Funny Lady
Encyclopedia
Funny Lady is a 1975 film starring Barbra Streisand
, James Caan
, Omar Sharif
, Roddy McDowall
, and Ben Vereen
.
A sequel to the 1968 film Funny Girl
, it is a highly fictionalized account of the later life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice
and her marriage to songwriter
and empresario Billy Rose
. The screenplay was by Jay Presson Allen
and Arnold Schulman
, based on a story by Schulman. The primary score was by John Kander
and Fred Ebb
, whose first success as a team had been the song "My Coloring Book," which had been written for Kaye Ballard
, but was recorded by Streisand in 1962, who popularized it. It was directed by Herbert Ross
.
(Fanny Brice's one-time son-in-law), Streisand balked at doing the project. She told Stark "that it would take litigation to make her do a sequel." However, Streisand liked the script, which showed Fanny to be "...tougher, more acerbic, more mature...", and she agreed to do the film.
The first actor to read for the role of Billy Rose was Robert Blake
. Other actors were mentioned, including Al Pacino
and Robert De Niro
, but ultimately James Caan
was chosen. Streisand explained: "It comes down to whom the audience wants me to kiss. Robert Blake, no. James Caan, yes."
Stark, unhappy with the scenes shot by the original cinematographer
, lured an ailing James Wong Howe
out of retirement to complete the film. It proved to be his final project, and it earned him an Academy Award nomination.
Studio heads forced Ross to trim the film to a manageable 136 minutes prior to its release. Much of Vereen's performance ended up on the cutting room floor, together with a recreation of Brice's "Baby Snooks" radio show and dramatic scenes involving her and her daughter.
In addition to Howe, Oscar nominations went to Ray Aghayan
and Bob Mackie
for Best Costume Design, John Kander and Fred Ebb for Best Original Song ("How Lucky Can You Get?"), Peter Matz
for Best Scoring of an Original Song Score and/or Adaptation, and the sound crew. Streisand, Caan, and Vereen all received Golden Globe Award
nominations, as did Kander and Ebb and the film itself, but it was shut out of any wins in both competitions.
:
It was also nominated for six Golden Globe awards including Best Picture Musical/Comedy, Best Actress for Barbra Streisand
, and Best Actor
for James Caan
.
at number 6 and was certified gold.
All songs by Kander and Ebb, unless otherwise noted
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, James Caan
James Caan
James Caan is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles in The Godfather, Thief, Misery, A Bridge Too Far, Brian's Song, Rollerball, Kiss Me Goodbye, Elf, and El Dorado...
, Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...
, Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
, and Ben Vereen
Ben Vereen
Ben Vereen is an American actor, dancer, and singer who has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre shows. Vereen graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.- Early years :...
.
A sequel to the 1968 film Funny Girl
Funny Girl (film)
Funny Girl is a 1968 romantic musical film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Isobel Lennart was adapted from her book for the stage musical of the same title...
, it is a highly fictionalized account of the later life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice
Fanny Brice
Fanny Brice was a popular and influential American illustrated song "model," comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances and is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show...
and her marriage to songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and empresario Billy Rose
Billy Rose
William "Billy" Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. He is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" , "It Happened in Monterey" and "It's Only a Paper Moon"...
. The screenplay was by Jay Presson Allen
Jay Presson Allen
Jay Presson Allen was an American screenwriter, playwright, stage director, television producer and novelist. Known for her withering wit and sometimes-off-color wisecracks, she was one of the few women making a living as a screenwriter at a time when women were a rarity in the profession...
and Arnold Schulman
Arnold Schulman
Arnold Schulman is an American playwright, screenwriter, producer, a songwriter and novelist. He was a stage actor long associated with the American Theatre Wing and the Actors Studio....
, based on a story by Schulman. The primary score was by John Kander
John Kander
John Harold Kander is the American composer of a number of musicals as part of the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb.-Life and career:Kander was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Bernice and Harold S. Kander...
and Fred Ebb
Fred Ebb
Fred Ebb was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera....
, whose first success as a team had been the song "My Coloring Book," which had been written for Kaye Ballard
Kaye Ballard
Kaye Ballard is an American musical theatre and television actress, comedienne, and singer.-Life and career:Ballard was born as Catherine Gloria Balotta in Cleveland, Ohio, to an Italian American family, the daughter of Lena and Vincent James Balotta.Ballard established herself as a musical...
