Best Times Barbra Streisand Created History in Awards Shows…
The Life Achievement Award of the Screen Actors Guild adds to an already extensive list of honours. When Barbra Streisand took her first Oscar for Funny Girl in April 1969, she had one of the best opening lines ever for an Oscars acceptance speech. She stared at the golden monument and repeated her unforgettable phrase from the musical-turned-film, “Hello, gorgeous.”
Today’s announcement that Streisand will receive the life achievement award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Feb. 24 is just the latest affirmation of the performer’s talent and success.
Streisand is a GOAT, an icon and a legend. While she isn’t officially an EGOT – she has yet to win a Tony in competition – she has won just about every other award an entertainer can win.
She was nominated for a Tony for her first Broadway show, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, but lost to Phyllis Newman in Subways Are for Sleeping. Streisand won the other three EGOT awards with her first major projects. She won two Grammys for her first album, an Emmy for her first TV special and an Oscar for her first film.
Streisand, who recently talked to Billboard’s Joe Lynch about her long-awaited memoir My Name Is Barbra, set a high bar for all who followed. Many of today’s top stars seem well aware of that fact. Beyoncé said, “It’s an honor to sing for you, Miss Streisand,” after singing “The Way We Were” when Streisand received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2008. Ariana Grande said “I love you so much, thank you so much,” following a duet performance of “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)” at a Streisand concert in Chicago in 2019. Madonna did a playful “we’re not worthy” gesture of respect when Streisand surprised her, Mike Myers and Roseanne Barr at the end of a Saturday Night Live sketch in 1992.
