Barbra Streisand is the most famous American singer of the 20th century, actress and musician, winner of two Academy Awards and numerous other music and film awards. In addition, she is a producer, composer and director. Her stage name is Barbra. And this is probably the first woman in the world to prove that there are no ugly women.
Biography
Barbra was born on April 24, 1942 in Brooklyn, into an ordinary American family, where her mother worked as a secretary at the school, and her father taught grammar. The girl did not remember her father; a year after her birth, he died. Later, the mother got married, but the relationship with her stepfather was strained and he often beat his stepdaughter. In this marriage, there was only one plus - Barbra had a sister, Roslyn Kind, she also performs on stage.
Barbra's childhood cannot be called cloudless. Because of her non-standard appearance at school, she was offended. But the neighboring boys listened with pleasure to her street singing.
Interestingly, her classmates were both the famous American actor Dustin Hoffman and the great grandmaster Bobby Fischer. The girl did not like school, so Barbra skipped classes, spending all her free time in the local choir.
Having matured a little, Barbra finally decided for herself to become a singer, which she told her mother about. However, the future artist did not find understanding on her part. After all, even her own mother considered the girl an ugly girl and therefore did not at all represent her daughter on stage. And the stepfather openly called the girl ugly. But the difficulties only strengthened her character. Barbra was unstoppable. Not receiving support, Barbra decided to prove that she would become a great singer and even sing for the President of the United States.
Carier start
The girl knew only one thing: everything depends on her. I must say that Barbra Streisand has a strong character and she is also a man of her word. It is thanks to her personal qualities that she achieved worldwide success. Having set a firm goal for herself, the singer followed all possible vocal competitions, took part in almost every one and, having won a mini-format show, finally received an offer to sing in a nightclub. Later she performed at a gay club in Manhattan. It was a good experience that got Barbra to play in a musical called I'll Get You This Wholesale. This participation can be called fateful. Barbra played a small role as an unsympathetic secretary, but her performance overshadowed the main stars of the musical. I must say that Barbra never studied vocals or acting. This is the very case when a person has natural abilities.
During the next performance, the producer Jul Stein drew attention to the singer with an unusual appearance. Especially for her, he wrote a composition for a musical comedy film, participation in which made Barbra Streisand a real star. This is 1968 and the famous comedy "Merry Girl".
Career takeoff
The film "Funny Girl" brought Barbra not only fame and recognition, but also an Oscar. The next few projects were also comedic ones.
Next is the melodrama of Sidney Pollack "Meeting of two hearts". Here Barbra performed the main composition, which received an Oscar in its nomination.
Critics of the American Film Academy recognized Barbra Streisand as an excellent composer, because she received the second Oscar for her song in the musical "A Star Is Born."
Before starting her career as an actress, all films in which she took part were grossing up the box office. Since 1980, she wanted to make films and act on her own.
The film "Yentl", where Barbra acted as a director, one of the screenwriters and, of course, the main character, was separately evaluated by Steven Spielberg, who called it a film masterpiece.
And for the melodrama "Lord of the Tides" the talented artist was nominated for an Oscar in seven nominations. It was a success.
5 years later, in 1996, Barbra made a film with her participation in the title role "The Mirror Has Two Faces." And after that she disappeared for as much as 8 years. Viewers saw her only in 2004 in the comedy "Meet the Fockers", where her partners were Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. Here she appeared as the same cheerful and unusually attractive mother of the protagonist. After 6 years, the second part came out, and Barbra received the Golden Raspberry nomination - this is a film award for the worst work. In addition, as often happens, the audience took the sequel to the film without much enthusiasm.
Throughout her career, Barbra Streisand took part as an actress in a small number of films - 25, produced 20 films, and directed 6 herself.
Music was much more important for the artist.
Musical career
Her very first album, The Barbra Streisand Album, won two Grammy awards. Everything that Barbra performed in the 60s and 70s was a great success and recognition. In terms of popularity, she surpassed even Frank Sinatra. These are everyone's favorite compositions: "Woman in Love", "Evergreen" and many others. Videos were filmed for some songs. She worked as a duet with Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, the king of rhythm and blues Ray Charles, Celine Dion, Brian Adams.
The singer repeatedly announced the end of her solo career, but after a while she again resumed performances and world tours.
By the way, she sang for the President of the United States. When Bill Clinton turned 49, she called the White House and demanded the president to the phone, explaining that she wanted to wish him a happy birthday. When the president answered the phone, she sang “Happy birthday to you!” Especially for him.
Over the course of his musical career, 250 million copies of Barbra Streisand's discs have been sold.
Personal life
Before Barbra became famous, her personal life did not work out.
The first husband in 1963 was the American actor Elliott Gould, with whom she was officially married until 1971, but in fact, the couple began to live separately much earlier. But this union gave Barbra a son, Jason. Then for some time Barbra had a relationship with the Prime Minister of Canada, who even proposed to her. But the wedding did not take place.
There were many famous and effective men in the singer's life and bed: tennis player Andre Agassi, who was 28 years younger, Elvis Presley, Richard Gere, Don Johnson, billionaire Richard Baskin, Robert Redford, James Brolin.
The latter became her second official husband, with whom she still lives in perfect harmony.
Barbra Streisand is open to communication. She is present on social networks, sometimes takes notes, comments or clarifies publications in the media about herself.
Interesting Facts:
1. Despite the strong character and determination, Barbra Streisand is terribly afraid to speak in public. This complex was acquired - many years ago, Islamist terrorists sent a threat to the Jewish singer that they would shoot her during a concert. On that day, Barbra stood on the stage and was silent, afraid to say even a word. This performance can be called a failure. The next one took place only 27 years later, in 1993. Tickets worth 1.5 thousand dollars were sold out less than an hour before the start of official sales. According to Time magazine, it was the greatest event of the century in the world of music.
2. The first husband of Barbra was a real handsome man and her mother could not stand it during the wedding and said: "How could such an ugly man grab such a guy."
3. After the divorce from her first husband, Barbra went to work, and sent her son to a boarding school for a long 20 years.
4. The personal life of the singer's son is quite interesting. At least the fact that Jason's son got married to a handsome mannequin. Barbra did not accept the wedding invitation, but later became a supporter of sexual minorities.
5. Barbra is very fond of animals, and especially her dogs. When one of her favorites died in 2017, the singer cloned her.
6. Barbra is one of the few stars who did not undergo plastic surgery. She knows how to love herself for who she is, and she is also afraid of pain.
