Funny Girl

Saturday night, Sharon and I watched Funny Girl. Sharon recently read Barbara Streisand's biography My Name is Barbara. We have been working our way through a number of Streisand's films. We watched A Star is Born in December and The Way We Were in January.

Funny Girl is a 1968 American biographical-musical film directed by William Wyler and written by Isobel Lennart. It is adapted from her book for the stage musical of the same title. It is loosely based on the life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein.

The film stars Barbra Streisand (in her film debut reprising her Broadway role) as Brice and Omar Sharif as Arnstein. The supporting cast includes Kay Medford, Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Allen and Mae Questel.

Funny Girl was nominated for eight Oscars, including: Best Picture; Best Actress; Best Supporting Actress (Kay Medford); Best Cinematography; Best Film Editing; Best Score of a Musical Picture – Original or Adaptation; Best Song – Original for the Picture; and, Best Sound. Streisand won Best Actress, tying with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter).

Although it is almost sixty years old, the movie is very watchable. Barbara Streisand is very good. I enjoyed the movie and recommend it.