Barbra Streisand to be given Honorary Palme d’Or award at Cannes

PARIS − Award-winning singer-songwriter Barbra Streisand will be awarded the honorary Palme d'Or at the 79th Cannes Film Festival later this year, organizers of the event said on Wednesday, March 11.

Over her six-decade career, the actress and filmmaker has starred in celebrated films including "Funny Girl" (1969), "The Way We Were" (1973) and "Yentl" (1983), which she also directed and produced. Streisand, 83, will add the Palme d'Or to a growing list of accolades; she has also won two Academy Awards and 10 Grammy Awards.

"Barbra Streisand has reached the pinnacle of the entertainment industry like no one before her. But this staggering record pales in comparison to her influence on pop culture in the second half of the twentieth century," the organizers said in a statement to Reuters. The festival will arrive in the city of Cannes, France in May.

The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the storied French film festival. First introduced in 1955, the "honorary" version of the prize began years later to recognize the work of great artists who had never nabbed the trophy. Other stars who have been honored with the award include Denzel Washington and Robert De Niro.

Streisand's feat comes just under a year after the release of her 37th studio album, "The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two." A compilation of duets, the project drew on the singer's talented roster of friends, drafting stars like Paul McCartney, James Taylor, Josh Groban, Sting, Ariana Grande and Mariah Carey for features.

The album served as the companion to 2014's "Partners," with Groban as her only repeat collaborator.

Contributing: Makini Brice, REUTERS; Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY