Funny Girl (film) Funny Girl (film) Funny Girl is a 1968 American biographical romantic musical comedy-drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Isobel Lennart was adapted from her book for the stage musical of the same title. It is loosely based on the life and career of Broadway and film star and comedian Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein. Produced by Brice's son-in-law, Ray Stark, with music and lyrics by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, the film stars Barbra Streisand (in her film debut reprising her Broadway role) as Brice and Omar Sharif as Arnstein,
Ray Stark went on to produce many notable films from the 1970s to the early 2000s, including "The Owl and the Pussycat" (1970), "The Way We Were" (1973), "Murder By Death" (1976), "The Goodbye Girl" (1977), "Seems Like Old Times" (1980), "Annie" (1982), and "Steel Magnolias" (1989). In 1974, Rastar was acquired by Columbia Pictures, which included Rastar Productions, Rastar Pictures, Rastar Features, and Rastar Television. Ray Stark then founded Rastar Films, later selling it to Columbia Pictures in 1980. Although stage and film actress Anne Bancroft was the initial first choice to play Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl", (the biopic production