Barbra Streisand honors Robert Redford at 2026 Academy Awards

Barbra Streisand paid a heartfelt tribute to her late co-star, Robert Redford, at the 2026 Academy Awards on Sunday night.

During the ceremony held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, the legendary actress-singer took to the stage amid the In Memoriam segment to remember Redford.

The Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid actor died at the age of 89 in September 2025.

To begin, Streisand recalled how Redford initially rejected the role of Hubbell Gardiner in their 1973 film The Way We Were because he didn't believe the character had enough depth.

"After I read the first script for The Way We Were, I could only imagine one man in the role of Hubbell, and that was Robert Redford," she said. "But he turned it down because he said the character had no backbone. He doesn't stand for anything. And he was right. So many drafts later, Bob finally agreed to do it."

Streisand went on to describe Redford as a "brilliant, subtle" actor.

"Now, Bob had real backbone, on and off the screen. He spoke up to defend freedom of the press, protect the environment and encouraged new voices at his Sundance Institute, some of whom are up for Oscars tonight, which is so great. He was thoughtful and bold. I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail and won the Academy Award for Best Director, and I miss him now more than ever, even though he loved teasing me," the 83-year-old continued.

Elsewhere in her speech, the Evergreen hitmaker recounted how Redford even had a nickname for her.

"He called me Babs, and I'd say, 'Bob, come on, do I look like a Babs?' I'm not a Babs, you know? But the way he said it made me laugh. And many years later, we were chatting on the phone about the usual - politics, art, (Italian artist Amedeo) Modigliani, our favourite - and as we were hanging up, he said, 'Babs, I love you dearly, and I always will.' And in the last note I ever wrote to Bob, I ended it with, 'I love you too.' And I signed it: 'Babs.'"

And to conclude, Streisand performed part of her 1973 single, The Way We Were.

The entertainer last sang the track in public at the 2013 Academy Awards in honour of composer Marvin Hamlisch.