Barbra Streisand accepted the Life Achievement Award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday (February 24) with a warm and personal speech in which she talked about her 70-year love affair with movies — a passion that began as an escape from a miserable upbringing in Brooklyn.
The award was the highlight of the 30th annual SAG Awards, which were presented at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles — where, host Jennifer Aniston told us, Streisand gave her first major concert in 1963. Not mentioned was the fact that Streisand won three Grammy Awards at the Shrine during the 1970s and 1980s. Bradley Cooper also helped present the award.
“I remember dreaming of being an actor as a teenager sitting on my bed in Brooklyn with a glass of iced coffee and a movie magazine,” Streisand said. “Sometimes after school, I went to the Astor Theater next to Erasmus High School where they showed foreign films in black and white.
“And then one Saturday, I vividly remember going to the Loew's theater and buying a 25-cent ticket and walking down the middle of Children and dolls and oh my God – everything was so beautiful on that screen – the colors, the scenery, unlike our apartment where my mother covered everything with plastic. And then I saw the most handsome actor, Marlon Brando. It was my first crush. He was so real, so believable and I wanted to be the one he fell in love with, not Jean Simmons. This imaginary world was much more pleasant than anything I experienced.'
Streisand was 13 years old when Children and dolls premiered in November 1955 and had such a powerful effect on her dreams and imagination. There was just one problem, as Streisand explained in her speech.
“I wanted to be in movies, even though I knew I didn't look like the other women on screen. My mother said you better learn to type, but I didn't listen, and somehow – thank God, it all came true.”
Indeed, many credit Streisand with expanding the idea of what a movie star could look like.
Streisand gave a lot of credit to William Wyler, who directed her first film, Funny girland Harry Stradling, who was Wyler's cinematographer. Wyler was 65 years old when Funny girl was shot in 1967. Stradling was 66. He was at an age and time when many men in their positions would have resented a 25-year-old newcomer to the set bursting with ideas. But, according to Streisand, they were open to her input in a way she appreciates now more than ever.
“These two men were outstanding,” he said. “They had no problem with a young woman having opinions. I could pitch ideas for a scene to Willy and try out different lighting effects with Harry and they never let me down. Looking back, they were really ahead of their time and that was fantastic and set the tone for my whole career.”
Streisand also talked about how acting, researching roles and preparing for films was her education.
“I never went to college,” he said. “I always thought that acting was my education. Trying to understand the character, to have to do research, immerse yourself in the period. The whole process was exciting for me. How do you tell the story? How does the camera serve the actors in telling this story?'
Streisand understands the appeal of movies: “For a couple of hours, people can sit in a theater and get away from their own problems.”
She is also a film history student. “I can't help but think about the people who built this industry. Ironically, they were also running away from their own problems.”
He mentioned Samuel Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayer and Warner Brothers, all of whom had changed their names to sound less ethnic. “They all escaped the prejudice they faced in Eastern Europe simply because of their religion. And they were dreamers too, like all of us here tonight. And now I dream of a world where such prejudices are a thing of the past.” The last line, amid an alarming rise in anti-Semitic rhetoric, drew sustained applause.
Near the end of her speech, Streisand talked about a French film from 2022 that she had recently seen, Une Belle Course (Driving Madeleine), which moved her deeply. The film stars an actress in her 90s, Line Renaud (“so there's still hope for us girls,” she said). “It was so moving and insightful,” she said. “…It reminded me again how much I love cinema.”
Streisand has said she became a singer because she couldn't find work as an actress. Despite her success as a singer, acting seems to be her first love. “It's truly a privilege to be a part of this profession,” he said at one point.
She concluded her remarks by noting, “I'd like to thank SAG-AFTRA for this wonderful honor and say to my fellow actors and directors, I've loved working with you and inhabiting this magical world of movies with you. And most of all, I want to thank you for giving me so much joy – just watching you all on the screen. Thank you for that.”
A film package preceded Streisand's arrival on stage showing many of her top film moments – as well as an unforgettable surprise in a 'Coffee Talk' skit at Saturday night live in 1992. The highlight reel featured many great musical moments, such as “Don't Rain on My Parade” by Funny girl“The Way We Were” from that film and “Evergreen” from the 1976 version A star Is Born.
Cooper, who directed the 2018 remake A star Is Born, was generous in helping introduce Streisand. In 2021, Streisand shaded its remake, saying it was too close to the rock'n'roll update she starred in to be considered a fresh and original take on the perennial property.
A number of Streisand's co-stars and colleagues have previously received the SAG Life Achievement Award, which underscores just how far and wide her reach stretches. Walter Pidgeon, who played Flo Ziegfeld Funny girlhonored in 1975. Gene Kelly, the legendary song-and-dance man who directed her second film, Hello Dolly!, honored in 1989. Robert Redford, her co-star in the classic romantic drama As we werehonored in 1996. Robert DeNiro, her Best Forgotten co-star Meet the Fockers and Little Fockersreceived the salute in 2020.
This year's SAG Awards aired live on Netflix starting at 8 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. Here is a full list of winners.
