Jane Fonda shades Barbra Streisand doing Oscars tribute to Robert Redford instead of her: ‘I have more to say’
“She only made one movie with him, I made four.”
Jane Fonda is drawing attention after sharing her thoughts on a recent tribute moment at the Academy Awards. Her comments have quickly sparked conversation among fans and viewers alike.
The 98th Annual Academy Awards opted for a super-sized segment to honor the high-profile Hollywood stars who died in the past year. This meant extra time spent on some of the more heart-rending losses, including screen legend Robert Redford, who died in September at age 89.
For his special dedication, Redford’s The Way We Were costar Barbra Streisand took to the stage to offer an emotional — and musical — tribute. But if you ask Fonda, she should’ve been the one to honor Redford’s legendary career.
“I wanna know how come Streisand was up there doing that for Redford?” Fonda playfully lamented while chatting with ET after the awards show. “She only made one movie with him, I made four.”
She quipped, “I have more to say.”
Indeed, Fonda shared the screen with Redford across five decades of their respective careers, most notably in a string of movies released in the ’60s and ’70s. They starred together in 1966’s The Chase, 1967’s Barefoot in the Park, and 1979’s The Electric Horseman. Their friendship lasted decades and they eventually reunited for 2017’s Our Souls at Night.
Speaking to their time onscreen together, Fonda added, “I 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.”
Shortly after the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid star died in his Utah home on Sept. 16, Fonda told Entertainment Weekly in a statement that she couldn’t “stop crying” over the news.
“It hit me hard this morning when I read that Bob was gone,” she said, sharing that her frequent costar “meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way.”
She acknowledged that the longtime political and environmental activist left a lasting impact on both pop culture and society, noting, “He stood for an America we have to keep fighting for.”
As for Streisand, she similarly had kind words to share about Redford while honoring him at the Academy Awards. Reflecting on their dynamic — onscreen and off — the Funny Girl actress said, “I miss him now more than ever, even how he loved teasing me. He’d call me, ‘Babs.’ And I’d say, ‘Bob, you know, do I look like a Babs?’ But the way he said it made me laugh.”
She shared that years later, they chatted on the phone about politics and art before Redford signed off by saying, “‘Babs, I love you dearly, and I always will.'” She added, “And in the last note I ever wrote to Bob, I ended it with, “‘I love you, too, and I signed it ‘Babs.'”
She ended the tribute by singing a few lines from the emotional title track of their Oscar-winning film, The Way We Were.
This year’s Oscars In Memoriam segment included such Hollywood heavyweights as Rob Reiner, Catherine O’Hara, Diane Keaton, Val Kilmer, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Diane Ladd, and Robert Duvall.
Watch Fonda remember Redford in the clip above.
