Barbra Streisand stopped the room at the 98th Academy Awards with her In Memoriam tribute to Robert Redford. But not everyone at the Oscars was entirely at peace with who got to deliver it - including one of Redford's oldest and closest friends.
Jane Fonda, 88, had a few words about that.
"I want to know how come Streisand was up there doing that for Redford?" Fonda quipped to Entertainment Tonight at an Oscar night party, then quickly doubled down: "She only made one movie with him. I made four. I have more to say."
She said it with a laugh. But she meant every word of it.
So how many movies did Robert Redford and Jane Fonda make together?
The answer is four - and the list makes a strong case for Fonda's playful grievance. The two first appeared together in The Tall Story in 1960, followed by The Chase in 1966, Barefoot in the Park in 1967, and finally Our Souls at Night in 2017 - a span of 57 years of working alongside one another. That last film, a quiet and deeply moving Netflix drama about two aging neighbors who find unexpected companionship, stands as one of the most tender performances either of them ever gave.
Streisand, by comparison, made just one film with Redford - the iconic 1973 romance The Way We Were, in which the two played star-crossed lovers whose political differences pulled them apart. The film was a cultural landmark, and their chemistry was undeniable. But one film is one film.
Fonda was not shy about her feelings for the man himself either, calling Redford "the most gorgeous human being" and saying she "was always in love with him." She also praised what he stood for beyond Hollywood: "He did a lot for movies. He really changed movies, lifted up independent movies."
When Redford died on September 16, 2025, at the age of 89 at his home in Utah, Fonda was among the first to respond publicly. "It hit me hard this morning when I read that Bob was gone. I can't stop crying," she said in a statement. "He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way."
As we noted in our original coverage of the Oscars tribute, Streisand's tribute was a genuinely moving moment - and her rare live rendition of The Way We Were left the Dolby Theatre silent. Nobody is taking that away from her. But Fonda's point stands - and the warmth and humor with which she made it says everything about the kind of friendship she and Redford shared across nearly six decades.
Sometimes the person with the most to say doesn't get the microphone. That does not make what they feel any less real.
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