After the runaway success of Barbra Streisand’s Oscar-winning film debut Funny Girl(1968), it was inevitable that Columbia would want her to return in a sequel.
The result was Funny Lady, a sort of ‘Fanny Sings Again’ which takes up the Fanny Brice story after the end of her marriage to callous gambler (Omar Sharif) and continues to show how the great comedienne has no luck with her love life by chronicling her unhappy marriage to overbearing producer/songwriter Billy Rose (James Caan).
The film’s first quarter, which hilariously describes the trials and tribulations of an Atlantic City try-out for a new revue – titled Crazy Quilt – promises far more than the rest of the movie delivers.
Ultimately, Fanny drifts away from both Rose and Arnstein and finds a career in Hollywood as the star of The Baby Snooks Show, a long-running radio show for CBS.
Also in the cast are Roddy McDowall, Ben Vereen, Larry Gates, Carol Welles and Heidi O’Rourke.
Fanny Brice
Barbra Streisand Billy Rose
James Caan Nicky Arnstein
Omar Sharif Bobby Moore
Roddy McDowall Bert Robbins
Ben Vereen Norma Butler
Carole Wells Bernard Baruch
Larry Gates Ned
Gene Troobnick Eleanor Holm
Heidi O’Rourke Adèle
Royce Wallace Mademoiselle
Lilyan Chauvin Fran
Samantha Huffaker Buck Bolton
Matt Emery
Director
Herbert Ross
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