Between humor and heartbreak, she painted a picture of a colleague who became a lifelong friend. The tribute carried both gratitude and goodbye in equal measure.
Image Source: Academy Awards
Barbra Streisand at Oscars 2026: The room was already emotional. The giant screen had just finished rolling through the In Memoriam segment at the Academy Awards, honouring some of the most beloved names the film world lost this year. But then something unexpected happened, and suddenly the entire audience was on its feet.
A familiar voice, rarely heard live anymore, floated across the theater. And just like that, the night belonged to Barbra Streisand.
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Streisand honoured her longtime friend and legendary co-star Robert Redford with a speech full of memories, laughter, and heartbreak, before softly singing a line from the song that forever tied their names together.
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Hollywood froze. Then it erupted in applause.
Even before the ceremony began, rumours were swirling that Streisand might appear. Still, when she actually walked onto the stage, it felt like a genuine shock.
Streisand has rarely performed live in recent years. After wrapping her ‘The Music… The Mem’ries… The Magic!’ Tour in 2017, she only appeared for a handful of concerts in 2019. Since then, she has mostly stepped away from live singing. In fact, she has openly admitted that performing in front of an audience gives her “the willies.”
So when she appeared during the Oscars broadcast, it instantly added electricity to the night.
Streisand’s tribute centered on the man she starred alongside in the 1973 romantic drama ‘The Way We Were’: Robert Redford.
She opened with a memory from the earliest days of the film.
“After I read the first script,” she told the audience, “I could only imagine one man in the role, and that was Robert Redford.”
But things did not start smoothly.
According to Streisand, Redford initially turned the role down. He believed the character lacked strength and conviction.
“He said the character had no backbone,” she recalled. “He doesn’t stand for anything.”
And Redford, she admitted with a smile, was absolutely right.
The movie takes place during the late 1940s and early 1950s, a period in American history when political fear and suspicion dominated public life.
Streisand pointed out that people during that era were often pressured into informing on friends and colleagues. Many were forced to sign loyalty oaths to prove their patriotism.
That historical context, she explained, gave the film a deeper meaning.
“It’s considered a classic love story,” she said. “But it’s also about a dark time in our history.”
As she continued speaking, Streisand described Redford with a phrase that made the audience smile.
“I called him an intellectual cowboy,” she said.
The description fit perfectly. Redford had the rugged charm of Western hero but also the thoughtful curiosity of artist.
He carved his own path through Hollywood by refusing to follow the usual rules. That bold approach eventually earned him major recognition, including the Academy Award for Best Director.
The actress shared a funny detail about how Redford liked to tease her.
He had a nickname for her. “Bob would call me ‘Babs,’” she told the crowd. She never loved the nickname.
“I’d say, ‘Bob, do I look like a Babs? I’m not a Babs, you know.’”
Still, the way he said it always made her laugh.
The tribute then turned deeply emotional.
Streisand described one of the last times they spoke on the phone. The two chatted about their usual topics: politics, art, and the things they loved.
As they ended the call, Redford said something that stayed with her.
“Babs, I love you dearly and I always will.”
Streisand revealed that in the final note she ever wrote to him, she responded with the same feeling.
“I love you, too,” she wrote.
And for the first time, she signed it with the nickname he always used.
“Babs.”
After finishing the speech, Streisand paused.
Then she softly sang a brief line from the film’s iconic theme song, also titled The Way We Were.
The moment lasted only about 40 seconds. But it carried decades of memories.
The song itself has a remarkable history. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 1974 Oscars for composer Marvin Hamlisch and lyricists Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman.
Hamlisch also took home the Oscar for Best Original Score, giving the film two Academy Awards in total.
The song later won Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards in 1975 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
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