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Summary
Summary
Singer. Actress. Producer. Director. Activist. Wife. Mother. Lover. Barbra Streisand has risen from humble beginnings to become one of the most talented, versatile, and influential women of our time. In Streisand: Her Life, bestselling biographer James Spada delivers the definitive biography of this one-woman conglomerate.Based on more than 200 interviews with Streisand's friends, relatives, and colleagues, along with never-before conducted research, Spada uncovers surprising and often startling details of this very private star's life. For 30 years she has surprised, delighted, angered, polarized, and riveted the public, Spada says. She is still going where many tell her not to. In Streisand, Spada traces the life and career of Barbra with equal depth. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Streisand began performing in her teens as an actress; she only began singing on a dare. But it was because of her voice, which brought her cabaret bookings in the early '60s, that she initially became famous.Never conventionally beautiful, she knew she had to make her talent outshine her looks, and always refused to remake herself to anyone else's liking. That sense of resolve and single-mindedness paid off in the years to come, as success followed success: a record deal, the big break in 'Funny Girl' on both stage and screen, and the transition from Broadway darling to the toast of Hollywood. As her movie career developed, the appeal of branching out into production and then direction became even stronger. Her 1983 directorial debut, 'Yentl, ' and her second film, 'The Prince of Tides, ' earned both box-office dollars and critical acclaim. An avid supporter of AIDS research and othercharitable causes, Barbra has become more involved than ever in recent years as a political and social activist, but always continues to grow and take risks as an artist.In Streisand, Spada delivers not only a thorough look at this celebrity's multi-faceted career but also an in-depth examination of her well-guarded personal life. We learn about her lovers, including Elliott Gould, Jon Peters, Don Johnson, and Elvis Presley, among others; her parents, including her complicated relationships with her mother and her abusive stepfather; and her son, including how she dealt with his homosexuality. Spada also provides a complete filmography and an annotated discography of the star's work, along with 32 pages of photographs.
Author Notes
James Spada is the author of fourteen books, including the international bestsellers Peter Lawford: The Man Who Kept the Secrets , Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess , Monroe: Her Life in Pictures , and Streisand: The Woman and the Legend .
Born and raised in Staten Island, New York, he founded a Marilyn Monroe Fan Club at thirteen and edited its journals for four years. As a college student in 1969, he began a political quarterly devoted exclusively to Senator Edward M. Kennedy. He spent the summer of 1970 as a Senate intern in Kennedy's Boston office.
In 1977, Spada became the only author to write an authorized career biography of Robert Redford. In 1981 and 1982, his best-selling pictorial books about Barbra Streisand and Marilyn Monroe were published, followed by studies of Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, Bette Midler, Jane Fonda, Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty, and Katharine Hepburn. His 1987 book, Grace , spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was translated in thirteen languages. His Peter Lawford biography was serialized by Vanity Fair in 1991 and also became a New York Times bestseller.
He lives in Los Angeles.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Seasoned celebrity biographer Spada (Grace: The Secret Life of a Princess) here provides an evenhanded and highly detailed look at the life of Barbra Streisand. Beginning with his subject's childhood as a skinny Brooklynite from a broken home, Spada charts Streisand's meteoric rise to celebrity as a Broadway star by the age of 20, her tremendous popularity as a singer, her various love affairs with the likes of Elliot Gould and Warren Beatty and her ongoing battlesas actress, producer and directorwith the Hollywood establishment. Streisand, who emerges as a complicated, highly talented figure, at once brash and insecure, overweening and generous, is a fascinating subject, although Spada's careful objectivity does not allow for the really intimate portrait the diva's fans might desire. But while Spada sometimes soft-pedals the more sensational details of Streisand's lifeparticularly the rockier points in her personal relationshipshe compensates by offering lucid and insightful analyses of her artistic output on stage, in song and on film. And the sheer comprehensiveness of this bio will make it a satisfying read for Streisand devotees. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A standard issue rah-rah show-biz bio of one of the most influential women in entertainment today. Such is Barbra Streisand's power that when one of the two films she has directed, The Prince of Tides, was recently televised, she called the network, mid-movie, and got them to lower the volume on the commercials. With 15 films, 50 albums, Grammies, and an Academy Award (for Funny Girl) to her credit, she has enjoyed an almost relentlessly successful career. And her notoriously zealous fans have treasured every moment, revering her in a manner usually associated with putative messiahs. Hollywood biographer Spada (More Than a Woman, 1993, etc.) does a thoroughly adequate job of recounting the highlights of Streisand's career, tracing how a homely, awkward girl from Brooklyn, through dint of sheer, single-minded perseverance, became ``the last great star.'' Her first successes as a singer, however, were almost accidentalshe wanted to be an actress and had never even taken voice lessons. But on a goof, she entered a nightclub's amateur night; two years later she released her first album. All along, fame was what she really wantedrecompense and redemption for the many miseries of her childhoodand she pursued it ruthlessly. Gently, gently Spada recounts her casual cruelties, her epic kvetchings, her fanatical need to control every last detail of her performances. If she'd been a man, she'd have been called a perfectionist, but Hollywood had choicer names for her. Spada writes evenly and entertainingly, but he largely ignores the careful scholarly standards of biography. Don't look for footnotes or extensive bibliographies or penetrating insights or a keen critical awareness. And despite some judiciously dished dirt, there is little to lift this biography above the chattering herds of banal historiettes. Two cheers for Streisand, one for Spada. (32 pages b&w photos, not seen) (First serial to Vanity Fair; Literary Guild selection; author tour)
Booklist Review
Spada has proven himself an adept and engaging biographer of stellar women in his books about Grace Kelly, Bette Davis, and now the ever controversial and compelling Streisand. Diva, stage and film actress, movie director, and liberal activist, Streisand has moved audiences to tears and laughter with her inimitable voice, bewitching presence, and gutsy humor. Her allure is based as much on her persistent insecurity as it is on her talent, a fact Spada illuminates in his account of her very tough Brooklyn childhood. Streisand suffered poverty and abuse but never wavered in her determination to be on stage in spite of being told, repeatedly, that she was impossibly ugly. Voraciously intelligent, creative, and kooky as they come, Streisand accentuated her physical uniqueness by dressing exotically, exaggerating her outsiderness, and singing with transcendent passion. Spada's description of her abrupt rise to fame--she was on the cover of Time at age 21 for her performance in Funny Girl is positively exhilarating, while his rundown of the production of every one of her shows, recordings, and films reveals the complexity of her artistic personality. And, of course, there's romance as Spada discusses Streisand's relationships with Elliott Gould, Omar Sharif, Ryan O'Neal, Jon Peters, and Don Johnson. It's a pleasure to have a fair and celebratory portrait of the multitalented Streisand, one of the world's most "gloriously successful misfits." (Reviewed Oct. 1, 1995)0517597535Donna Seaman
Library Journal Review
This is Spada's third biography of Streisand (the others were Streisand: The Woman and The Legend, LJ 10/1/81; and Barbra: The First Decade, LJ 10/1/74), and it enlarges and updates the first book, which is not an easy task given Streisand's penchant for privacy. Spada interviewed countless friends and colleagues, from those who knew her in summer stock in the 1950s to her first love, to current friends. He has meticulously researched an impressive array of print sources, and what emerges is a surprisingly intimate portrait of a kooky nonconformist who became an internationally known singer, actress, director, and activist who recently spoke at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Spada chronicles this transformation in 560 pages of juicy Streisand detail. Annotated filmography and discography also included. Sure to be a bestseller. [Literary Guild selection and excerpted in Vanity Fair.]-Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Bay Area Cooperative Lib. System, Cal. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
