Jane Fonda clarifies she was ‘being funny’ about Barbra Streisand’s Oscar tribute to Robert Redford

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Jane Fonda recently set the record straight on her comment about Barbra Streisand’s tribute to Robert Redford at the 2026 Oscars.

At the March Academy Awards' ceremony, Streisand gave an emotional performance of 'The Way We Were,' the song from their 1973 film, during the In Memoriam segment for Redford, who passed away on September 16 at the age of 89.

After the event, Fonda joked on the red carpet that she should have been the one on stage, since she had worked with Redford in four films, while Streisand had shared the screen with him only once. While opening the TCM Classic Film Festival on Thursday, April 30, Fonda explained that she made the remark humorously.

Jane Fonda clears the air over Barbra Streisand’s Oscar tribute to Robert Redford

Fonda does not want any confusion or raised eyebrows over her humorous remark and she made that clear while addressing her friendly jab publicly. "By the way, Barbra came on the Oscars thing to honor Bob. I was on the press line, and I thought I was being funny," Fonda said, minutes after settling into her seat on the TCM stage. 

"I said, 'Why did they ask (Streisand)? 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 and the song was so incredibly beautiful." She added, "Bob would have liked it," as the audience responded with applause.

Alongside her comments on the tribute, Fonda also shared a personal memory, revealing she once had a crush on Redford. She described him as someone destined for the big screen, praising his talent and calling him one of the most handsome people she had ever been with.

Barbra Streisand paid a heartfelt tribute to Robert Redford

Streisand paid a heartfelt tribute to her 'The Way We Were' co-star Robert Redford at the Academy Awards. During the In Memoriam segment, she looked back on working with him in the 1973 film and performed the Oscar-winning song 'The Way We Were.'

"He was a brilliant, subtle actor, and we had a wonderful time playing off each other because we never quite knew what the other one was going to do in a scene,”  she said. As she sang, a quote from Redford appeared: “The glory of art is that it can not only survive change, it can lead it.” The tribute became one of the night’s most moving moments.

Streisand sang for 40 seconds after giving a short speech. She said the film still matters today and praised Redford for being the “backbone on and off the screen.”

Jane Fonda and Robert Redford’s decades-long bond on and off screen

Across more than 50 years, Jane Fonda shared the screen with Robert Redford in four films. These included the 1966 action drama 'The Chase' alongside Marlon Brando, the 1967 romantic comedy 'Barefoot in the Park', the 1979 drama 'The Electric Horseman', and the 2017 film 'Our Souls at Midnight.'

Speaking about 'Barefoot in the Park,' Fonda portrayed Corie Bratter, a lively newlywed learning to adjust to married life in a small New York apartment. Redford played her husband, Paul, a reserved lawyer whose personality contrasted with hers, adding charm and tension to their story.

Their connection went far beyond their on-screen work. Fonda and Redford shared a close friendship in real life, and their families often spent Christmas together at his home in Sundance, Utah. He was widely regarded as the golden boy of American cinema for more than five decades, according to The Guardian.