Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand took the stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to accept the Oscar for Funny Girl in 1969. She was only 26 years old. That night she tied with Katharine Hepburn and broke protocol with a sheer outfit that shocked the most conservative corners of the industry.

She was born in Brooklyn in 1942 and grew up in an environment where no one expected a girl with her looks to make it to the big screen. In 1960s Hollywood, beauty followed very rigid standards. But she chose not to have her nose altered and to trust a voice that already dominated the Manhattan nightclubs.

And the gamble paid off.

Her first major break came with the Broadway musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale in 1962. There she met Elliott Gould and began building an image as an independent woman who controlled every detail of her productions. Shortly afterward she signed with Columbia Records, a deal that gave her total creative freedom in exchange for less money up front.

Total Control Behind the Camera

In 1983 she premiered Yentl after years of rejections from the major studios. She not only starred in it but also became the first woman to produce, direct, and write a big-budget film in Hollywood. The movie grossed 40 million dollars in the United States and earned her the Golden Globe for Best Director.

Her obsession with technical detail earned her a reputation as difficult among lighting crews. But Streisand knew light was her best ally for disguising what she considered her least flattering angles. In 1991 she repeated the move with The Prince of Tides and earned seven Oscar nominations.

Power comes at a high price in the industry.

She is the only artist to have a number one album in six consecutive decades. Her sales exceed 150 million records worldwide. As a result, her economic influence on the music industry is just as significant as her impact on film.

Nobody ever questioned her salary again.

A Perfectionist's Legacy

In 2023 she published her memoir My Name Is Barbra, nearly a thousand pages of anecdotes and corrections to the press. In the book she details how she turned down roles in Cabaret or Klute to focus on projects where she had the final say over the final cut.

During the shoot of The Owl and the Pussycat in 1996, she demanded that all camera filters be checked to soften the image. That film was her last outing as a feature film director. She preferred to focus on concert tours, which brought in record profits from every live performance.

Her farewell tour in 2006 grossed 92 million dollars in just twenty dates.