Barbra Streisand revealed that Marlon Brando met her three times, including when they were both married to other people.
She became an international superstar in the 1960s, a decade after he became Hollywood’s heartthrob and put an end to all heartthrobs.
But the first time he approached her, sneaked up behind her at a party and kissed her back, she turned around and said, “You’re destroying my fantasy.”
The second time, his pick-up line was, “I’d like to fuck you,” and the “nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn” was so taken aback that she blurted out, “That sounds terrible.”
Now, in her new memoir, My Name Is Barbra, she recalls how their awkward first encounters eventually blossomed into a deep, lasting bond.
But did Barbra ever give in to his persistent attempts to get her into bed?
Did They?: Barbra Streisand Revealed Marlon Brando Attacked Her Three Times; They first met in 1965, the year they are both pictured
Candid: In 1966, a year after Barbra is pictured here, Marlon said, “I’d like to fuck you,” which left the “nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn” so stunned that she said, “That sounds terrible.”
He first contacted Barbra through an intermediary who told her, “Marlon Brando said to me, ‘If you ever see Barbra Streisand, tell that bitch she’s great.’
By this point he was a top movie star and she was still an aspiring singer who had appeared on television but was far from the fame she eventually achieved.
However, when they met in 1965, she was the star of Broadway in “Funny Girl” – and had also recorded “People,” which was such a big hit that it was beaten to number one by the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night.” Charts conquered.
Barbra, just 23 years old, was backstage at a civil rights rally where she was supposed to sing when Marlon, then 41, made his move.
She considered him “the greatest, most brilliant, most talented person in the world” – but Barbra, who was raised by a sexually conservative mother who taught her that she could “catch a disease” just for holding hands with a boy, it was completely unprepared for the way he initially tried to charm her.
She was wearing an “almost backless” dress and unexpectedly felt someone kissing my back. Who would dare to do that? I turned around and it was him. My idol.’
“You’re destroying my fantasy,” she said, but Marlon, undeterred, made her heart flutter with his answer: “You can’t have a back like that without kissing it.”
When Barbra took the stage, she was so confused that she stopped mid-song when she was distracted by a noise backstage, and then started again.
Flashback: At this point, Barbra was still with her first husband, Elliott Gould, whom she met when they were both aspiring stage actors; They are pictured in 1967
Wow: Marlon, on the other hand, was with his third wife Tarita (right), a much younger French Polynesian actress who he described to Barbra as a “ripe piece of fruit.”
“As a professional you learn to just keep going,” she wrote. “But I was so overwhelmed by his presence that I wanted the song to be perfect, just for him.”
They met again a year later at a star-studded London party held at the home of Leslie Caron, the French leading lady of Gigi.
When Barbra met Marlon there, she was again so impressed by his appeal that, instead of a “charming” icebreaker, she said, “Have you had your teeth locked?”
Marlon wasn’t embarrassed by her candor, but she was, so she strolled away with her tail between her legs, chatting listlessly with the other guests – until he sidled up to her, took her hand and said winningly, “You look bored.” ‘
They went into a private room and began an intense, one-on-one conversation lasting four hours, digging into the pain of their tumultuous childhood.
However, in the third period, he suddenly said, “I’d like to fuck you,” and she was so shocked that she gave him the unfiltered response, “That sounds terrible.”
In addition to the bluntness of his approach, his attempt at seduction was complicated by the fact that both he and Barbra were married to other people.
Barbra was still with her first husband, Elliott Gould, at the time, whom she met when they were both aspiring stage actors working on an ill-fated Broadway musical called I Can Get It For You Wholesale.
The biggest star: She rose to international superstardom in the 1960s and won an Oscar in 1968 for the film adaptation of her Broadway musical “Funny Girl” (pictured).
Smoldering: Marlon became a Hollywood heartthrob in the 1950s with films like A Streetcar Named Desire, in which he appears on set with his co-star Vivien Leigh
Marlon was now with his third wife, Tarita, a much younger French Polynesian actress, whom he compared to a “ripe piece of fruit.”
But that night at Leslie Caron’s party, he repeatedly turned on Barbra, telling her that it was unlikely he would stay with Elliott “much longer” on the grounds that he “didn’t look good enough for you.”
Although Barbra was initially “offended” by the remark, years later she came to the conclusion that Marlon had actually made a pretty “insightful” point of view. “Did he know more about my search for beauty than I did at that point?” She wondered.
By the time he hit on her again in 1972, Barbra and Marlon were already divorced and his world-famous sex appeal was beginning to wane.
Out of the blue, he called her and invited her to “sleep under the stars” with him during an overnight trip to the California desert.
Barbra, still “too sexually insecure” to commit, merely agreed to go on a day trip with him – a decision to which she now reacts with the thought: “How stupid!”
Back then, however: “Free love wasn’t my style.” Also: How do you brush your teeth in the desert? Do I sleep with makeup on?’
Even though he was once again unable to get to know Barbra in the biblical sense, the two still maintained a friendship of touching depth.
Past Time: When he came after her again in 1972, Barbra and Marlon were already divorced and his sex appeal had begun to wane; He is pictured this year
They bonded over their shared artistic skills, their mutual understanding of the rigors of fame, and their willingness to speak freely about their personal concerns.
At one point, Marlon called Barbra and said, “Sing me a song,” a request she held back, arguing, “That’s like me asking you to recite a soliloquy from Hamlet.”
So he recited a monologue from Hamlet and said, “Now it’s your turn,” leaving Barbra to sing the Rodgers & Hart ballad “Nobody’s Heart Belongs to Me” – a number she first sang in the 1960s sang in her club performance before she became famous.
“Now that I think about it, I used the song to tell him what was going on in my life, even if it was unconsciously,” Barbra wrote.
Although she told him the secrets of her love life through music, she didn’t go so far as to actually pursue a romance with him at that point.
But their personal bond continued into old age and his horrific decline, when his various demons visibly began to catch up with him.
One evening he went to dinner at Barbra’s and had gotten so fat that he couldn’t get out of the steering wheel without her help.
They never managed to get into bed together before Marlon died in 2004 aged 80 – and Barbra was on the star-studded guest list at his funeral.
His failure to conquer Barbra was a source of lasting regret, based on a rueful phone call that she still counts as one of her “fond memories.”
After seeing her on TV in “The Way We Were,” he called her and said, “At the last moment, you were so vulnerable that I fell in love with you all over again.”
He reflected, “We should have done more when we were younger, fucked a lot and had kids.” “Kiss yourself in the mirror for me.”