A WOMAN'S BRIDGE

Barbra Streisand: One of the Most Successful Personalities in American Show Business

12/7/2012

 
Picture
Yoon Joung Lee

American actress, singer, director, producer and writer; Barbra Streisand, was born into a middle class Jewish family in 1942 in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother, Diana Streisand, was at one time a singer and her father, Emanuel Streisand, was a respected high school teacher. She grew up dreaming to become an actress.  

The first school she attended was the Jewish Orthodox Yeshiva of Brooklyn. There she gave a solo performance at the age of seven. Then she went to Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, where she joined the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club.

While Streisand was in her teens, she became a nightclub singer. She also debuted on the Broadway musical comedy, "I Can't Get It For You Wholesale" in 1962. With this show, she received a Tony Award Best Supporting Actress nomination and New York Drama Critics Poll Award.

The following year, her first Columbia solo album release, Barbra Streisand Album won two Grammy Awards including Best Album of the Year in 1963. After her first album release, she made several appearances on The Tonight Show. In 1964, she returned to Broadway and continued to increase her fame with a new original Broadway show, "Funny Girl." Around that time, "The Judy Garland Show" made a love call for her and she signed an exclusive contract with CBS for a series of annual TV specials; "My Name is Barbra" and "Color Me Barbra" which were extremely successful.

In the 1960s, she recorded fifty studio albums - including her debut "The Barbra Streisand Album," "The Second Barbra Streisand Album," "The Third Album," "My Name is Barbra," etc. mainly with Columbia Records. She also aimed for television. Her shows "My Name is Barbra (1965)" and "Color Me Barbra (1966)" were aired on TV. From 1967 to 1986, she appeared in a total of ten more television specials. At the age of twenty six, she became the largest selling female singer of popular standards.

In 1968, she flew to Hollywood for her first movie "Funny Girl."This movie made her an international superstar as it hit even abroad. This movie led her to win the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress for the role. In 1969, she won a Golden Globe award as Best Female World Film Favorite with the motion picture "Hello, Dolly." After various successes on motion pictures, she concentrated more on movies while she appeared in "What's Up, Doc?" and "Up the Stand-Box,” in 1972.  

In 1973, her work "The Way We Were" gave her another Golden Globe Award. In 1983, Streisand jumped into new fields in directing and producing. In the film "Yentl"- a story of a woman masquerading as a man to get an orthodox Jewish religious education- she directed, produced and starred at the same time and the film earned more than $35 million. Her next film "Nuts" in 1987 was very controversial. The story is about a manslaughter trial of a woman who has to go through a competency trial?. Some people said the film was the best work of her ever, but most critics disliked the film.

Streisand’s next movie "The Prince of Tides" in 1991 was nominated for several Academy Awards and she won a Golden Globe Award for directing. Other than performing in films and TV, she continued to release albums and she recorded numerous duets with Barry Gibb, Bryan Adams, Don Johnson, Neil Diamond, Kim Carnes, Johnny Mathis as well as Michael Crawford. In 1994, she started a world tour beginning in London, England and ending in New York City. Her shows were one of the biggest moneymaking concerts of the year.

In 1997, her album "Higher Ground" became number one on the Billboard chart and h
er first single from her album "Tell Him" became a Top 40 immediately after the release. She was nominated for a Grammy Award. The next year, she married actor James Brolin and they spend a half of their time in Malibu and another half in Beverly Hills, California. In 1992, she founded The Streisand Foundation to help advocate womens’ rights, civil liberties, and environmental protection. Streisand also has given concerts to help politicians and charities that benefit social causes such as AIDS research.

In 2000, she received a National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton. That same year, she had her final live performance in New York City's Madison Square Garden. In 2001, she won an Emmy for her Fox TV Special "Barbra Streisand: Timeless" Streisand has a total of fifty-four recorded albums since her debut. She was the first person to win an Academy Award for both acting and songwriting, an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award and an Antoinette Perry Award.



Comments are closed.

    Archives

    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010

    Categories

    All
    Amelia Earhart
    American South
    Amy Beach
    Anna Nzinga
    Anna Sewell
    Anna Wintour
    Anne Bronte
    Barbra Steisand
    Baroness Blixen
    Benazir Bhutto
    Billie Jean King
    Blackfeet Nation
    Brigitte Bardot
    Bronte Sisters
    Catherine The Great
    Charlotte Bronte
    Cheng I Sao
    Civil Rights Movement
    Clara Barton
    Cleopatra
    Cristina Fernandes De Kirchner
    Dagmar Wilson
    Dido Belle
    Dilma Rousseff
    Dorothy Kamenshek
    Edith Wharton
    Eleanor Of Aquitaine
    Elouise Cobell
    Emily Bronte
    Fannie Flagg
    Frances Glessner Lee
    Frida Kahlo
    Gabby Douglas
    Geun Hye Park
    Gone With The Wind
    Hannah Snell
    Harper Lee
    Harriet Tubman
    Hatshepsut
    Heian Period
    Helen Keller
    Hillary Rodham Clinton
    Ho Ching
    Hypatia Of Alexandria
    Intro
    Irena Sendler
    Isabelle Scott
    Jamestown
    Jane Eyre
    Jane Goodall
    Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis
    Jody Williams
    Josephine Baker
    Journalism
    Joy Ogwu
    Julia Ward Howe
    Laurie Marker
    Madeleine Korbel Albright
    Margaret Bourke-White
    Margaret Mitchell
    Margaret Thatcher
    Margot Wallstrom
    Maria Otero
    Marilyn Monroe
    Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
    Mary Poppins
    Maya Angelou
    Meip Gies
    Meryl Streep
    Mother Theresa
    Murasaki Shikibu
    Nellie Bly
    Patricia Cloherty
    Pl Travers
    Pocahontas
    Rachel Carson
    Rosalind Franklin
    Rosa Parks
    Rosemary Kennedy
    Ruth Harkness
    Sally Ride
    Sheila Johnson
    Song Qingling
    Sophie Scholl
    Sylvia Plath
    The Shriver Report
    To Kill A Mockingbird
    Trudy Harsh
    Vera Wang
    Victorian Era
    Women Journalists In Pakistan
    WWII
    Yearling

    RSS Feed