Jane Fonda Clarifies Comments About Barbra Streisand's 2026 Oscars Tribute to Robert Redford

Tommy McArdle, Scott HuverFri, May 1, 2026 at 5:37 PM UTC

0

Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, Robert RedfordCredit: Amy Sussman/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty;Frank Micelotta/Disney/Getty; Dominique Charriau/WireImage -

Jane Fonda said at a Turner Classic Movies Film Festival event on Thursday, April 30 that she "thought it was fabulous" when Barbra Streisand performed a tribute to Robert Redford at the 2026 Oscars on March 15

Fonda previously suggested at a post-Oscars party in March that she should have performed the tribute; she said at the April 30 event that she was simply joking

Redford, who died in September 2025 at 88, made four movies with Fonda during his career

Jane Fonda is setting the record straight.

The 88-year-old screen legend recently clarified that she was simply trying to make a joke when she suggested that she — not Barbra Streisand — should have performed the 2026 Oscars' tribute to Robert Redford back in March.

Fonda appeared at the TCM Classic Film Festival's opening night screening of her and Redford's 1967 movie Barefoot in the Park in Hollywood, Calif. on Thursday, April 30, where she spoke about her friendship with the late Redford during a pre-screening panel interview with TCM host Ban Mankiewicz. (Redford died at 88 in September 2025.)

"Well, he's the only person I made four movies with and would have done a lot more if I had the chance. But I loved him and I deeply respect him. And they didn't ask me to do the Oscars," Fonda said, to laughs from the audience as she referenced her March 15 comment to Entertainment Tonight at an Academy Awards afterparty. At the time, Fonda wondered aloud "how come Streisand was up there doing that for Redford," citing that Streisand, 84, only made one movie with the late star.

"By the way, Barbra [Streisand] came on this Oscar thing to honor Bob and I was on the press line and I thought I was being funny. I said, 'Well, why did they ask her? I made four movies with him!' But actually, I thought it was fabulous that they had Barbra out there because that was such an iconic movie," Fonda added. "The song was so incredibly... Bob would have liked it."

Jane Fonda on March 15, 2026; Barbara Streisand on March 15, 2026Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty; Frank Micelotta/Disney via Getty

Streisand performed a song from her and Redford's 1973 movie The Way We Were during a performance as part of the Oscars' In Memoriam segment in March. "He was a brilliant, subtle actor," Streisand said of Redford during the ceremony. "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."

Advertisement

Redford and Fonda made four movies together, including 1966's The Chase, Barefoot in the Park, 1979's The Electric Horseman and 2017's Our Souls at Night.

Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in 2017.Credit: Stefania D'Alessandro/WireImage

While speaking with Mankiewicz on April 30, Fonda recalled that she and Redford met for the first time when they made The Chase. "We were both married. And I asked him, I said, 'Do you ever have affairs?' And he had this weird answer," she said. "He said, 'Well, if I was going to have an affair, it would be with somebody that was like a hooker.' "

— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Barbra Streisand at the 206 Oscars on March 15, 2026Credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty

Fonda also stated that she had "such a crush on [Redford], and it was painful," while describing her memories of filming sequences in Barefoot in the Park that feature her and Redford in bed together. "And then the last one we did together, we were in bed together all the time. But nothing [happened]," Fonda added, referencing Our Souls at Night.

When Mankiewicz asked Fonda what it was like to film a movie with Redford in their late '70s and early '80s, she said, "I knew I had grown up because when he would come two hours late, I would get angry," with a laugh.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”