Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1520149
sagaftra.org | Spring 2024 | SAG-AFTRA 69 SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher: You're getting the SAG Life Achievement Award. Now, this is the highest honor that your union can give anyone. Congratulations on the award, because it's a big deal, and it's so well deserved. Barbra Streisand: Thank you. Fran: You've been a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and now SAG-AFTRA, since 1961. What is the single most valuable acting lesson that you've learned in your career? Barbra: A great actor has to rely on the truth. … The audience can feel that. They know when you're telling the truth. Like, I'm making a new record now — which I can't talk about — but I have my conductor that breathes with me. He sees me in my booth singing and he's out there with the orchestra, but he can tell, because I don't sing the song the same twice. Fran: Do you watch any of those singing competition shows on TV? The coaches, who are professional, very accomplished singers, are always trying to train these amateur performers to feel what they're saying. "Tell the story, don't just do acrobatics with your voice." Barbra: Exactly. Why do you go high sometimes? It's only because the character is feeling great love at that moment. That's why you go high. It's like, sometimes when I sing it … I'm not feeling so much love for this character, I may not go for that high note. You have to be in the moment. Fran: Have you ever, though, had to work with an actor that doesn't listen, but is just waiting to say his next line? Barbra: Yes, as a matter of fact, it's somebody I did a movie with, and I put something in that wasn't in the script, and the guy wouldn't look because it was his wrong side; something like that. That's not being in the moment. Fran: No, it's not organic. Barbra: I was doing a movie with Bob Redford, The Way We Were; we had to be very observant. Sometimes I smiled when I said something, sometimes he laughed. We both had to react in the moment. You have a preconception always about how you're going to play something, but then, life intrudes. And life is spectacular, right? Fran: I want to talk a little bit about Yentl because that was an unbelievable achievement on so many different levels. First of all, you wore so many hats in the movie. You got the Golden Globe for Best Director. Barbra: Which I was very shocked to get because I was up against great directors, I mean, really wonderful directors. Streisand on the set of her directorial debut, Yentl, 1983. She was the first woman to be a writer, director, producer and star of a major Hollywood film. W ith a decades-spanning career in music and film and a lifelong commitment to numerous philanthropic causes, Barbra Streisand is beloved by fans around the world. Among them is SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, The Nanny star whose character, Fran Fine, never missed a moment to fangirl over her favorite performer. In the days leading up to the 30th Annual SAG Awards ® , Streisand and Drescher sat down for an Actor to Actor interview, discussing Streisand's career on the stage, behind the camera and beyond. What follows is an edited version of their conversation. MGM/UA ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY/PHOTOFEST