedies, including What's Up, Doc? (1972), with Ryan O'Neal, and For Pete's Sake (1974), and the drama The Way We Were with Robert Redford. Her second Academy Award was for Best Original Song as composer of the song "Evergreen", from A Star Is Born (1976) and was the first time a woman had received this award. Along with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969 so the actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was the personal Up the Sandbox (1972). In 1970, she had a topless scene in The Owl and the Pussycat. She regretted the move and bought up all prints of the film, deleting the scene. When High Society magazine published the original photos of her bare breasts, Streisand sued them. Streisand produced a number of her own films, setting up Barwood Films in 1972. For Yentl (1983), she was producer, director, writer, and star, an experience she repeated for The Prince of Tides (1991). Steven Spielberg called Yentl a masterpiece, and both won critical acclaim. There was controversy when Yentl received five Academy Award nominations but none for the major categories of Best Picture, Actress, or Director . Prince of Tides received even more nominations, including Best Picture, but, as commonly is the case, the director was not nominated. In 2004, Streisand made a return to film acting, after an eight-year-long break, in the comedy Meet the Fockers (a sequel to Meet the Parents), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, and Robert De Niro. Awards Over the years, Streisand has been the recipient of an award in every medium she has worked in. Among her awards are two Oscars, six Emmys, eleven Golden Globes, ten Grammys, a Tony award, two Cable Ace awards, the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as a number of other awards. In 1995, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. As of 2005, her US album sales rank her as the top-selling female recording artist in the US. Even though her Tony was a special "Star of the Decade" award, Streisand remains one of only a few individuals (including Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, Liza Minnelli, and Whoopi Goldberg) to have won an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy and a Grammy. However, Streisand's Tony was honorary rather than one of the regular awards, so she is sometimes not counted as one of the winners. She will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007. Personal life Barbra Streisand has been married twice. Her first husband was actor Elliott Gould to whom she was married from 1963 to 1971. They have one child, Jason Gould. Her second husband is actor James Brolin, whom she married on July 1, 1998. The wedding was reported regularly in the celebrity gossip media. While they have no children together, Brolin has two children from his first marriage and one child from his second marriage. Streisand has also allegedly dated Ryan O'Neal, Tom Smothers, Warren Beatty, Jon Voight, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, producer Jon Peters, Don Johnson, Steve McQueen, Andre Agassi, and news anchor Peter Jennings. Performances on Broadway Television Specials Filmography Discography See Barbra Streisand discography See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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