Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand, a well-educated student of antiques and vintage decorative arts, has finally declared a major: "Eighteenth century American furniture and the design of the architects Greene and Greene are my special love," she says. Think of it as a stylistic downsizing. Because her current three-house compound in Malibu is devoted to these particular genres, Streisand is auctioning nearly 500 items from other periods and styles -- Louis XV and XVI, Georgian, Art Nouveau, Stickley, Frank Lloyd Wright and Art Deco -- that once furnished homes in Beverly Hills, Malibu and Manhattan but have long been in storage.

It was a challenge that Barbra Streisand wasn't sure she could handle. Though she made her directorial debut with 1983's "Yentl" -- the musical drama about a young Jewish woman who disguises herself as a man -- she was initially wary of taking on filmmaker duties for the cinematic adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's short story.