Barbra Streisand made a surprise appearance at Academy Awards on Sunday night to honor the memory of her late co-star and friend, Robert Redford.
The stage and screen legend sang a portion of “The Way We Were,” the Oscar-winning ballad from the 1973 film of the same name, during the night’s “In Memoriam” segment. The moment was a bittersweet tribute to Redford, who died in September of last year at age 89.
In her introductory remarks, Streisand drew parallels between “The Way We Were,” which she described as taking place during a “dark time in our history,” and the present day while praising Redford’s real-life political activism.
“He spoke up to defend freedom of the press, protect the environment and encourage new voices at his Sundance Institute, some of whom are up for Oscars tonight,” she said. “He was thoughtful and bold. I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail ... I miss him now more than ever.”
While it had been rumored for weeks, Streisand’s tribute was not publicly announced before Sunday’s ceremony. The 83-year-old last appeared at the Oscars in 2019, when she introduced Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman,” one of the year’s Best Picture nominees, and snapped a selfie with “Can You Forgive Me?” actor Richard E. Grant, who famously wrote her a fan letter at age 14.
