Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand is an American singer, actress and director.
125 Facts About Barbra Streisand
2.
Barbra Streisand starred in the critically acclaimed Funny Girl, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
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Barbra Streisand won a second Academy Award for writing the love theme from A Star Is Born, the first woman to be honored as a composer.
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Barbra Streisand received the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, becoming the first woman to win that award.
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Barbra Streisand later directed The Prince of Tides and The Mirror Has Two Faces.
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Barbra Streisand's accolades include two Academy Awards, 10 Grammy Awards including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Grammy Legend Award, five Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and nine Golden Globes.
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Barbra Streisand was born on April 24,1942, in Brooklyn, New York City, to Diana Ida and Emanuel Barbra Streisand.
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Barbra Streisand's mother had been a soprano in her youth and considered a career in music, but later became a school secretary.
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Barbra Streisand's father was a high school teacher at the same school, where they first met.
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Barbra Streisand recalls that her mother had a "great voice" and sang semi-professionally on occasion.
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That session was the first time Barbra Streisand ever asserted herself as an artist, which became her "first moment of inspiration".
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Barbra Streisand has an older brother, Sheldon, and a half-sister, singer Roslyn Kind, from her mother's remarriage to Louis Kind in 1950.
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Barbra Streisand began her education at the Jewish Orthodox Yeshiva of Brooklyn when she was five.
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Barbra Streisand was considered bright and inquisitive; however, she lacked discipline, often shouting answers to questions out of turn.
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Barbra Streisand next entered Public School 89 in Brooklyn, and during those early school years began watching television and going to movies.
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Barbra Streisand became known by others in the neighborhood for her voice.
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Barbra Streisand made her singing debut at a PTA assembly, where she became a hit to everyone but her mother, who was mostly critical of her daughter.
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Barbra Streisand was invited to sing at weddings and summer camp, along with having an unsuccessful audition at MGM records when she was nine.
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Barbra Streisand began spending her spare time in the library, studying the biographies of various stage actresses such as Eleanora Duse and Sarah Bernhardt.
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Barbra Streisand attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn in 1956, where she became an honor student in modern history, English, and Spanish.
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Barbra Streisand joined the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club, where she sang with another choir member and classmate, Neil Diamond.
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Barbra Streisand graduated from Erasmus Hall in January 1959 at age 16, and despite her mother's pleas that she stay out of show business, she set out trying to get roles on the New York City stage.
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Barbra Streisand took a job as an usher at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater for The Sound of Music early in 1960.
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Barbra Streisand asked her boyfriend, Barry Dennen, to tape her singing, copies of which she could then give out to possible employers.
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Barbra Streisand performed two songs, after which there was a "stunned silence" from the audience, followed by "thunderous applause" when she was pronounced the winner.
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Barbra Streisand was invited back and sang at the club for several weeks.
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In early days of her career Barbra Streisand was repeatedly told she was too ugly to be a star and was advised to get a nose job, which she did not do.
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Barbra Streisand was next asked to audition at the Bon Soir nightclub, after which she was signed up at $125 a week.
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Barbra Streisand realized she could still become an actress by first gaining recognition as a singer.
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Barbra Streisand improved her stage presence when speaking to the audience between songs.
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Barbra Streisand discovered that her Brooklyn-bred style of humor was received favorably.
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Barbra Streisand is 20 years old, she has a three-octave promiscuity of range, she packs more personal dynamic power than anybody I can recall since Libby Holman or Helen Morgan.
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Barbra Streisand can sing as loud as Ethel Merman and as persuasively as Lena or Ella, or as brassy as a Sophie Tucker.
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Barbra Streisand accepted her first role on the New York stage in Another Evening with Harry Stoones, a satirical comedy play in which she acted and sang two solos.
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Barbra Streisand once told Jimmy Fallon, with whom she sang a duet, on the Tonight Show, that Erlichman was a "fantastic manager" and still managed her career after 50 years.
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Barbra Streisand got the part of secretary to the lead actor businessman, played by then unknown Elliott Gould.
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Barbra Streisand received a Tony Award nomination and New York Drama Critic's prize for Best Supporting Actress.
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Barbra Streisand was seen during an April 1961 episode on which Orson Bean substituted for Paar.
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In May 1962, Barbra Streisand appeared on The Garry Moore Show where she sang "Happy Days Are Here Again" for the first time.
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Barbra Streisand was later a cohost on the Mike Douglas Show, and made an impact on a number of Bob Hope specials.
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When she was 21, Barbra Streisand signed a contract with Columbia Records that gave her full creative control, in exchange for less money.
42.
Barbra Streisand took advantage of this several times during her career.
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Barbra Streisand returned to Broadway in 1964 with an acclaimed performance as entertainer Fanny Brice in Funny Girl at the Winter Garden Theatre.
