Barbra Streisand celebrates her 80th birthday: Mostly wonderful, sometimes corrosive

toilet lady. Barbra Streisand was actually a toilet attendant and scrubbed toilets. It’s honourable, but not exactly a prerequisite for a career in Hollywood. She wasn’t the prettiest for the time either, more like an “ugly duckling,” as her mother once said. As a precaution, she is said to have advised her not to become an actress. She just isn’t pretty enough for that. What was meant by this was probably above all the slight silver look and her distinctive nose. But she never had the operation, but sold it as a trademark and described herself as a “girl with the long claws and the nose of an anteater”.

That was all a long time ago. Today, about 60 years later, on her 80th birthday (April 24), Barbra Streisand can look back on an incredible life, which is also reflected in her trophy collection: two Oscars, nine Golden Globes, she won an Emmy four times, the most important TV award in the USA, as well as 14 Grammy Awards (with 34 nominations) and countless other awards.

20 feature films and 60 music albums

She has appeared in 20 feature films, released over 60 albums including her film soundtracks – the last, Walls, at 76 in November 2018 – and topped the charts at times ahead of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Her album “Guilty”, for example, sold over 15 million copies. As an actress she was one of the best, as a singer the very best.

At the time, nobody in the Williamsburg district of Brooklyn (New York City), where many Jews lived mainly from Eastern Europe, could have guessed. Barbara Joan Streisand was born there into a Jewish family. Her father Emanuel Streisand was a teacher and died when she was 15 months old. The mother remarried, Barbra’s half-sister Rosalyn Kind also became an actress and singer.

Formative childhood in Brooklyn

Her Jewish origins shaped her. In addition, Williamsburg is apparently a fertile biotope from which a number of geniuses come. The later world chess champion Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) is a childhood friend, he attended the same high school. She sang with the later music star Neil Diamond (81) in the school choir – and 20 years later at the Grammy Awards ceremony in a duet with the number one hit “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”. A friend for life.

Barbra, too, so succinctly she shortens her first name, makes her way, although her outward appearance is rather suboptimal by Hollywood standards. But she has intelligence, assertiveness and an unerring wit. Even as a teenager, she sensed that she had great acting talent and a wonderful voice. And she wants to make it in her hometown of New York, because if you make it in New York, you can make it anywhere, at least that’s what Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) says.

She took acting lessons, performed at the Clinton Theater when she was 16, and had engagements as a nightclub singer. And because none of that is enough to live on, she works as a toilet attendant, telephone operator and usher. And she prevails.

First TV appearance on NBC show

At 19, she made her first TV appearance on NBC’s famous “Tonight Show” and signed her first record deal. Composer Harold Arlen (1905-1986), who wrote songs for the great Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), said in the early 1960s: “I advise you to watch her career. This young lady has a stunning future. ” Her Broadway debut as Miss Marmelstein in the musical “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” was a triumph in 1962. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) invites her to a concert in the White House and then raves about her voice. The 20-year-old Barbra says out of sheer excitement: “You’re a darling!” This could be from one of your films.

She was and is a great comedian. Of her cinema films, the film adaptation of the musical “Funny Girl” – the story of the ugly Jewish duckling Fanny Brice, who becomes a big star – is particularly remembered. For this, Barbra Streisand received the Oscar for best actress in 1969. Also notable: The turbulent comedy ‘Is Was, Doc’ (1972, with Ryan O’Neal) and ‘Yentl’ (1983), again a melancholic biopic in which Streisand plays the female and male leads and at the same time writes, produces and directs Streisand is. It tells the story of a girl’s life in the world of Hasidic Judaism in Eastern Europe. “Yentl” receives the Oscar for the best film score, in which Barbra Streisand is also involved, because some of her songs can be heard in the film. She is awarded a Golden Globe for her direction and production – and nominated for her male lead for the Golden Raspberry as the worst actor.

Barbra Streisand sees herself more as an actress

It’s not fair to say that Barbra Streisand would rather be an actress than a singer, but she sees herself from the start as an actress who also sings – and not the other way around. This makes their music an unusual experience.

“With her art of presentation, she managed to bring conventional songs to perfection,” judged the SWR. She says she lacks the talent of many rock stars who write their own songs. That’s another of her understatements, because for the film “A star is born” (1976), in which she plays the female lead, she wrote the musical love theme “Evergreen”, which she duets with the male lead Chris Kristofferson (85 ) sings, also composed by himself. She won the 1977 Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Movie Song.

One could continue this success story at will about a woman who grows up in poverty and later gives away a $25 million estate to conservationists who, with an estimated fortune of $400 million, is one of the richest entertainers in the world whose life consists only of positive things seems to exist.

But there is also a dark side in her life

One of the few defeats is likely to be the failure of her first marriage (1963-1971) to actor Elliott Goult (83), who also comes from a Jewish family in Brooklyn. From this connection comes her son, the singer, actor and filmmaker Jason Goult (55), who also appeared on her successful 2012/13 tour through the USA, Europe and Israel and sings in a duet with his mother.

The Barbra Streisand myth also includes the problems of some people who work with her because she is considered difficult on set. “For as long as I can remember, people have said I’m bossy and headstrong,” she said at a film gala in New York. That’s because she’s actually like that – and: “Three cheers for domineering women!”

Her wit is simply unbeatable, as her second husband, the now 81-year-old series star James Brolin (“Hotel”), felt from the start. On a talk show, she revealed that she “expected a guy with a brown beard and wavy hair” on the first date. “And then I saw a guy who had cut off all his hair, no beard.” She ran her hand over his head and said, “Who ate your hair?” Brolin knew immediately: This is the right one! The two have been married since 1998.

Swipe at Donald Trump

Former US President Donald Trump (75) felt how caustic her humor can be. Their song “Don’t lie to me!” (“Don’t lie to me!”) also dedicated it to the “corrupt” man. In an interview with the Guardian, she asked what would actually look “presidential” about Trump: “That hair and makeup?” He always reverses reality. “It’s like this joke: A woman walks in and her husband is in bed with another woman. And he says, ‘Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?’ Even a Donald couldn’t find the words.