Barbra Streisand pays tribute to Robert Redford at the Oscars | Oscars 2026
Barbra Streisand remembered her friend and former co-star Robert Redford at the 98th Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
After recalling the duo’s respect and love for each other, the 83-year-old actor and singer sang part of the title song from the 1973 romantic drama The Way We Were, directed by Sydney Pollack.
He said the film “also depicts a dark period in our history, the late ’40s and early ’50s, when people informed each other and were subject to oaths of loyalty.”
He praised Redford’s political courage, saying at the Sundance institute that he “speaks up to defend press freedom, protect the environment, and encourage new voices.”
“I called him an intellectual cowboy who made his own path,” he said.
She finished by saying that in the last note she wrote to Redford before singing the song, she told him she loved him.
Streisand’s last appearance on the Oscars stage was 13 years ago, when she performed the same song in tribute to the late composer Marvin Hamlisch as part of the In Memoriam portion of the ceremony.
Redford won an Oscar for his directorial debut, Ordinary People (1980), and received an honorary Academy Award presented to him by Streisand in 2002.
The filmmaker, who also founded the Sundance festival, died in September 2025 at the age of 89. Streisand paid tribute to him on Instagram, writing: “Every day on the set of The Way We Were was exciting, intense and pure joy. We were such opposites: he was from the world of horses; I was allergic to them! Yes, we tried to learn more about each other, just like the characters in the movie.”
“Bob was charismatic, smart, intense, always engaging and one of the best actors ever.”
Redford’s other notable credits include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, and All the President’s Men.
