Trivia

She and Shirley MacLaine celebrate their joint birthday together every year.

One of the elite actors who have nabbed an Oscar for their first film role.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on December 17, 1976.

She was the first woman to ever win a Golden Globe Award as Best Director. As of 2013, she still remains as sole winner.

First woman since the silent era to direct, produce, write and star in a feature film; she also sings (Yentl (1983)).

Only artist to receive Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe, CableACE and Peabody awards.

Despite extreme peer pressure, has always refused to get a nose job.

Has had the same assistant--a woman called Renata--for 37 years.

The theatre dressing room scene in Funny Lady (1975) in which James Caan and Barbra toss powder in each other's faces turned into a surprise for Barbra as she only expected a light dusting but James, conspiring with director Herbert Ross heaped a powder storm on her with dramatic and humorous effect. It's one of her personal favourites.

When she and Neil Diamond had a smash hit in 1978 with "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", it was not the first time that the Brooklyn-born superstars had sung together. While students at New York City's Erasmus High School, they both sang in the school choir.

Only person to achieve Billboard #1 albums in each of the past six decades. 1964 "People", 1974 "The Way We Were", 1976 "Greatest Hits Vol. 2", 1978 "A Star Is Born", 1980 "Guilty", 1985 "The Broadway Album", 1993 "Back to Broadway", 1997 "Higher Ground", 2009 "Love is the Answer", 2014 "Partners".

During the filming of Hello, Dolly! (1969), she and co-star Walter Matthau fought bitterly. He disliked her so intensely that he refused to be around her except when required to do so by the script. He is famously quoted as telling her that she "had no more talent than a butterfly's fart". Interestingly, he is clearly seen in the audience at her One Voice (1986) concert at her Malibu ranch, where invitation-only guests paid $5,000 per couple to help establish the Barbra Streisand Foundation, which supports numerous charitable organizations. Apparently, he did not hold grudges.

Female artist with most albums sold in the United States.

Is a close friend and Malibu (L.A.) neighbor of Irish actor Pierce Brosnan.

Both of her husbands, Elliott Gould and James Brolin, starred in Capricorn One (1977).

Only Oscar recipient for both acting and songwriting.

Lost the 1964 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical (nominated for "Funny Girl") to Carol Channing, who won for "Hello, Dolly"--a role Streisand played in the movie version (Hello, Dolly! (1969)).

Her favorite modern actress is Meryl Streep.

Is one of only five actors/actresses to have both a #1 single and an Oscar for best actor/actress. The others are Frank Sinatra (Best Supporting Actor), Jamie Foxx, Cher and Bing Crosby.

Highest grossing single concert, with $14,694,750, MGM Grand Garden Arena, December 31, 1999.

Is one of the only 12 people who are an EGOT--one who has at least one of all of the four major entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. The other ones in chronological order are Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols and Whoopi Goldberg. However, Barbra won a Special Tony Award, not a competitive one, and Minnelli won a Special Grammy.

At the Golden Globe Awards ceremony in 2018, she slammed the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for not recognizing the work of female directors. Streisand won one of the prestigious gongs for Yentl (1983) in 1984, but while presenting at this year's ceremony, she pointed out that no other woman has won in the Best Director category before or since.

Is close friends with Dustin Hoffman and Dick Van Dyke.

While a struggling artist in the early 1960s, she lived at 1157 Third Avenue in Manhattan over Oscar's Salt of the Sea Restaurant. She shared the tiny $62-per-month apartment with Elliott Gould, who would later become her husband.

Named the best-selling female singer of the 20th century. She has sold more than 68 million records, with 47 Gold, 28 Platinum and 13 Multi-Platinum.

Had her late dog Sammie cloned. (2018)

Big Business (1988) was originally written for herself and Goldie Hawn. When they both turned it down, the project became a vehicle for Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin.

3 December 2003 - Her invasion-of-privacy suit over aerial photos taken of her Malibu home and shown on a web site dedicated to the California coastline was thrown out of court by a California judge. She claimed it would encourage stalkers.

