Barbra Streisand is reminiscencing about the time she and Robert Redford shared the screen. At the 98th annual Academy Awards on March 15, the legendary singer-actress-filmmaker, now 83, paid a poignant tribute to the late Redford with a stirring performance of "The Way We Were," her song from their 1973 romance drama of the same name. Redford, who passed away on Sept. 16, 2025 at the age of 89, was among the many late Hollywood heavyweights celebrated at the Conan O’Brien-hosted ceremony.
To honor her dear friend, Streisand delivered a rare performance of the song—over a decade after she last sang it at the 85th Annual Academy Awards in 2013, when she performed it in tribute to composer Marvin Hamlisch. Before taking to the stage, Streisand recalled the "first script" she ever read for The Way We Were and how she could "only imagine" one man in the role of Hubbell Gardiner: Redford. "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," she recalled. "He was a brilliant, subtle actor. And we had a wonderful time playing off each other because we never quite knew what the other one was going to do in the scene."
Streisand added that she was "thrilled" their film is now considered a classic love story. Redford, she said, had a "real backbone" both on screen and off, given his advocacy for free speech and encouragement of other creatives. "He was thoughtful and bold," she said. "I called him an intellectual cowboy, who blazed his own trail... I miss him now more than ever, even though he loved teasing me. He called me 'Babs' and I said, 'Bob, do I look like a Babs? I'm not a Babs, you know?'. But the way he said it made me laugh."
Streisand went on to share that years later, they were "chatting on the phone" when he told her "Babs, I love you dearly and I always will" before they hung up. "And in the last note I ever wrote to Bob, I ended it with 'I love you, too.' And I signed it 'Babs'," she said.
In The Way We Were, directed by Sydney Pollack, Redford and Streisand played unlikely lovers. The movie became a critical and commercial hit, earning a Golden Globe and two Grammys. Nominated for six Academy Awards, it won Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song for Streisand’s title track.
"Every day on the set of The Way We Were was exciting, intense and pure joy," Streisand recalled in an Instagram post on the day her costar died. "We were such opposites: he was from the world of horses; I was allergic to them! Yes, we kept trying to find out more about each other, just like the characters in the movie," she added. "Bob was charismatic, intelligent, intense, always interesting—and one of the finest actors ever."
Redford, known for his roles in films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Out of Africa, was a four-time Oscar nominee and won the Best Director prize for his 1980 drama Ordinary People. The Sundance Institute founder also earned an Academy Honorary Award in 2002. Meanwhile, Streisand has five nominations and two wins from the Academy, for Best Actress in 1968's Funny Girl and Best Original Song in 1976's A Star Is Born.
This year's Oscars In Memoriam segment included dearly departed stars Diane Keaton, Rob Reiner, and Catherine O'Hara, among others. For more coverage of the 98th Academy Awards, airing live on ABC and Hulu on March 15, visit PEOPLE's website.