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Barbra Streisand has recorded 50 studio albums, almost all with Columbia Records.
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Barbra Streisand performed this in a duet with Judy Garland on The Judy Garland Show.
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Barbra Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was scrapped.
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At the beginning of the 1990s, Barbra Streisand started focusing on her film directorial efforts and became almost inactive in the recording studio.
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In 1993, The New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Barbra Streisand "enjoys a cultural status that only one other American entertainer, Frank Sinatra, has achieved in the last half century".
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In September 1993, Barbra Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years.
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Barbra Streisand appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what Time magazine named "The Music Event of the Century".
51.
In 1996, Barbra Streisand released "I Finally Found Someone" as a duet with Canadian singer and songwriter Bryan Adams.
52.
The song was nominated for an Oscar as it was part of the soundtrack of Barbra Streisand's self-directed movie The Mirror Has Two Faces.
53.
On New Year's Eve 1999, Barbra Streisand returned to the concert stage, selling out in the first few hours, eight months before her return.
54.
Barbra Streisand performed versions of the Timeless concert in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, in early 2000.
55.
In February 2006, Barbra Streisand recorded the song "Smile" alongside Tony Bennett at Barbra Streisand's Malibu home.
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That same year Barbra Streisand announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues.
57.
Barbra Streisand set the third-place record for her show of October 9,2006 at Madison Square Garden, the first- and second-place records, of which are held by her two shows in September 2000.
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Barbra Streisand set the second-place record at MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31,1999, show being the house record and highest-grossing concert of all time.
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The first concert took place in Zurich, then Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Manchester and Celbridge, near Dublin, followed by three concerts in London, the only European city where Barbra Streisand had performed before 2007.
60.
On November 17,2008, Barbra Streisand returned to the studio to begin recording what would be her 63rd album and it was announced that Diana Krall was producing the album.
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Barbra Streisand is one of the recipients of the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors.
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On September 26,2009, Barbra Streisand performed a one-night-only show at the Village Vanguard in New York City's Greenwich Village.
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On October 2,2009, Barbra Streisand made her British television performance debut with an interview on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross to promote the album.
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On February 1,2010, Barbra Streisand joined over 80 other artists in recording a new version of the 1985 charity single "We Are the World".
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Barbra Streisand was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year on February 11,2011, two days prior to the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.
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That same year Barbra Streisand sang "Somewhere" from the Broadway musical West Side Story, with child prodigy Jackie Evancho, on Evancho's album Dream with Me.
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On October 11,2012, Streisand gave a three-hour concert performance before a crowd of 18,000 as part of the ongoing inaugural events of Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
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Barbra Streisand was joined onstage by trumpeter Chris Botti, Italian operatic trio Il Volo, and her son Jason Gould.
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Barbra Streisand is one of many singers who use teleprompters during their live performances.
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Barbra Streisand has defended her choice in using teleprompters to display lyrics and, sometimes, banter.
71.
In May 2016, Streisand announced the upcoming album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway to be released in August following a nine-city concert tour, Barbra: The Music, The Mem'ries, The Magic, including performances in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, and a return to her hometown of Brooklyn.
72.
In June 2018, Barbra Streisand confirmed she was working on the new studio album Walls, released November 2,2018, just prior to the US midterm election.
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Barbra Streisand's first film was a reprise of her Broadway hit, Funny Girl, an artistic and commercial success directed by Hollywood veteran William Wyler.
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Barbra Streisand won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress for the role, sharing it with Katharine Hepburn, the only time there has been a tie in this Oscar category.
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Barbra Streisand earned her second Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "Evergreen", from A Star Is Born in 1976, in which she starred.
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From 1969 to 1980, Barbra Streisand appeared in Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll, the annual motion picture exhibitors poll of Top 10 Box Office attractions a total of 10 times, often as the only woman on the list.
77.
Barbra Streisand is one of the great actresses and she hasn't been well used.
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Barbra Streisand produced a number of her own films, setting up Barwood Films in 1972.
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Barbra Streisand co-scripted Yentl, something for which she is not always given credit.
80.
In 2004, Barbra Streisand made a return to film acting after an eight-year hiatus, in the comedy Meet the Fockers, playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro.
81.
In December 2010, Barbra Streisand appeared in Little Fockers, the third film from the Meet the Parents trilogy.
82.
Barbra Streisand reprised the role of Roz Focker alongside Dustin Hoffman.
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However, in 2019 Barbra Streisand was reported to have exited the project.
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Barbra Streisand possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range, which Howard Cohen of the Miami Herald describes as "peerless".
85.
Barbra Streisand hears a melody and takes it in, learning it quickly.
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Barbra Streisand developed her ability to sustain long notes because she wanted to.
