Streisand / Television

Barbra Streisand co-wrote a song for the 1996 movie she directed and starred in — The Mirror Has Two Faces — and it was nominated for an Oscar.

When Streisand declined to sing “I Finally Found Someone” on the telecast, singer Natalie Cole was asked to sing it instead. But then Cole became sick at the last minute. Streisand offered to step in for Cole and sing the song herself, but the Oscar producers had already asked Celine Dion to perform it, and she had already been in rehearsal. (Dion was already booked on the show to sing “Because You Loved Me,” which was also nominated for Best Song). The show director Louis Horvitz told the press “Barbra called us after saying no several times, but the ship had sailed.”

Meanwhile, Streisand and her boyfriend James Brolin flew in from San Diego where he was filming his TV series Pensacola: Wings of Gold . 

Streisand told the press that Celine Dion will “be wonderful,” and that “She can have the butterflies, not me.” Brolin added: “She [Streisand] wrote it; let somebody else sing it.” Brolin added. “We really didn't plan on coming until the last minute—look, he's not even wearing a tux,” said Streisand, who was dressed in a metallic Donna Karan dress. Barbra said she came to “honor Betty Bacall [nominated] and the picture I made.”

When host Billy Crystal introduced Madonna — who was there to sing “You Must Love Me” (the new song for the Evita movie) — he took what appeared to be a swipe at Streisand. “Even though [Madonna] was not nominated and there was a lot of speculation that she was going to be,” he said, “she called the show because she wanted to sing and come here tonight. And I thought that was showing a great deal of class.” The Oscar director then cut to a shot of Streisand in the audience.

When it came time for “I Finally Found Someone,” Billy Crystal explained to the audience: “Graciously stepping in with just one day's notice to sing ‘I Finally Found Someone’ with brilliant trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, Miss Celine Dion!”

Singing from a stool, with the lyrics on a music stand in front of her, Dion did a wonderful job interpreting the song.

But Streisand was in the bathroom while Dion sang her song.

“Ms. Streisand definitely was looking forward to seeing and hearing Celine Dion, one of her favorite singers,” publicist Dick Guttman said Wednesday after the show aired. He explained Streisand “went to the ladies room and was very pained to find out when she returned that she had missed the song.”