Artist with Grammy Award nominations in the most categories -- 9.

Prefers to be filmed from the left.

She has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant": Funny Girl (1968).

Is capable of ordering a complete meal in Chinese. She acquired this talent while working as a cashier in a Chinese restaurant.

At Erasmus High School, she said she had an unrequited crush on a schoolmate who also would achieve international renown--chess genius Bobby Fischer.

In a controversial decision, she was allowed to become a voting member of the Academy before her first film, Funny Girl (1968), even being released and won the Oscar in a tie with Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter (1968) a few months later.

Mother, with Elliott Gould, of actor Jason Gould.

Claims she hasn't smoked a cigarette since the age of thirteen. Didn't inhale when she had to pretend smoke in a movie, such as Funny Girl (1968) or The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996).

Ex-stepmother-in-law of Diane Lane.

In 2006, she donated $11,750,000 to the Barbra Streisand Foundation, numerous civil liberties, environmental and civil rights organizations "dedicated to democratic values".

Solo artist with longest time span between first #1 and latest #1 albums (45 years between "People" and "Love is the Answer").

Her paternal grandparents, Isaac Streisand and Anna Kesten, were Austrian Jewish immigrants (from Galicia). Her maternal grandparents, Louis Rosen and Ida Friedland, were Russian Jews.

Was once a switchboard operator.

Discovered that she was pregnant with her son Jason Gould when she was starring in the London production of "Funny Girl".

Was the first choice for Sally Bowles in Cabaret (1972), which she turned down because she wanted to move away from musicals. As a result, the role was given to second choice Liza Minnelli, who went on to win an Academy Award for her performance.

Second most gold album certifications (47) {#1: Elvis Presley}.

Nick Nolte claims to have rejected her advances, and that she even asked him to move in with her, per Nolte's memoir "Rebel: My Life Outside the Lines" (2018).

According to biographer Christopher Andersen, Streisand was banned from the White House by first lady Hillary Clinton after she discovered the superstar had stayed the night in March 1993 while she was out of town, visiting her father on his deathbed in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Third most top 40 albums (45) {#1: Frank Sinatra}.

Has dated men ranging from 23 years older (former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau) to 28 years younger (tennis champion Andre Agassi). She had live-in relationships with hairdresser turned producer Jon Peters and Baskin-Robbins ice cream heir Richard Baskin. Other notable ex-paramours reportedly include Arnon Milchan, Neil Wolfe, Sam Elliott, Barry Gibb, Barry Dennen, Steve McQueen, Tom Smothers, Richard Burton, Gary Busey, Sydney Chaplin, George Lazenby, Anthony Newley, Omar Sharif, Tom Waits, Warren Beatty, Graham Nash, Ryan O'Neal, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Gere, Don Johnson, Clint Eastwood, James Newton Howard, Liam Neeson, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Peter Weller, Jon Voight, King Charles III, Dodi Fayed and Peter Jennings. Among her lesser-known loves are knowledge management guru Larry Prusak (in high school), Veronica Lake's son Anthony Michael DeToth and businessman Richard Cohen, who was briefly involved with Barbra after his divorce from Tina Sinatra.

While attending the funeral for President Bill Clinton's mother, she heard a church choir sing a song titled "On Holy Ground". The song was written by the choir director, Geron Davis. Upon hearing it, she was so moved that she wanted to record it. The song appeared on her album "Higher Ground".

Columbia Pictures wanted to cast Shirley MacLaine as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (1968). However, Ray Stark, who produced the Broadway show and was Brice's son-in-law, insisted on Streisand repeating her Broadway role. Several co-stars later publicly blasted Streisand and director William Wyler for much of their scenes being cut in favor of focusing almost entirely on Streisand. Columbia was considering Frank Sinatra for the role of Nicky Arnstein, which she vetoed because she didn't like him. The final musical number, "My Man", was filmed "live" to both maximize Streisand's dramatic rendition and because she hated the lip-syncing process. At the time of the film's release, she was also a voting member of AMPAS.