“I thought it was fabulous that they had Barbra out there,” she said, “because that was such an iconic movie and the song was so incredibly beautiful.”
She added, “Bob would have liked it.”
Why Streisand was part of the tribute
Streisand, 84, appeared during the March 15 Oscars to honor Redford, her co-star in the 1973 romantic drama The Way We Were. The tribute included a performance of the film’s title song, one of Streisand’s signature screen moments.
During the broadcast, Streisand also shared a personal memory from one of her final conversations with Redford.
“I miss him now more than ever, even how he loved teasing me,” she said. “He'd call me, ‘Babs.’ And I'd say, ‘Bob, you know, do I look like a Babs?’ But the way he said it made me laugh.”
She continued, “Many years later, we were chatting on the phone about the usual, politics, art, Modigliani, our favorite. And as we were hanging up, he said, ‘Babs, I love you dearly, and I always will.’”
That exchange stayed with Streisand and shaped the final note she wrote to Redford.
“I ended it with, ‘I love you too,’ and I signed it ‘Babs,’” she said.
The Oscars ceremony also included In Memoriam tributes connected to Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner, as well as Catherine O’Hara and Diane Keaton.
The comment that sparked the chatter
After the Oscars, Fonda appeared to question why she had not been asked to speak about Redford, given their long working history together.
“I wanna know how come Streisand was up there doing that for Redford?” Fonda told Entertainment Tonight at the time.
She continued, “She only made one movie with him. I made four. I have more to say.”
Fonda and Redford shared the screen in four films across more than five decades:
- The Chase in 1966
- Barefoot in the Park in 1967
- The Electric Horseman in 1979
- Our Souls at Night in 2017
That résumé explains why the comment had some weight. Fonda and Redford were not just peers, they were recurring screen partners whose careers intersected from the 1960s into the streaming era.
Fonda’s bond with Redford was real
While Fonda has now cooled speculation about any tension with Streisand, she has been open about how deeply Redford’s death affected her.
“It hit me hard this morning when I read that Bob was gone,” Fonda said in a statement to E! News after his death. “I can’t stop crying. He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way.”
She also pointed to Redford’s public life beyond acting, including his long record of political and environmental activism.
“He stood for an America we have to keep fighting for,” Fonda said.
So, no grand Streisand-Fonda feud appears to be unfolding here. Just two Hollywood legends, one beloved co-star, and an awards-show tribute that carried decades of screen history with it.
