barbra streisand oscars took center stage at the 98th Academy Awards in Los Angeles as Barbra Streisand returned to honor her late friend and co-star Robert Redford. The actor and singer, 83, performed a portion of the title song from The Way We Were during the ceremony’s In Memoriam segment. The tribute came after Redford’s death in September 2025, at age 89, marking a highly personal moment tied to their shared 1973 film.
What happened on the Oscars stage in Los Angeles
Streisand addressed the audience before singing, recalling the respect and affection she said defined her relationship with Redford. In one line shared from her introduction, she said, “In the last note I ever wrote to Bob, I ended it with: I love you, too, ” before delivering part of “The Way We Were. ”
The performance linked directly back to their 1973 romantic drama The Way We Were, directed by Sydney Pollack. Streisand’s appearance also carried a sense of continuity with her previous Oscars performance: her most recent time on the Oscars stage was 13 years earlier, in 2013, when she sang the same song as a tribute to its late composer, Marvin Hamlisch, during In Memoriam.
Within the night’s larger memorial segment, the tribute positioned Redford as a central figure being remembered for his work across acting and filmmaking, with Streisand delivering one of the ceremony’s most recognizable musical moments.
Barbra Streisand Oscars moment spotlighted Redford’s honors and legacy
Redford’s awards history was a key part of the tribute framing. He won an Oscar for his directorial debut Ordinary People and also received an honorary Academy Award. Streisand presented that honorary Oscar to Redford in 2002, using the moment to describe him as “very smart, ” “very private, ” and “self-assured, but shy, ” while praising his work as “skillfully subtle, restrained, and yet deeply emotional. ”
In that 2002 presentation, she also highlighted Redford’s wider impact, including his establishment of the Sundance Institute in 1981, describing it as a platform that helped new artists develop and helped introduce bold independent filmmakers to audiences.
Redford’s career was also defined by major screen credits including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, and All the President’s Men. In Los Angeles, the tribute’s emotional power came from the way it fused those professional milestones with a deeply personal remembrance led by the person most identified with one of his most famous films.
Immediate reactions and Streisand’s personal words
Streisand has previously spoken publicly about her experience working with Redford on The Way We Were. In a message she posted after his death, she wrote: “Every day on the set of The Way We Were was exciting, intense and pure joy. ” She added, “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. ”
She continued with a direct assessment of his presence and talent: “Bob was charismatic, intelligent, intense, always interesting— and one of the finest actors ever. ” She also recalled a later meeting, writing that when Redford came to lunch they discussed art and agreed to send each other their first drawings, calling him “one of a kind. ”
Those remarks formed the emotional backbone of the barbra streisand oscars tribute: a performance rooted in shared history, and in language Streisand herself has used to describe both their on-screen partnership and her off-screen affection for Redford.
Quick context and what’s next
Streisand and Redford co-starred in 1973’s The Way We Were, and the film’s title song won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards. Redford died in September 2025, prompting renewed public remembrance of his work and long-standing influence.
With the In Memoriam segment now concluded, the focus will remain on how the Academy continues to commemorate foundational figures in film. For many watching, the night’s defining takeaway was the intensity and restraint of barbra streisand oscars—a brief performance that carried decades of shared history into one of the ceremony’s most solemn moments.
