Barbra Streisand has discussed her early experiences with sexism, including an incident with Sydney Chaplin that contributed to the stage fright that stopped her playing concerts for 27 years, before the release of her memoir.
The singer and actor recalled her fraught relationship with Charlie Chaplin’s son when they both starred in Funny Girl on Broadway in the 1960s.
“I don’t even like to talk about it,” Streisand, 81, told the BBC before the release of My Name Is Barbra. “It’s just a person who had a crush on me, – which was unusual – and when I said to him, ‘I don’t want to be involved with you’, he turned on me in such a way that was very cruel.
“He started muttering under his breath while I was talking on stage. Terrible words. Curse words. And he wouldn’t look into my eyes anymore. And you know, when you’re acting, it’s really important to look at the other person, and react to them.”
The experience, Streisand said, left her “flustered” and contributed to her quitting live performance. But throughout her career, she said she also encountered other male collaborators who proved problematic.
These included Walter Matthau, who humiliated her on the set of Hello, Dolly! by screaming: “I have more talent in my farts than you have in your whole body”; and Frank Pierson, who publicly rubbished the 1976 version of A Star is Born (which he directed), calling Streisand a control freak who constantly demanded more closeups.
Streisand’s book also lists the men who became entranced by her, such as Omar Sharif, who wrote long, passionate letters begging her to leave her husband; King Charles (then Prince Charles), who described her as “devastatingly attractive” with “great sex appeal”; and Marlon Brando, who introduced himself by kissing the back of her neck, saying: “You can’t have a back like that and not have it kissed.”
treisand, who had been writing her memoir for almost a quarter of a century, also addressed insults about her appearance in her early career. “Even after all these years, I’m still hurt by the insults and can’t quite believe the praise,” she told the BBC.
Despite her considerable success, including 150m records sold, nine Golden Globes, four Emmys and two Oscars (for acting and songwriting), Streisand said she felt little happiness when looking back at her life.
“I want to live life,” she said. “I want to get in my husband’s truck [the actor James Brolin] and just wander, hopefully with the children somewhere near us … I haven’t had much fun in my life, to tell you the truth, and I want to have more fun.”
Streisand discussed the death of her father from a cerebral haemorrhage when she was 15 months old, leaving the family in poverty. Her mother’s new husband, a used-car salesman, was distant and cruel.
“I don’t remember him ever talking to me or asking me any questions,” she said. “I was never seen by him – [nor] by my mother. She didn’t see my passion for wanting to be an actress. She discouraged me.” (cont.)
