The Today Show 1975 Barbara Walters

Streisand / Television

The Today Show (1975)

Aired: February 21-22, 1975 on NBC
The Today Show logo from 1975
Barbara Walters interviews Barbra Streisand in 1975.
In a two-day interview, Streisand sat down with Barbara Walters — their first interview together! — to discuss a variety of topics, but mostly to promote Barbra's movie Funny Lady. Dressed casually in slacks and wearing her blond hair long and straight, Streisand was open and candid.

When Walters started by asking Streisand about her reputation for being difficult, Barbra said, “I'm amused by it. Also upset by it. It hurts me. I get shocked when I hear stories about myself, that I took a shoe off and threw it across the Beverly Hills Lounge or something. It's totally untrue. It's part of my image, somehow. And journalistically it's probably much more interesting than writing about this nice person, you know?”

Walters: Are you temperamental ? Are you difficult to work with?

Streisand: I would say no. Because I just do my work, meaning I ask questions. And I think maybe some people resent questions being asked. Or I also have definite opinions on the way I want to do things. Although I'm really very open to exploration. I love to explore, I love challenges.

Walters: Do you think that part of it is that if you do it, you're a witch, and if a man does it he has authority? That there's something about it being you, a woman?

Streisand: Yeah. Definitely. Because of the whole male ego, you see, the distortion of most men's ego. I don't think they can cope with a woman who has opinions, a woman who feels strongly about something. It's some kind of threat to their own ego. I have been fascinated by it, you know, but I think it definitely exists. A kind of power play.

Walters: Some day I'll tell you my problems.

Streisand: Well, I can imagine you probably have the same problems.

Next, the two women discussed Streisand's new film, Funny Lady. “I hope [the audience] don't come in expecting it to be Funny Girl because it's not. It's a very interesting story about her and Billy Rose, and this competitive relationship. It's very funny and very charming. I don't try to be light. I don't know if she's likable, this character.”

When asked about whether she will sing in concert more, Streisand apologetically said, “I really don't enjoy personal appearances. They frighten me. They scare me.”

In the second part of the Today Show interview, which aired on February 22, 1975, Barbara Walters asked Streisand about Jon Peters—the man who owned a successful chain of hair salons, who styled Streisand's wig in For Pete's Sak e, and who was going to direct Streisand in a film remake of A Star is Born. [Frank Pierson ended up helming the film.] Streisand responded to the Jon Peters controversy by saying, “People get angry at things that have not been done before. It's not that they're wrong, it's just that they're different.”


Walters: Is he a Svengali? Has he taken over your life?


Streisand: That's absurd. I mean, I don't know who's who's Svengali? Maybe I'm his. We are two people who are equals. He is the strongest person I've ever met. I don't mean physically, I mean in his presence, in his sense of self ... I am a professional, I have integrity as an artist. Do people think I would risk all that?


They also discussed how differently Streisand was raising her son, Jason, after meeting Peters. Streisand stressed that Jason lived a “real” life by going, for example, to a public beach and public school.


Walters wanted to know what Streisand could share with her fans. “See, I just don't like them to go to the movies, you know, and be influenced by what they read and think, ‘Gee, I really like her, but I hear she's terrible,’” Streisand stated. “I would just like people not to be confused, to trust their instincts ... they shouldn't be mislead by what they read.”

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End / The Today Show 1975 Interview
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