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Jane Fonda has said she wishes she could have fronted the tribute to Robert Redford at Sunday night’s Academy Awards, rather than Barbra Streisand.
Speaking on the red carpet at an Oscars afterparty, Fonda told a red carpet reporter: “I want to know how come Streisand was up there doing that for Redford?” The actor then playfully added that while Streisand “only made one movie with him, I made four … I have more to say.”
Streisand’s memories of her one-time co-star and longtime friend was one of three extended sections in the 2026 in memoriam segment of the ceremony, preceded by tributes to Rob Reiner and Diane Keaton.
The actors had worked together on the 1973 Sydney Pollack drama The Way We Were, the title track of which Streisand also sang from on stage. She recalled his initial reticence about taking the role and his professional and political conscientiousness.
“Bob had real backbone on and off the screen,” said Streisand, who also presented Redford with his honorary Oscar in 2002. “He spoke up to defend freedom of the press, protect the environment, and encourage new voices at his Sundance Institute.”
She then detailed their evolving relationship and recalled how the last time they had been in contact, the pair had told each other they loved one another.
Speaking after the ceremony about Redford, Fonda said she “was always in love with him. The most gorgeous human being and such great values. And he did a lot for movies, he really changed movies, lifted up independent movies.”
Now 88, Fonda worked with Redford, who died last October, four times, on 1966’s The Chase, Barefoot in the Park a year later, The Electric Horseman in 1979 and again for 2017’s Our Souls at Night. Posting on Instagram after his death Fonda wrote: “I can’t stop crying. He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way. He stood for an America we have to keep fighting for.”
As well as the extended tributes to Redford, Reiner and Keaton, the in memoriam section remembered stars including Robert Duvall and Terence Stamp. Brigitte Bardot and Bud Cort were among notable omissions.
