Isobel Lennart the Sixth Happiness", "Please Don't Eat the Daisies", "The Sundowners" which also received an Academy Award nomination, and "Two for the Seesaw". In 1964, Lennart wrote the book for the Broadway musical "Funny Girl", based on the life and career of Fanny Brice and her tempestuous relationship with gambler Nick Arnstein. It catapulted Barbra Streisand to fame and earned her a Tony Award nomination. In 1968, Lennart wrote the screen adaptation, which won her a Writers Guild of America award for Best Screenplay. It proved to be her last work. Three years later, she was killed in an automobile accident
Funny Girl (musical) from prison, and he and Fanny decide to separate. She is heartbroken, but resolves to pick up her life again ("Don't Rain on My Parade, Reprise"). Ray Stark had commissioned an authorized biography of Brice, based on taped recollections she had dictated, but was unhappy with the result. It eventually cost him $50,000 to stop publication of "The Fabulous Fanny", as it had been titled by the author. Stark then turned to Ben Hecht to write the screenplay for a biopic, but neither Hecht nor the ten writers who succeeded him were able to produce a version that satisfied Stark.