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In 1969 and 1970, Barbra Streisand dated Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
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Barbra Streisand went on to be her manager and producer.
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Barbra Streisand is the godmother of his daughters, Caleigh Peters and Skye Peters.
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From November 1983 to October 1987, Barbra Streisand lived with Baskin-Robbins ice cream heir Richard Baskin, who wrote the lyrics to "Here We Are At Last" on her 1984 album Emotion.
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Barbra Streisand dated actor Don Johnson from December 1987 through at least September 1988.
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In 1983 and 1989, respectively, Barbra Streisand briefly dated actors Richard Gere and Clint Eastwood.
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Barbra Streisand dated tennis champion Andre Agassi from 1992 to 1993.
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Barbra Streisand is the owner of multiple dogs, and she loved her dog Samantha so much, that she had her cloned.
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In March 2019, Barbra Streisand apologized for her controversial statements about Michael Jackson's accusers.
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Barbra Streisand has been an active supporter of the Democratic Party and many of its causes.
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Barbra Streisand was among the celebrities on President Richard Nixon's 1971 list of political enemies.
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The next year, in association with liberal activist Stanley Sheinbaum and the American Civil Liberties Union, Barbra Streisand performed a benefit at the mansion of film mogul Jennings Lang to pay for the legal defense of Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame.
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In 1984, Barbra Streisand joined Jane Fonda and ten other television and film industry notables to establish the activist group Hollywood Women's Political Committee, the membership eventually growing to 300.
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In 1995 Streisand spoke at Harvard's John F Kennedy School of Government about the role of the artist as citizen, in support of arts programs and funding.
101.
Barbra Streisand is a supporter of LGBT rights and backed the "No on 8" campaign in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat California Proposition 8 of 2008.
102.
Barbra Streisand performed at two other concerts in Tel Aviv that same week, part of her first concert tour of Israel.
103.
In 1984, Barbra Streisand donated the Emanuel Barbra Streisand Building for Jewish Studies to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in the Mount Scopus campus, in memory of her father, an educator and scholar who died when she was young.
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In 22 September 2022, Barbra Streisand was invited by President Zelenskyy to become an ambassador for the UNITED24 platform, focusing on the Medical Aid direction of support.
105.
Barbra Streisand is regarded as the "Queen of the Divas" by various media outlets.
106.
Barbra Streisand was presented the Distinguished Merit Award by Mademoiselle in 1964, and selected as Miss Ziegfeld in 1965.
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In 1984, Barbra Streisand was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.
108.
Barbra Streisand received the Woman of Courage Award by the National Organization for Women, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Scopus Award by American Friends of The Hebrew University.
109.
Barbra Streisand received Breakthrough Awards for "making films that portray women with serious complexity" at the Women, Men and Media symposium in 1991.
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Barbra Streisand was honored with the Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award from the ASCAP in 1994 and the Peabody Award in 1995, the same year she was accorded an Honorary Doctorate in Arts and Humanities by Brandeis University.
111.
Barbra Streisand was awarded Filmmaker of the Year Award for "lifetime achievement in filmmaking" by ShowEast and Peabody Award in 1996, Christopher Award in 1998.
112.
Barbra Streisand received the L'Oreal Paris Legend Award in 18th Elle Magazine Women in Hollywood.
113.
Barbra Streisand was accorded an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2013.
114.
In 2014, Barbra Streisand was on one of eight different New York Magazine covers celebrating the magazine's "100 Years, 100 Songs, 100 Nights: A Century of Pop Music in New York".
115.
Barbra Streisand received the American Society of Cinematographers Board of Governors Award, the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter's annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast, and came first in the 1010 Wins Iconic Celebrity Poll by CBS in 2015.
116.
In November 2015, President Barack Obama announced that Barbra Streisand would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.
117.
Barbra Streisand was inducted into and Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1976, Goldmine Hall of Fame in 2002, Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007, the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2009, National Museum of American Jewish History and California Hall of Fame in 2010.
118.
In 2006, Barbra Streisand was one of honorees at Oprah Winfrey's white-tie Legends Ball.
119.
Barbra Streisand was recognized as one of the top gay icons of the past three decades by Gay Times.
120.
Four of Barbra Streisand's songs were represented on AFI's 100 Years.
121.
The suit was dismissed and the resultant publicity prompted hundreds of thousands of people to download the photo, which had been accessed only four times prior to Barbra Streisand initiating legal action.
122.
The term Barbra Streisand effect was coined to refer to an attempt to censor information which unintentionally publicizes that information.
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Barbra Streisand has been nominated 43 times for a Grammy Award, winning eight.
124.
Barbra Streisand has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame four times.
125.
Barbra Streisand has stated she is writing her autobiography but has stopped and started at various points.