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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nActor and director Robert Redford remembered after his death<\/p>\n
From politicians to fellow actors, tributes are pouring in for the actor and Oscar-winning director Robert Redford.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Barbra Streisand couldn\u2019t imagine anyone but Robert Redford<\/a> in their 1973 romantic drama \u201cThe Way We Were<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n But in her 2023 memoir \u201cMy Name is Barbra,\u201d the stage and screen icon detailed the challenges she and director Sydney Pollack faced in landing the actor<\/a>, who died Sept. 16<\/a> at 89<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although many people first noticed Redford in 1967\u2019s \u201cBarefoot in the Park,\u201d \u201cit was a light comedy and he was perfectly passable,\u201d Streisand writes. \u201cIt was only when I watched him in \u2018This Property Is Condemned,\u2019 which Sydney directed, that I saw there was a lot going on behind those crystal blue eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n Streisand was \u201cdrawn to him not because of his appearance \u2026 guys with blond hair and blue eyes were never my type,\u201d she writes. \u201cI did think he was very handsome \u2026 a wonderful jawline \u2026 great teeth. But what intrigued me most about Bob was his complexity. You never quite know what he\u2019s thinking, and that makes him fascinating to watch on screen.<\/p>\n \u201cLike the greatest movie stars, Bob understands the power of restraint. You\u2019re never going to get it all \u2026 and that\u2019s the mystery \u2026 that\u2019s what makes you want to keep looking at him.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cFunny Girl\u201d actress writes that Redford was the \u201crare combination\u201d of \u201can intellectual cowboy\u201d and \u201ca charismatic star who is also one of the finest actors of his generation. But like my husband (James Brolin), he\u2019s almost apologetic about his looks, and I liked that about him.\u201d<\/p>\n Initially, Redford turned the movie down. He was concerned that Arthur Laurents\u2019 script was too focused on Streisand\u2019s character, Katie, and that her love interest, Hubbell, was underdeveloped.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Bob\u2019s opinion, he was \u2018shallow and one-dimensional,\u2019 \u201d Streisand writes. \u201cI wanted to make Bob happy, so I told Sydney, \u2018Give him anything he wants. Write more scenes to strengthen his character. Make it equal.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But even with a punched-up script, Redford still said no. Producer Ray Stark then told Streisand that they should move on and cast her \u201cWhat\u2019s Up, Doc?\u201d co-star Ryan O\u2019Neal as Hubbell instead. But Streisand\u2019s persistence eventually paid off, and while filming 1972\u2019s \u201cUp the Sandbox\u201d in Africa, she received a telegram that Redford had accepted the role.<\/p>\n \u201cBob\u2019s reluctance had a big influence on the script and ultimately resulted in a richer, more interesting character,\u201d Streisand says in her memoir.<\/p>\n Streisand writes that it was \u201cgreat fun\u201d working with Redford, saying they had \u201ca real rapport.\u201d She describes him as an attentive listener who loved to tease her and inspired her to learn how to ski. He was also \u201ckind of a loner,\u201d she says, and they purposefully didn\u2019t spend much time together at the start of filming so they could find their chemistry in character as Katie and Hubbell.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBob and I were genuinely curious about each other, and I believe that\u2019s what comes across on screen,\u201d Streisand writes. \u201cOnce he asked me about Brooklyn. What was it like growing up there? I guess he thought I was kind of exotic, but to me, he was the exotic one, growing up in California. Did he surf? Fish? Swim in the ocean after eating?\u201d<\/p>\n Streisand was ultimately \u201cvery disappointed\u201d that Redford didn\u2019t receive a best actor Oscar nomination for \u201cThe Way We Were,\u201d although he was nominated for \u201cThe Sting\u201d that same year. She was nominated for best actress, and the drama\u2019s memorable title ballad won best original song. Much to Streisand\u2019s surprise, Redford later revealed in a 2010 interview with Oprah Winfrey that he didn\u2019t want Streisand to sing at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe he didn\u2019t realize how seamlessly Sydney and (songwriter Marvin Hamlisch) would integrate the song into the movie, to the extent that they\u2019re irrevocably linked to this day,\u201d Streisand writes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Years after the film\u2019s release, Streisand called up Redford about his close friend Pollack, who had since dubbed \u201cThe Way We Were\u201d a \u201cseverely flawed\u201d movie that \u201cnobody had faith in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBob was wonderful \u2026 open and thoughtful and engaging, as always,\u201d Streisand writes. \u201cWe talked for over an hour about everything, from working together on the film to politics and art.\u201d<\/p>\n As they were hanging up, \u201che said, \u2018I gotta go, Babs. I love you dearly, and I always will.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.usatoday.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Actor and director Robert Redford remembered after his death From politicians to fellow actors, tributes are pouring in for the actor and Oscar-winning director Robert Redford. Barbra Streisand couldn\u2019t imagine anyone but Robert Redford in their 1973 romantic drama \u201cThe Way We Were.\u201d But in her 2023 memoir \u201cMy Name is Barbra,\u201d the stage and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2027775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[39915,22220,373603,328676,373605,373607,21751,239390,22367,22062,305282,358175,25601,6297,21741,21993,21739,298114,21912,21738,239343,239347,23759,373606,373436,354059,333528,373604,239344],"class_list":["post-2027774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-affiliate","tag-arts","tag-barbra","tag-barbra-streisand","tag-biographies","tag-biographies-u0026-quotations","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrities-u0026-entertainment-news","tag-celebrity","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-classic","tag-classic-films","tag-deaths","tag-eamotion","tag-entertainment","tag-films","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-news","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-positive","tag-quotations","tag-redford","tag-robert","tag-robert-redford","tag-streisand","tag-u0026"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Barbra-Streisand-describes-Robert-Redford-as-a-rare-combination.JPG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2027774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2027775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2027774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2027774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2027774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}