Barbra Streisand

His face is one of the most characteristic of cinema, perfect for the most humorous artists of cartoon portraits. Her superlative nose is an ample mark of identity, and not only of her Jewish origin but also of her imposing, decisive, feminist character, with liberal and progressive political tendencies. Artistically, Streisand has achieved everything, as she has gathered an amazing string of awards that would scare Calliope herself, goddess of the arts: two Oscars, four Emmys, a Tony, eight Grammys, a Golden Globe… And that without Count other awards related to the song, such as the 51 gold records and 30 platinum records that he has achieved throughout his career. And a fact that is difficult to overcome: she is the woman who has sold the most records in history and also the one who has placed the most records in the top ten (no less than 31),Elvis Presley or The Beatles. And it is that, of course, few human beings have possessed such a perfect voice.

Barbra Joan Streisand was born on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, the quintessential Jewish neighborhood of New York. She is the daughter of a literature teacher and a school secretary. Ella barbra she studied at the Beis Yakov school and at the Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, where she coincided in the choir with fellow singer Neil Diamond. It seems that her artistic skills took shape in 1956, when the young woman went to Broadway to see the play “The Diary of Anne Frank.” The following summer she enrolled in theater classes and began participating in small, independent shows off Broadway. In 1960 he won a music contest, in 1961 he appeared for the first time on a television program, where he sang the song “A Sleeping Bee”, and in 1962, at the age of twenty, he made his debut in the Broadway musical “I Can Get It For You Wholesale”, for which he recorded some studio songs. Her career was beginning to take off.

After that musical, she was quickly signed to Columbia Records, with whom she recorded three studio albums, and in 1964 she began her Broadway performance as Fanny Brice in the play “Funny Girl.” The success was impressive and Streisand was on the cover of Time and Life. The play remained on stage until 1966, a fact that makes it more than curious that the actress never went on stage again. But so it was. Before beginning her career in the cinema, Barbra continued to record albums, each time better received by the public. In 1964 she reached number one with her album “People”, unseating The Beatles. And after more records and records, in June 1967, at just 25 years old, she brought together a crowd of 135,000 people in Manhattan’s Central Park in what was a hitherto unprecedented concert. Later,Funny Girl (1968), an adaptation of the musical directed by maestro William Wyler and co-starring Omar Sharif . Barbra convinced her with her already well-known character of Fanny Brice and won the Oscar, sharing the statuette with the great Katharine Hepburn (The lion in winter ). It was the only time there has been a tie between actresses. Streisand had already shown her gifts for comedy, and that has been the genre in which she has stood out the most, along with the musical, of course. The following year she shared the bill with Walter Matthau in the more than deliciousHello Dolly! , a musical directed by Gene Kelly about a woman who sets out to wheedle a wealthy merchant. In 1970 she worked with director Herbert Ross in the romantic comedyThe kitten and the owl and five years later he would collaborate with him again in the musicalFunny Lady , along with James Caan and Omar Sharif and where she recovered the role that had given her fame, that of Fanny Brice. But in the meantime she shot two of her most remembered films. The first one is the crazy comedyWhat’s wrong with me, doctor? (1972), a delight of tangle and rhythm directed by Peter Bogdanovich and which responds to a remake of the classicThe beast of my girl . And the second,The Way We Were , a notable example of a romantic film with super heartthrob Robert Redford , under the baton of stuntman Sydney Pollack . Streisand’s work once again drew critical attention and she was nominated for an Oscar for best actress.

In those times his personal and sentimental life was tumbling. In 1971, the actress divorced her first husband, Elliott Gould , whom she had married in 1963 and with whom she had a son in 1966, fellow actor Jason Gould . From then on, Streisand filled countless pages of the tabloids due to her multiple romances, including Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Elvis Presley, Steve McQueen , Ryan O’Neal , Warren Beatty , Don Johnson , Jon Voight , Kris Kristofferson and a few others. In 1998 the actress settled down again and married James Brolin. That liberal life also had its political and social manifestation, since Streisand has always been on the more or less radical left, supporting Democrats in presidential campaigns and claiming rights of the gay and lesbian nature, or fighting against AIDS, the war , and other flags attributed to progressives.

In 1976 he won another Oscar for best song, thanks to the love theme of the film.A star is born (1976) , an update of the story made into a movie in the past on several occasions, the best-known versions of which are those of William A. Wellman and George Cukor . Another milestone in his life was undoubtedly the publication in 1981 of the Guilty album, together with Barry Gibb . The album reached number 1 worldwide and is one of the most famous in history, quintessential 80s music. In 1983 Barbra Streisand felt ready to go behind the cameras. She debuted as a director withYentl , the story of a Jewish girl, whose script, production and leading role are also her work. Then, the years passed until his work in the cinema had some repercussion again. It was thanks toThe Prince of Tides (1991), a film again directed, produced and starring her, and which obtained 7 Oscar nominations. And five years later she directed and starred in her third film, the acclaimed romantic comedyLove has two faces . After that film, he did not return to the cinema until almost ten years later, with his inclusion in the comedyHis parents (2004) and later in its continuationNow they are the parents (2010). With her role as Roz Focker, a very, very threadbare role, she has coincided with her great friend of hers Dustin Hoffman . The pity is that these films represent a drop in quality in his career. Bad choice to say goodbye.