, but was recorded by Streisand in 1962, who popularized it. It was directed by Herbert Ross
Herbert Ross
Herbert Ross was an American film director, producer, choreographer and actor.-Early life and career:Born Herbert David Ross in Brooklyn, New York, he made his stage debut as Third Witch with a touring company of Macbeth in 1942...
.
Cast
- Barbra StreisandBarbra StreisandBarbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
as Fanny BriceFanny BriceFanny Brice was a popular and influential American illustrated song "model," comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances and is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show... - James CaanJames CaanJames Caan is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles in The Godfather, Thief, Misery, A Bridge Too Far, Brian's Song, Rollerball, Kiss Me Goodbye, Elf, and El Dorado...
as Billy RoseBilly RoseWilliam "Billy" Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. He is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" , "It Happened in Monterey" and "It's Only a Paper Moon"... - Omar SharifOmar SharifOmar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...
as Nick ArnsteinNicky ArnsteinJulius W. "Nicky" Arnstein was an American businessman, professional gambler, and con artist. Among his aliases were "Nick Arnold," "Nicholas Arnold," "Julius Arnold," "Wallace Ames," "John Adams," and "J... - Roddy McDowallRoddy McDowallRoderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
as Bobby Moore - Ben VereenBen VereenBen Vereen is an American actor, dancer, and singer who has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre shows. Vereen graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.- Early years :...
as Bert Robbins
Production
Although she was contractually bound to make one more film for producer Ray StarkRay Stark
Ray Stark was an American film producer and powerbroker known for his Machiavellian ways.While putting together the Broadway musical Funny Girl - the highly fictionalized account of the life of his mother-in-law, Fanny Brice - its producer David Merrick took Stark and his wife to see an unknown...
(Fanny Brice's one-time son-in-law), Streisand balked at doing the project. She told Stark "that it would take litigation to make her do a sequel." However, Streisand liked the script, which showed Fanny to be "...tougher, more acerbic, more mature...", and she agreed to do the film.
The first actor to read for the role of Billy Rose was Robert Blake
Robert Blake (actor)
Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
. Other actors were mentioned, including Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
and Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
, but ultimately James Caan
James Caan
James Caan is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles in The Godfather, Thief, Misery, A Bridge Too Far, Brian's Song, Rollerball, Kiss Me Goodbye, Elf, and El Dorado...
was chosen. Streisand explained: "It comes down to whom the audience wants me to kiss. Robert Blake, no. James Caan, yes."
Stark, unhappy with the scenes shot by the original cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
, lured an ailing James Wong Howe
James Wong Howe
James Wong Howe, A.S.C. was a Chinese American cinematographer who worked on over 130 films...
out of retirement to complete the film. It proved to be his final project, and it earned him an Academy Award nomination.
Studio heads forced Ross to trim the film to a manageable 136 minutes prior to its release. Much of Vereen's performance ended up on the cutting room floor, together with a recreation of Brice's "Baby Snooks" radio show and dramatic scenes involving her and her daughter.
In addition to Howe, Oscar nominations went to Ray Aghayan
Ray Aghayan
Gorgen Ray Aghayan was a costume designer in the United States film industry. He won an Emmy Award in 1967 with his partner Bob Mackie for his work in Alice Through the Looking Glass...
and Bob Mackie
Bob Mackie
Robert Gordon Mackie is an American fashion designer, best known for his costuming for entertainment icons such as Judy Garland, Cher, Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli, Tina Turner, and Mitzi Gaynor...
for Best Costume Design, John Kander and Fred Ebb for Best Original Song ("How Lucky Can You Get?"), Peter Matz
Peter Matz
Peter Matz was an award winning American musician, composer, arranger and conductor. His musical career in film, theater, television and studio recording spanned fifty years, and he worked with a number of prominent artists, including Marlene Dietrich, Noël Coward and Barbra Streisand...
for Best Scoring of an Original Song Score and/or Adaptation, and the sound crew. Streisand, Caan, and Vereen all received Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
nominations, as did Kander and Ebb and the film itself, but it was shut out of any wins in both competitions.
Box office
The film grossed $39,000,000 at the U.S. box office, with a further $19,313,000 in Rentals giving a gross of $58,313,000. However, the film received mixed reviews and was only a moderate commercial success.Awards
The film was nominated for five Academy AwardsAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
:
- Academy Award for Cinematography
- Academy Award for Costume Design
- Academy Award for Music (Scoring: Original Song Score and Adaptation)
- Academy Award for Music (Original Song)
- Academy Award for Best Sound (Richard PortmanRichard PortmanRichard Portman is an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound and has been nominated for ten more in the same category...
