5 reasons why we should all be more Barbra
A new book of candid shots, Becoming Barbra, celebrates the icon’s early career, and provides the perfect excuse for us to count the ways we love BARBRA STREISAND
She blazed a trail of female firsts
Streisand’s work on 1983’s Yentl made her the first woman to star in, direct, produce and co-write a single studio movie. She fought tirelessly to make the film a reality and bagged the Best Director award at the Golden Globes for her achievement. To date, she is the only woman to have won the category – in the 75-year history of the Globes only seven women have even been nominated. Streisand’s recent take on the matter? “Folks, time’s up.”
She’s played enduring cinematic characters
Streisand played the gloriously outspoken, unapologetic revolutionary Katie Morosky in one of the most heart-wrenching love stories of all time, 1973’s The Way We Were. Devastatingly good.
She’s deservedly decorated
In her six-decade-long career, Streisand has become one of the bestselling female music artists of all time, winning Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards. She’s part of an elite and very fabulous set to have done so, which includes fellow legends Rita Moreno, Audrey Hepburn, Liza Minnelli and Whoopi Goldberg.
She’s shown fear who’s boss
In the late ’60s, at the height of her career, Streisand forgot her words in front of 150,000 people in Central Park. What followed was a stretch of 27 years where she couldn’t perform for paying crowds due to acute stage fright, ending only when she resolved to face her fear. “I did a lot of work on myself,” she told Closer Weekly recently, revealing that a motivational tape she found very calming was key to reigniting her confidence.
No one does chintzy opulence better
Streisand has an elaborate vintage mall in the basement of her Malibu home that includes a doll’s shop, a sweet shop and an antique clothes store. It’s so extraordinary that it inspired a 2013 hit one-man show by Jonathan Tolins called Buyer & Cellar. And here’s another unforgettable piece of Streisand trivia: when her beloved dog Samantha died in 2017, Streisand had her cloned to produce two new pups – Miss Scarlett and Miss Violet.
Read more about Becoming Barbra (Rizzoli) in PORTER’s Summer Escape 2018 issue. Download the PORTER app on iTunes and Google Play Store now
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