A Movie Character is Born

By way of offering a background on five iconic film characters portrayed by Barbra Streisand, we put together a special section exploring the chronologies of Dolly, Daisy, Doris, Esther and Yentl.

Each character has a unique history. Before Barbra gave her enduring Hollywood spin on four of these fictional women, they were first originated on Broadway by other actresses. In fact, the roles of Daisy, Doris and Yentl earned Leading Actress Tony nominations for Barbara Harris, Diana Sands and Tovah Feldshuh, respectively. In the case of Dolly, Carol Channing, of course, took home the award.

Our fifth character, Esther has a unique history as well. Two films titled "A Star Is Born" and one called "What Price Hollywood?" first presented their own spin of this beloved fictional heroine. That all happened before Barbra redefined the character of Esther in her own version of the film.