Streisand, Barbra

orig. Barbara Joan Streisand

born April 24, 1942, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.

U.S. singer and actress.

She sang in nightclubs before appearing on Broadway in I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1962), and she became a major star with Funny Girl (1964; film and Academy Award, 1968). Her richly beautiful voice made her one of the world's most popular singers in the 1970s and '80s. An exuberant comic and dramatic actress, she starred in movies such as Hello, Dolly! (1969), What's Up Doc? (1972), The Way We Were (1973), and A Star Is Born (1976), and she later directed and starred in Yentl (1983) and The Prince of Tides (1991). She avoided live performances for several years, but in the 1990s she appeared in a series of concerts that broke box office sales records. In 1995 she received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.

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▪ American actress, singer, director, producer

original name  Barbara Joan Streisand 

born April 24, 1942, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.

      American singer, composer, actress, director, and producer. She is considered by many to be the greatest popular singer of her generation. The first major female star to command roles as a Jewish actress, Streisand redefined female stardom in the 1960s and '70s with her sensitive portrayal of ethnic urban characters. Her immense popularity matched only by her outspokenness, she became one of the most powerful women in show business, noted for her liberal politics and her philanthropy.

      Initially aspiring to be a dramatic actress, Streisand joined a summer theatre group in Malden Bridge, New York, and began studying acting while still in high school. After graduation she moved to Manhattan, where her first break came in 1960 when she sang at a small local nightclub and won an amateur talent contest (and dropped the second a from her first name). Following singing engagements in Greenwich Village cabarets, she landed a small comic role as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1962) and stole the show. An immediate sensation, she made frequent television appearances, notably on The Judy Garland (Garland, Judy) Show, and, beginning in 1963, released a series of best-selling record albums that featured vibrant and original interpretations of popular songs. Her first solo album, The Barbra Streisand Album, won Grammy Awards for album of the year and best female vocal performance—the first two of many.

 Streisand established herself as a major Broadway star in the career-making role of Fanny Brice (Brice, Fanny) in the musical Funny Girl (1964). In 1965 she won two Emmy Awards for My Name Is Barbra, the first of a series of tremendously successful television specials. She made her movie debut in 1968 in an Academy Award-winning reprise of her role as Fanny Brice. Although Funny Girl portrays Brice's life, not Streisand's, it established many enduring elements of Streisand's screen image, including her transition from an awkward ugly duckling to a stylish, sophisticated star, her Jewish origins, and her persistence and determination. Her self-deprecating opening line (“Hello, gorgeous,” said into a mirror) and her first solo number (“I'm the Greatest Star”) underscored the fact that Streisand had succeeded despite widespread early opinion that her unconventional looks would keep her from becoming a major movie star.

  Streisand starred in several film musicals in the 1960s and '70s, including Funny Lady (1975), the sequel to Funny Girl, as well as Hello, Dolly! (1969), On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), and A Star Is Born (1976). She played screwball heroines in such comedies as The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) and What's Up, Doc? (1972) and the romantic lead in the enormously popular The Way We Were (1973). She made her directorial debut in 1983 with Yentl, based on a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer (Singer, Isaac Bashevis) about a young woman who pretends to be a man in order to continue her studies. Streisand starred in the title role—which she had wanted to play since 1968—as well as cowriting and coproducing the movie. In her later films she played mostly straight dramatic roles, as in Nuts (1987), The Prince of Tides (1991), and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996); the last two she also directed. In 2004, however, she appeared with Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman in the popular comedy Meet the Fockers. Despite the seeming variety, most of Streisand's characters share the qualities of strength and fierce independence combined with vulnerability.

      Although admired as a filmmaker, Streisand has perhaps inspired even greater devotion from her fans as a singer. In addition to the albums featuring the sound tracks from her films and television specials, her most popular recordings include The Barbra Streisand Album (1963), The Second Barbra Streisand Album (1963), The Third Album (1964), People (1964), Je m'appelle Barbra (1966), Stoney End (1971), Streisand Superman (1977), Guilty (1980), The Broadway Album (1985), and Back to Broadway (1993). She avoided performing live for several years, but in the 1990s she appeared in a series of live concerts that broke box office sales records. Her numerous accolades include a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement (1995) and the French Legion of Honour (2007).

Additional Reading

Biographies include Randall Riese, Her Name Is Barbra (1993); James Spada, Streisand: Her Life (1995); and Anne Edwards, Streisand (1997).

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