, Don MacDougallDon MacDougallDon MacDougall is an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound and was nominated for four more in the same category. He worked on over 130 films between 1974 and 1999.-Selected filmography:...
, Curly ThirlwellCurly ThirlwellCurly Thirlwell is an American sound engineer. He has been nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Sound.-External links:...
, Jack SolomonJack Solomon (sound engineer)Jack Solomon was an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Sound Recording and was nominated for five more in the same category...
)
It was also nominated for six Golden Globe awards including Best Picture Musical/Comedy, Best Actress for Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, and Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...
for James Caan
James Caan
James Caan is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles in The Godfather, Thief, Misery, A Bridge Too Far, Brian's Song, Rollerball, Kiss Me Goodbye, Elf, and El Dorado...
.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack entered the Billboard Album ChartBillboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
at number 6 and was certified gold.
All songs by Kander and Ebb, unless otherwise noted
- "How Lucky Can You Get?"
- "So Long, Honey Lamb"
- "Isn't This Better?"
- "I Got a Code in my Doze"
- "Blind Date"
- "Let's Hear it For Me"
- "I Found a Million Dollar Baby" (Harry WarrenHarry WarrenHarry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...
, Billy RoseBilly RoseWilliam "Billy" Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. He is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" , "It Happened in Monterey" and "It's Only a Paper Moon"...
, Mort DixonMort Dixon-Biography:Born in New York, Dixon began writing songs in the early 1920s, and was active into the 1930s. He achieved success with his first published effort, 1923's "That Old Gang of Mine". His chief composer collaborators were Ray Henderson, Harry Warren, Harry M...
) - "If I Love Again" (Ben OaklandBen OaklandBen Oakland was an American composer, lyricist and pianist most active from the 1920s through the 1940s. He composed mainly for Broadway and vaudeville, though he also worked on several Hollywood scores including for the film My Little Chickadee.Oakland often composed music only, collaborating...
, J. P. Murray) - "Great Day" (Vincent YoumansVincent YoumansVincent Youmans was an American popular composer and Broadway producer.- Life :Vincent Millie Youmans was born in New York City on September 27, 1898 and grew-up on Central Park West on the site where the Mayflower Hotel once stood. His father, a prosperous hat manufacturer, moved the family to...
, Edward EliscuEdward EliscuEdward Eliscu was a lyricist, playwright, producer and actor. He attended the City College of New York where he attained a Bachelor of Science degree. He then began acting in Broadway plays...
) - "Am I Blue?" (Harry AkstHarry AkstHarry Akst was an American songwriter, who started out his career as a pianist in vaudeville accompanying singers such as Nora Bayes, Frank Fay and Al Jolson.-Life and career:Akst was born in New York, United States....
, Grant ClarkeGrant ClarkeGrant Clarke was an American songwriter.Clarke moved to New York City early in his career, where he worked as an actor and a staff writer for comedians...
, Clare Hanlon, Don RedmanDon RedmanDonald Matthew Redman was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader and composer.Redman was announced as a member of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame on May 6, 2009....
, Sam H. SteptSam H. SteptSamuel Howard Stept was an American songwriter who wrote for Broadway, Hollywood and the big bands. He became known simply as Sam Stept or Sam H. Stept — he almost never used his full middle name.-Family:Born in Odessa, Russia, Stept came to the U.S. at the age of three and grew up in...
) - "It's Only a Paper Moon" (Harold ArlenHarold ArlenHarold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the...
, E.Y. "Yip" HarburgYip HarburgEdgar Yipsel Harburg , known as E.Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg, was an American popular song lyricist who worked with many well-known composers...
, Billy Rose) - "More Than You Know" (Vincent Youmans, Edward Eliscu, Billy Rose)
- "Clap hands, Here Comes Charlie" (Ballard MacdonaldBallard MacDonaldBallard MacDonald was a Tin Pan Alley lyricist.Born in Portland, Oregon, among his credits are:Beautiful Ohio, Rose of Washington Square, Second Hand Rose, Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, Back Home Again in Indiana, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, Play That Barbershop Chord, Clap Hands, Here Comes...
, Joseph MeyerJoseph MeyerJoseph Meyer was a German industrialist and publisher, most noted for his encyclopedia, Meyers Konversations-Lexikon.-Biography:...
, Billy RoseBilly RoseWilliam "Billy" Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. He is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" , "It Happened in Monterey" and "It's Only a Paper Moon"...
)