‘I have more to say’: Jane Fonda questions why Barbra Streisand will host Robert Redford’s Oscars | Oscars 2026

Jane Fonda said she wished she could have been at the forefront of Robert Redford’s tribute at the Academy Awards on Sunday night, instead of Barbra Streisand.

Speaking on the red carpet at the Oscars, Fonda told a red carpet reporter: “I want to know how Streisand was up there doing it for Redford?” The actor then jokingly added that while Streisand “only made one movie with him, I’ve made four… I have more to say.”

Streisand’s memories of her former co-star and longtime friend were one of three extended sections in the 2026 anniversary section of the ceremony, which was preceded by tributes to Rob Reiner and Diane Keaton.

The actors worked together in Sidney Pollack’s 1973 drama The Way We Were, the title track from which Streisand also sang on stage. I remembered his initial reservations about assuming this role and his professional and political conscience.

“Bob had a real backbone on and off the screen,” said Streisand, who presented Redford with an honorary Oscar in 2002. “He spoke out for freedom of the press, protecting the environment, and encouraging new voices at his Sundance Institute.”

She then detailed their evolving relationship and recalled how the last time they were in contact, the couple told each other that they loved each other.

Speaking about Redford after the ceremony, Fonda said she “always loved him. He’s the most amazing human being with such great values. He did so much for movies, he really changed movies, raised the bar for independent movies.”

Now 88, Fonda worked with Redford, who died last October, four times in 1966’s The Chase, Barefoot in the Park a year later, 1979’s The Electric Horseman, and again in 2017’s Our Souls at Night. “I can’t stop crying,” Fonda wrote on Instagram after his death. “He meant so much to me and was a beautiful person in every way. He stood up for an America that we must continue to fight from.” “Delay it.”

In addition to extended tributes to Redford, Reiner and Keaton, the commemoration section recalled stars including Robert Duvall and Terence Stamp. Brigitte Bardot and Bud Court were among the notable omissions.