Funny Girl

Funny Girl is a 1968 American biographical musical film directed by William Wyler and written by Isobel Lennart, adapted from her book for the stage musical of the same title. It is loosely based on the life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein. Produced by Brice's son-in-law Ray Stark (and the first film by his company Rastar), with music and lyrics by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, the film stars Barbra Streisand (in her film debut reprising her Broadway role) as Brice and Omar Sharif as Arnstein, with a supporting cast featuring Kay Medford (also reprising her Broadway role), Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Allen and Mae Questel. A major critical and commercial success, Funny Girl became the highest-grossing film of 1968 in the United States and received eight Academy Award nominations at the 41st Academy Awards including Best Picture, with Streisand winning Best Actress. Streisand notably tied the award with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter which marked the first and (as of 2025) only tie to happen in the category's history. In 2006, the American Film Institute ranked the film No. 16 on its list commemorating AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals. Previously it had ranked the film No. 41 in its 2002 list of AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions, the songs "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade" at No. 13 and No. 46, respectively, in its 2004 list of AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, and the line "Hello, gorgeous" at No. 81 in its 2005 list of AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes. Funny Girl is considered one of the greatest musical films ever made. In 2016, Funny Girl was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.