Wednesday Minute
No. 94 | May 12, 2010

Act Naturally

Our theme this week
Oscar-winning singers-turned-actors

Featured this week (theme introduction)
Monday         —   Cher
Tuesday         —   Bing Crosby

Barbra Streisand

“Hello, gorgeous.”  That, her first line from her first movie, Funny Girl, was Barbara Streisand’s introduction to the film world—and her introduction to the Oscar she won for her performance—but by 1968 the singer was already a star to music fans around the world, having had a #1 record, several Grammy Awards, hits on Broadway and the West End, and a series of popular television specials. 

Funny Girl tells the real-life story of Fanny Brice, the vaudeville entertainer who became a star with the Ziegfeld Follies.  William Wyler directed, the next-to-last film—and only musical—of his long and storied career.  Streisand was the 14th, and last, of many actors who worked for Wyler to take home an Academy Award.  (She shared the Best Actress prize with Katharine Hepburn.)

The next decade were busy years for the singer-actress.  She followed her debut with a couple of musicals, Hello, Dolly! (1969) and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970).  She then turned to comedy, starring in The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), with George Segal, and What’s Up, Doc? (1972), with Ryan O’Neal.   The Way We Were (1973), a period piece co-starring Robert Redford, was one of Streisand’s biggest box office hits, and the theme song she sang was also a big hit on the music charts.  She reprised the role of Fanny Brice in Funny Lady, and in 1976 co-starred in the rock update to A Star Is Born, opposite Kris Kristofferson.

Barbra Streisand had started producing her films by the mid-’70s, and she would go on to direct three theatrical releases:  Yentl (1983), The Prince of Tides (1991), and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996).  In recent years she has returned to comedy as Rozalin, the onscreen wife of Dustin Hoffman, in the Fockers series (the third in the series, her second, is due out this year).

Growing up in the glory days of rock and roll, I used to think of Streisand as a throwback to another era.  Her pop standards could well have come from an earlier age (not like much of the music I was listening to).  Streisand was just working in the tradition of Broadway and Hollywood musicals, and doing it as well as anyone of her time.  It was a time, though, of waning interest in movie musicals; otherwise she may have made even more movies than she did.  Still, she has had a remarkable film career, onscreen and behind the camera.  She is as well a remarkable and diverse talent, adept at comedy and drama, and Streisand is above all one of the great singers of hers or any other time.

Academy Award nominations
Funny Girl (1968, BA)*
The Way We Were (1973, BA)
A Star Is Born (1976, Song)*
The Prince of Tides (1991, Picture)
The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996, Song)
* Won Oscar

---

Funny Girl (1968)
William Wyler, director
Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif
“People” (Jule Styne & Bob Merrill)

---

The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)
Herbert Ross, director
Barbra Streisand, George Segal

---

Quote of Note
“You think beautiful girls are going to stay in style forever?  I should say not!  Any minute now they’re going to be out!  Finished!  Then it’ll be my turn!”
—Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand), Funny Girl (1968)

…58…59…60