Trailer
Plot summary
Fanny Brice is a Broadway headliner for the Ziegfeld Follies, and the 1930s have brought hard times. Her show has closed, Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. is not available to produce another, and her estranged husband Nicky Arnstein sends a divorce decree. Out of work with her friend Bobby Moore, Fanny meets Billy Rose, a songwriting nightclub owner and one-time secretary to her financial advisor Bernard Baruch. He pushes a torch song of his own, More Than You Know, and she records it. The newspaper reports that she will star in a revue he is mounting, Crazy Quilt, and Buck Bolton puts up the money on the condition that his mistress, Norma Butler, is cast as one of the stars.
Cast
- Heidi O'Rourkeas Eleanor Holm
- Samantha C. Kirkebyas Fran (as Samantha Huffaker)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Funny Lady (1975)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Barbra Streisand was contractually obligated to make one more film for producer Ray Stark and initially balked, telling him it would take litigation to force her into a sequel, but she came around after reading a script that portrayed Fanny Brice as tougher and more mature.
- Robert Blake was the first actor to read for the role of Billy Rose, and Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were also considered before James Caan was cast; Streisand explained the choice by saying it came down to who the audience wanted to see her kiss, and that was Caan, not Blake.
