Jane Fonda Says Barbra Streisand Didn't Deserve to Do Robert Redford Oscars Tribute: 'She Did 1 Movie, I Did 4'
Jane Fonda Says Barbra Streisand Didn't Deserve to Do Robert Redford Oscars Tribute: 'She Did 1 Movie, I Did 4'
Jack SmartMon, March 16, 2026 at 5:37 PM UTC
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Jane Fonda; Barbra Streisand on March 15Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty; Frank Micelotta/Disney via Getty -
On Sunday’s Oscar night, Jane Fonda playfully questioned why Barbra Streisand was chosen to pay tribute to Robert Redford during the ceremony’s In Memoriam segment
While Streisand “only made one movie,” The Way We Were, with the late actor-filmmaker, Fonda “made four,” she quipped
Calling her longtime friend “the most gorgeous human being,” Fonda added that she “was always in love with” Redford
Jane Fonda is wishing she could have paid tribute to her dear, departed friend Robert Redford.
At the 98th annual Academy Awards on Sunday, Barbra Streisand took the stage as part of the ceremony’s In Memoriam segment to honor Redford, who died on Sept. 16, 2025 at age 89.
“I want to know how come Streisand was up there doing that for Redford?” Fonda, 88, quipped to Entertainment Tonight at an Oscar night party.
She playfully added that Streisand, 83, “only made one movie with him, I made four! I have more to say.”
Barbra Streisand at the 98th Academy Awards on March 15Credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty
With a laugh, Fonda said she “was always in love with him. The most gorgeous human being and such great values. And he did a lot for movies, he really changed movies, lifted up independent movies.”
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Streisand starred with Redford in the Sydney Pollack-directed 1973 romance drama The Way We Were. Onstage at the Conan O’Brien-hosted ceremony, she delivered a moving tribute to the actor-filmmaker, followed briefly by a rare live rendition of the hit song of the same name — over a decade since she last performed it at the Oscars for composer Marvin Hamlisch.
"He was a brilliant, subtle actor,” the Funny Girl Oscar winner said onstage of Redford. “And we had a wonderful time playing off each other because we never quite knew what the other one was going to do in the scene."
Fonda, on the other hand, starred with the late Redford in 1960’s The Tall Story, 1966’s The Chase, 1967’s Barefoot in the Park and 2017’s Our Souls at Night. In a statement shared on the day her friend died, the two-time Oscar-winning actress said, “It hit me hard this morning when I read that Bob was gone. I can’t stop crying. He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way. He stood for an America we have to keep fighting for."
Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in 2017Credit: Alessandra Benedetti - Corbis/Corbis via Getty
Speaking to ET, Fonda acknowledged that “we lost a lot of really talented people” in the last year. Asked about the ceremony’s Rachel McAdams-led tribute to Book Club costar Diane Keaton, Fonda said she hadn’t caught that moment, “but her passing hit me really hard.”
This year’s Oscars In Memoriam segment included such Hollywood heavyweights as Rob Reiner, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Catherine O'Hara, Val Kilmer, Robert Duvall and more.
See PEOPLE's full coverage of the 98th Academy Awards.
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