Barbra Streisand performed for the first time in seven years at the Oscars 2026.
The Gist
She sang the title song from her 1973 film The Way We Were during the In Memoriam section.
The song was a tribute to the late Robert Redford, who starred with her in the film.
Barbra Streisandjust made an emotional, long-awaited return to the stage at theOscars 2026. The actress and singer, who last performed in 2019, appeared during the In Memoriam section of the March 15 ceremony to give a moving tribute to her late co-star, Robert Redford, who died last year.
"After I read the first script ofThe Way We Were, I could only imagine one man in the role and that was Robert Redford," Streisand said as she took to the stage. "But he turned it down because he said the character had no backbone. He doesn't stand for anything, and he was right. So many drafts later, Bob finally agreed to do it."
She added that Redford "had real backbone on and off the screen" and was "thoughtful and bold."
"I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail, and won the Academy Award for best director, and I miss him now more than ever, even though he loved teasing me," she said.
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Streisand previously sang the same song during the In Memoriam segment of the Oscars in 2013 while honoring the film's composer Marvin Hamlisch. Streisand did her last full tour in 2017 and, in 2019, performing as a headliner at both London's Hyde Park and New York City's Madison Square Garden.
Streisand and Redford played an ill-fated couple inThe Way We Were—Streisand stepped into the shoes of political activist Katie, while Redford played Hubbell, a man with fewer political ambitions and convictions.
Redford died last September at the age of 89.
"Every day on the set ofThe Way We Werewas exciting, intense and pure joy," wrote Streisand in anInstagramtribute at the time. "We were such opposites: he was from the world of horses; I was allergic to them! Yet, we kept trying to find out more about each other, just like the characters in the movie."
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